Tuesday 11th October: Home day.

Today was slated to be a home day doing my research but I did take a morning walk before putting in a couple of hours in front of the laptop.

I decided to go out for lunch so as to have a change of scene and fit in some more exercise. One of the tour guides had mentioned this particular cafe that prepared a nice soup and so I thought I’d set of there to sample this for my lunch. It had been described as a lovely thick and tasty soup made up with stock, cabbage, white beans & chorizo. What arrived though was a luke-warm bowl of gunk with what looked like seaweed. The taste was awful and commensurate with how it looked so most of it was left in the bowl. I decided to improve the food situation by buying a Pasteis de Nata to take home to have after my evening meal. The walk home was pretty uneventful except for the fact that the student hazing ceremonies continue. It was another quiet night in for a home cooked dinner which suited me just as well as the rain drifted in during the late afternoon and settled in for the evening.

Wednesday 12th October: Home day.

I was glad to see that the rain had eased enough to allow me to get in my morning walk. I took a new path this morning and headed west along this southern side of the Douro. Had I kept walking I would have ended up at the beach but I didn’t venture nearly that far. It was a pretty walk along the Douro but I was once again struck by the potential opportunity offered by the many derelict but beautiful river-front properties. I also saw some sea-weed which looked very reminiscent of what was in my soup of yesterday!

A storm blew over during the late morning but, fortunately, eased enough to allow me dry passage for an outing up to El Corte Ingles. Should you ever catch this free shuttle up to El Corte Ingles make sure you use the seat belt! The route is narrow and winding but not that this stops the driver from zipping up and down the narrow cobbled lanes at warp speed!

The afternoon and evening was another quiet one with my laptop, book and a home cooked meal.

Thursday 13th October: Home Day

It was another overcast morning but I was able to get out for a walk. There was another group of Uni students going through their hazing ritual which I caught on video and that was about the most exciting event for me that day. Lunch and dinner were taken at home.

Friday 14th October:

I was pleased to wake to a thick fog as that promised sunshine once the fog lifted. I took my morning walk and detoured home via the tourist shop so as to purchase a tour out to the Douro vineyard area for Sunday. It was to be an otherwise quiet day again with lunch and dinner planned at home.