hospitality

We have been trying to walk a path called the Senda Littoral which follows the coastline closely and it has all gone well until today when the path came to an end and we needed to find a way to link up with it again. During the pause, a man in a truck stopped and spoke to us, all in Portuguese but it was obvious that he thought we were going the wrong way and would end up lost. It was hot and we had many miles left to go so we decided to cut across to the main coastal path (which goes slightly inland) instead.There followed a bit of road walking where neither of us were very happy and when we saw the sign for a cafe, we decided to stop for a drink. Only it had to be a (very) quick one.

What a lovely cafe experience we had! The place was run by a man called David (in the photo) whose passions appeared to be Che Guevara, football and welcoming pilgrims. We ordered an orange juice and then he brought biscuits and honey to go with it. Then a plate of figs and grapes. Then a dish of peanuts. Then a couple of apples and another plate of figs and grapes. Then another plate of peanuts...

I went inside to pay for all this (€2.50) and to take photos of his cafe which was hung with all kinds of interesting memorabilia. He stamped our passports, gave us a glass of port and some Che Guevara stickers and we signed the visitors book. What a lovely man!

We did finally arrive at Viana do Castelo at 6pm after walking 20 miles. I'm writing this with my feet soaking in a bidet full of cold water :-)