Porto! Valencia! COVID!!

 Took a bus to Porto.  And just like that we are in Portugal!  Different culture, different language, and a very busy place!  I was surprised at the size of the city but I don’t know what I expected.  And our hotel is in the old city, so we have views of a cathedral, and old houses and shops built into the hills going down to the river.  We thought we were done with ascents and descents, but we still have Camino legs, so it is fine. 

Many if the homes and buildings are covered in porcelain tile.   Beautiful but kind of odd…the cathedrals are gothic in design but look like they are covered in delft tiles!  It actually was influenced by the Chinese, and the Portugués are known for their tiles.

Barb wasn’t feeling well, so Jim and Barb stayed behind while we took a hop on hop off bus ride around the city.  It was very interesting, took us out to the ocean and through the old city, into some of the more modern areas.  We had lunch in a cafe along the ocean, enjoyed the traditional Portuguese sandwich  called francesinha.  It is a sauce-covered Portuguese sandwich made with bread, linguica (Portuguese sausage), ham, and steak or roast beef. It’s covered with melted cheese and topped with a fried egg before being drenched in a thick beer and tomato sauce. If that doesn’t sound filling enough, it’s typically served with a generous helping of french fries.

              
Then we hopped a boat for a short cruise along the Douro River.  In order to board the tour boat, we had to pass through 2 other boats moored alongside each other.  Turns out the middle boat belongs to Queen Elizabeth and was recently used as part of the Jubilee Celebration!  It was very nice, but she was not home.  And frugal woman that she is, you can charter the boat for a hefty sum when she is not using it!  

We finished the day with happy hour on the balcony in Ron and Lu’s room which had a lovely view of the river.  A hungry seagull eyed us warily, hoping for a handout.  We teased him through the glass, then finally relented and gave him a cracker.  

                                         Give a gull a cracker….

Barb and Jim decided to get Covid tested, so Lu and Ron went along and got tested as well.  Barb tested positive, the others were negative.  Oh man…

The re-entry rules for the US state that you must have proof of a negative Covid test within 1 day of departure.  A positive Covid test means you cannot re-enter  the country for 11 days (test day is day zero, plus 10 days).  So Jim and Barb will be staying for sure.  Because of Ron’s super status with United ( that man has flown over 5 million miles with them!) he could change his flights without penalty, so they decided to skip the last 2 days and head out with the negative test in hand.  They found flights for the next morning.  Jim searched and found a small BnB they could rent to isolate and recuperate.  We were feeling fine so decided to proceed with our flight to Valencia where our flight to home was scheduled.  We had planned to meet with some dear friends there.  However, when we got there we did home tests to be sure, and yup, we were positive too.  Total bummer!!

So, we took official tests, both again positive, cancelled our plans with our friends, and after saying maybe a few bad words, and dealing with crazy emotions and frustration, we resigned ourselves to the inevitable.  

Every one wishes they could take a ocean front vacation in Southern Spain, right?