Viana do Castelo

Today we went from Porto to Viana do Castelo by the sea. We are staying with a SERVAS family named Duarte Franco, Teressa Costa and their youngest son Francisco age, 13. They have two older sons. One is studing guitar in Porto, and the other is studying industrerial design in Boston. We came now because they have committments for the weekend and so we arrived Wed. afternoon, will stay the night, and tomorrow night and leave on Friday, which is the customary SERVAS two night stay. They live in a little city, but charmingly so. We were met at the train station by Francisco on his in-line skates. We followed him to the center of the old part of town to a green door beside a grocery that had it’s vegetables arranged in boxes on the sidewalk.

It was a tall thin house with 2.5 stories. Teressa had designed a loft above the upstairs bedroom to accomadate the two oldest boys. Their living room, that could be viewed from the loft, had an open high cieling. It was a snug house with everything they needed. We slept in the loft. The ceiling was slanted and I bonked my head on one of the rafters on my left temple. OUCH!

Duart and Teressa turned out to be very interesting people and we had lively conversations over dinner each night. Duarte is an attourney and Teressa used to own her own business, however now she helps at Duarte’s office. We talked about children and the worries they present, policitc, religion, travel, emotions and how Duarte had learned to handle some of the difficult things that come up at work etc. etc. It was quite enjoyable.

Francisco is a lively and charming kid. He loves the skate board and is athletically inclined. However, his parents worry about his academics. Duarte and Teressa worry about his future. However, I think that Francisco is Socially talented and will find his way.

Now remember that I told you that Eric kept asking everywhere we went if anyone knew of anywhere we could stay for a week to rest before the path started in ernest at Tui? Well, asking payes off. Duarte and Teressa have a country house in a small town called Romarigaes. Duarte has an office in Viana and also one in Point de Lima. Their country house is kind of between these two offices. They invited us to stay at their country house. He offered to take us to Point de Lima to see the abergue there and then we could decided if we wanted to go the country house or not.

The abergue was nice and remodeled. However, the we were excited to see the country house. So he took us there and gave us a quick tour because he had to get to his office. So here we are, in a old stone villa, on a large terraced piece of land, with a heard of goats with bells around their necks wandering around freely, sheep next door, orange cows down the street and spring water running into a pool froma spring. There’s a fireplace insert, electricity and hot water, who could ask for anything more. We came here on the 26^th of Feb. and now it is the 4^th of March and we are leaving tomorrow. Of course we have had all sorts of adventures and insights while we have been here in the Portuguese countryside. Tonight I have to go to sleep for we must start walking early to get our passports stamped and get to the next town of Ribadeo in time to get into the abergue. We will be following the golden arrows and the symbol of the Cockel Shell. But don’t worry, I will tell you all about our stay in the country villa and our new friends Duarte and Teressa. I am so happy to have made such good friends. We will see them on our way back.

So on to Ribadeo!