The morning was occupied with getting ourselves ready for the next part of the journey - our train trip to Tui and the beginning of the Final leg of the Portuguese Camino.
We decided to take a taxi to the station as the rank was outside our door. We hopped into the two taxis and headed off. Our driver was keen to explain that while his taxi was old - 18 years - it could still go very fast. He sped off down the road, overtaking his friend with the newer taxi! The driver explained that when he had done one million kilometres, he would get a new car.
On arrival at the station, the others told us that their driver was so focussed on entertaining them with his singing that he nearly hit a pedestrian!
Our train soon arrived and we settled in for the 2 hour journey. There was limited space for the luggage so we took up quite a bit of room. The train was quite empty to start, but gradually filled and at one station we picked up a large number of school children who then disembarked at the next couple of stations.
At the end of the train journey in Valença we had a 20 minute taxi ride to our Hotel in Tui. The two towns straddle the Minho River - the border between Spain and Portugal. Here we were advised that dinner would not be until 9.00pm! We settled into our rooms and headed off to explore the area.
We found the cathedral, our starting point for the walk and wandered around the area, occasionally glimpsing water but not seeing the full expanse of the river. During the war against the Moors (737 - 759AD) Tui was the no-man's zone between the two armies.
Many families were out enjoying the evening and we sat and had a drink in the square, watching the passing parade - children on bikes, roller-skates and skateboards, people heading home from work, owners walking their dogs and a few street performers.
We decided to take a taxi to the station as the rank was outside our door. We hopped into the two taxis and headed off. Our driver was keen to explain that while his taxi was old - 18 years - it could still go very fast. He sped off down the road, overtaking his friend with the newer taxi! The driver explained that when he had done one million kilometres, he would get a new car.
On arrival at the station, the others told us that their driver was so focussed on entertaining them with his singing that he nearly hit a pedestrian!
Our train soon arrived and we settled in for the 2 hour journey. There was limited space for the luggage so we took up quite a bit of room. The train was quite empty to start, but gradually filled and at one station we picked up a large number of school children who then disembarked at the next couple of stations.
At the end of the train journey in Valença we had a 20 minute taxi ride to our Hotel in Tui. The two towns straddle the Minho River - the border between Spain and Portugal. Here we were advised that dinner would not be until 9.00pm! We settled into our rooms and headed off to explore the area.
We found the cathedral, our starting point for the walk and wandered around the area, occasionally glimpsing water but not seeing the full expanse of the river. During the war against the Moors (737 - 759AD) Tui was the no-man's zone between the two armies.
We headed back to the hotel for dinner - we will need to get used to the 9.00pm start! However if all our meals are at the standard of tonight we won't be complaining! We retired to get ready for our first day of walking the Camino.
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