Viana do Castelo

I arrived from Porto via a couple of regional trains. I had been here before, in 2009, touring the north of Portugal and Galicia, Spain, before crossing the ocean to visit Brazil. The idea then was to get used to Portuguese first.

The station is straddled by an excellent shopping centre. I'm a little fond of this small town. It has much attractive architecture, in particular Art Deco, but also has modern facilities.

After leaving my luggage at the hotel where I would spend the night before the camino I looked for lunch. I found an excellent cafe serving chicken schnitzel, chips and salad. Portuguese meal prices are lower than in neighbouring Spain.

Some of the buildings I liked.

I didn't enter this museum which exhibits local dress.

Art Deco building.

It seems a popular thing in many cities to decorate a street with colourful umbrellas.

Dinner was included in the package in most overnight hotels except in larger cities where it was felt we would prefer to have a wider choice, or the hotel didn't offer dinner. The restaurant of the hotel was one of the best in town and the meal was delicious.

I walked to the station in search of some gelato and found attractive light decorations in the city.

I forget but I think it was part of a city celebration.

And that was the night before the start of my Camino.