Intermission Days 1-3

    Events since we completed our Camino:

    Day 1: 
    After, we went to the Pilgrim Trail and congratulated some of our friends who came in a day behind us, as they headed to the main square.
    Then we were off on a bus to Finesterre.  A number of pilgrims continue their walk to this point (3 days), and out to the end of the peninsula - at which point there is nowhere left to walk.  Some pilgrims make an offering (burn a sock, or shoes, or throw their shell out to sea).  We did not do this.  In fact, we planned so poorly that we did not leave enough time to walk all the way out to the point and back before having to catch the return bus.  So we walked around town and along the beachfront.  And it was scorching hot - walking to the point would have been brutal.
    With a buss ride of 3hrs, 2hrs at the coast, and 2.5hrs back (the bus takes a more direct route back), this burned most of the day.

    Day 2:
    We went to 7:30AM Mass at the Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela.  The cathedral itself is amazing, but the real significance is that it contains the crypt of the Apostle James.  The mass was primarily in Spanish, but if you know the plot it was not hard to follow.
    After, we took a bus to Porto, Portugal.  This is one of the launch-points for the Portuguese version of the Camino (from here, 10-14 days; 240km).  We arrived in the mid afternoon.  Did some Geocaching and discovered a couple of very nice local parks.  And ate food.
    The Portuguese have a specialty dish called a Francesinha.  It is a remarkable thing.  It is a stack:  A thick slice of bread / 5 different meats / A thick slice of bread / a bunch of cheese / pour a few cups of spicy tomato soup over the stack.  One version has a sunny-side-up egg on top (I think it is cooked by the tomato soup being poured over it).  I can't believe American State Fairs have not yet discovered this wonder.

    Day 3:
    We did a very geeky thing, even for Geocaching.  There are 50-ish caches worldwide under the title "Master of Mystery" that require you to solve 20+ puzzles / encryptions / codes / ciphers from all over the world (and in order) to obtain the final coordinates; it takes a lot of persistence and nerdiness to work through the 20 puzzles.  And it all started with an original pair of these MoM caches published on the same day.  The 1st was hidden in Paris.  The 2nd of the pair was hidden in Porto.  So of course we had to find it.  But it wasn't near the bus station (our hotel is nearby).  So Jana and I toured Porto by walking a 14 mile loop (7 there, 7 back - but by different routes) to get our name on the log.  We saw a lot of parks.  Walked the Riverfront.  Walked the Oceanfront.  (found the cache) Walked the Main City Park (huge).  The Downtown.  And back to our place near the bus station.  A good(?) use of our Camino skills.
    That was our day.
    Oh.  We did laundry.
    And I could not bring myself to eat a 2nd Francesinha.  

    Photos:

    At Finesterre - along the waterfront are a number of these mosaic murals.  Different pictures on teh front and back.  

    Yellow-Legged Gulls.  A whole lot of them.  Big things.

    Serene.  And hot.

    A Red-Veined Darter Dragonfly doing what dragonflies do:

Day 2:
    Inside the Cathedral:

    In some masses, they swing the giant incense jar:

    After mass, we rushed to the bus station for our trip to Porto.  On our first day, we visited a local park along a river (Parque Oriental - East Park).  Saw a Gray Wagtail doing its wagtail thing:

    And a bunch of Mallards with baby Mallards.  I think 3 sets of them.

    A nice rock sculpture.  Not sure how long this would stay upright in the States:

    It was warm, so the reptiles were out to play. A Wall Lizard:

    And a Dragonfly:

    The Sandwich (Francesinha) - or 2/3 of it.  And of course a Super Bock, the only beer in Porto:

    Day 3 - our 14 mile tour:

    A number of the houses and churches in Porto are covered (either in part, or entire walls) in blue tiles:

    This is interesting:  Going into a local park are three tiles on top of each other.  The first is the zodiac.  The second is the decomposition of pions and muons (sub-atomic particles).  The third is also quantum recombinations and deompositions.

    I think we found Portuguese MeowWolf.

    A church with one wall covered in blue tiles.

    Now the front of the church has an oddity.  It is actually two churches side-by-side (the first and 3rd orders of a particular sect.  And behind the green fence between the two churches is a very narrow house (The "Hidden House"), which is used to access the belltower:

    At the Crystal Palace Gardens:

    There were Roosters (and hens):

    And strutting peacocks (and peahens):

    And views of the Riverfront from a tower:

    And Blue Morning Glories:

    As we continued our walk toward the waterfront, we found a very cool cache on this old hoist:

    Portugal must have some pretty big horses:

    The end of the river:

    And the start of the beach.  A lot of people along the oceanfront this morning.  Carnival rides.  Puttputt.  Snack shacks.  Walking.  Running.  Biking.  Fun in the sun.  So of course I took a picture of the only isolated parts of the beach...

    On the way back, in the Parque da Cidade (City Park) - Helmeted Guineafowl mixing in with the feral chickens.  I knew these because we had seen these in Africa.  They don't show up on the normal birdlist - they are not supposed to be here.

    Fire hydrants here have protectors:

    The column in Jardim da Rotunda da Boavista:

    Another blue-tiled church:

    
    Tomorrow - a bus to Paris (it would be 3 connections by train, or a bus and 2 flights, or 1 very long bus ride).