A beautiful city, steeped in history, and well worth taking time to wander around in warm sunshine ... although if such weather had appeared no doubt the wandering would have been south to Amarante, over 30 km and needing an early start... the other practical consideration was the need for laundry, since socks and pants need refreshing ... and drying, tricky in the hotels with wall mounted warm or cold air blowers ... so, since the predicted clouds turn out to contain rain, the long walk is postponed for a trudge around and the Pousada de Juventude ... no laundry, but good radiators for drying the clothes hand washed ... a top bunk in a six bed dormitory, to improve the average expenditure, since Amarante looks short of cheap beds ... this is €9 including breakfast, albeit rather late at half past eight ... a question for tomorrow ... for now, after a damp stroll, a dry museum and a couple of churches, it's back to base to write ... then find bar WiFi to send and scroll, since the Youth Hostel offer is consistently useless without a mobile phone ...
And lunch ... the main meal most days and today a chance to mooch, pass an hour or two, maybe find a menu that doesn't offer bacalhau as the only alternative to the flesh of dead mammals or birds ...
Interesting to observe the thought processes on a rainy day, compared to a sunny one ... outdoor options contract ... shelter is priority ... even a shopping centre offers some respite ... a little engagement with captive sales assistants on options for a mobile to hook into the Tab and provide calls ... posters everywhere promoting the latest madness of Mammon ... "Black Friday" ... discounts on more stuff you don't need ... easy to opt out when all stuff has to fit in the rucksack and be carried ... which suggests a phone using the same charger as the Tab ...
Well, since the lunch place has wifi, and since any extraordinary events can be reported tomorrow, here is the news from damp Guimaraes ... bacalhau was declined ... it's a speciality here .... hmmm, any chance of some eggs? The dessert, another speciality, is pudim flan and yummy ... now to explore some more ...
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