One More Step

I had a lovely rest time in Lisbon (Lisboa).  The weather has been quite warm, today one could even say it was hot, and the next few promise more of the same. A view of the castle atop the hill, above the colourful houses. I have spent my time in Lisbon exploring what is a bright, energetic, and colourful city.  Exploring, other than the water frontage, means ascending, or descending, steep, and often narrow, streets.  Some are so steep that access is via steps. A Narrow street, complete with queues  Basilica da Estrela, Lisbon inside Lisbon Cathedral Rather than miss out on seeing some of the sights that were too far away to walk to I bought a 24 hour ticket on the yellow "hop on, hop off" bus.  I find that this is a good way to not only see the sights, but also to get a lot of the history. The yellow bus tour Several times I alighted from the bus with the thought of "maybe I will visit", but each time...

 Tomar, Fatima, Coimbra then north to Porto and Santiago de Compostela Before I start posting I thought I had best clarify what my plans are.  The Camino Portuguese begins in Lisbon, heading north to Santiago de Compostela.  Though quite a few people start there, many more start at Porto, which is roughly the half way point. I will spend a few days exploring Lisbon, before beginning to walk.  I plan to begin in Tomar, walk west into Fatima, another pilgrimage destination, and from there head north to Coimbra along the Carmelite Way, before picking up the Camino.  Both Tomar, and Coimbra, a university town, are old medieval towns, and I am looking forward to exploring them.  From Coimbra I continue north to Porto, and it is here that I will meet my friend Julie.  Together we will walk to Santiago de Compostela, taking the detour / variant known as the Espiritual Variant.  This is the plan at the moment, but it is dependant on many factors - health,...