I think G and I are beginning to wear down a little from traveling. But, we got up fairly early and went into Santiago. I walked around and took photos of pilgrims, priests and tourists. G bought a dress that said “eat the day” and “I love you as you are” and a bunch of other very nice things. We went back and got our stuff at the hotel and headed for Porto, Portugal. There was a real sense of shift from Spain to Portugal. In Portugal the houses were built into the vineyard.

                I had a number of conversations with Carmen at Guest House Douro in Porto. We arrived in Porto with the laptop hitting on all cylinders. That was a good thing because Guest House Porto was about as buried on the riverfront as any of the tough hotel locations we have dealt with. By now however G and I have it wired. We were not intimidated in the slightest turning down a sidewalk with people and tables on it. Well it really wasn’t a sidewalk, but it was about 10 feet wide with four story buildings on each side and people sitting at tables along the way. Generally we go to the point where the GPS locates the hotel and then spend 10 or 15 minutes looking for the hotel itself. We did really well with this one and I am very proud of our personal growth over the course of this trip in navigating the narrow streets in Europe (and in many other areas!)

                Joao is the husband of Carmen and a partner in the Guest House Duoro. They have been working on the plans, construction and design of the hotel since 2002. They “lived well” in Montreal for some time prior and one can only assume that this was their dream. The house is located in a historic district of Porto. It is on the river and built on a wall that dates back to the 12^th century. I would say the hotel is no more than 15 feet wide and 4 stories tall. It is the 2^nd establishment in a row of 30 or forty. Joao spent some time telling us what they had been through in the process of opening the hotel in April 2009. He said that the Portugese government and the city of Porto had promised then financial help and support none of which occurred. He did state that as of last week the do have permits to operate the hotel which is amazing as the restaurant next door has been operating for 15 years without a permit. He said most of the businesses do not have permits from the city. He also said that it required approval of 13 different governmental agencies to get the hotel designed. Apparently the way construction is done and the way business is done is quite different that in north America. All meetings, he explained, must be done over a meal. If the meeting is to last two hours then maybe 5 minutes will be spent on the business if you are lucky. According to Joao, they are totally financially committed to the hotel and if they miss two payments to the bank they will take the hotel back.

                With all of the trouble Joao and Carmen had in getting the hotel done, it is absolutely perfect. Every detail has been thought out. Even though the building is old, the construction is immaculate. According to Joao, Carmen is responsible for the amazing design and attention to detail.  I experienced just how much detail at breakfast the next morning. Every detail of the service was impeccable right down to Joao putting on white gloves so as not to smear the glass ware when he put it on the table. The hotel is small but perfect. What work these people have done! I hope they can make a go of it. The environment seems very difficult.

Our room 302 overlooked the river on the 4^th floor as the Europeans call the ground level floor “0” Actually when I thought about it, that makes sense. We didn’t spend a lot of time in it as we headed for a walk on the river after a quick shower. We crossed over the large suspension bridge to the side where all of the port wine was brought down from the vineyards up stream. We ended up back on the Porto side having a Sangria and latte on the entrance to the bridge. It was beautiful.

Joao made reservations for dinner for 9PM (early by Portugese and Spanish standards) in a little restaurant (5 tables) about a minute from the hotel. It was across the little patio where we had lunch with Bruno earlier. (I don’t think I mentioned lunch, but Bruno made it. Very nice guy.) Back to dinner; and up a little walk. No car was going up this walk. It was run by a family and the food was tremendous. To begin with she (the wife) brought out four appetizers and about 5 different breads. We ordered a bottle of wine and split veal for the entrée and soup. We had a chocolate mouse for desert and then the husband (chef) brought out an unlabeled bottle of something suspicious and poured us each a shot. I don’t know what that was but according to Joao it is something that he makes himself. It was way beyond my ability to drink , but he kept sticking his head out of the café to see how we were doing with it. Each time G would smile at him and nod how much she liked it and then finally while he wasn’t looking, she poured it in a planter next to her.

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