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Posted by Sam McCurdy: At Wednesday's meeting, we had the final presentation in the very popular series of 12 'Travel Guide' journeys undertaken by different Club members. This one covered the 2018 journey of Isobel and Mark Caulfield in Portugal to meet up with Canadian and American friends to undertake another of their Camino de Santiago walks. They had met in 2017 while doing their first Camino walk. Portugal is one of the oldest countries in Europe and has been continuously settled, invaded and fought over since prehistoric times. Lisbon is the capital city. Porto Their journey began in Porto, the second largest city in Portugal. It is a beautiful coastal city in northwest Portugal known for its stately bridges and port wine production. The port wine is world famous and its production is heavily regulated; such that a vintage is only allocated if the wine meets a high standard. Porto is associated with JK Rowlands and her Harry Potter books, as she lived there for a time. In fact, one of the oldest book stores in the world, 'Libraria Lello', is located in Porto, and it gave her the idea for the sweeping and complex arrangements of stair cases described in her books. We also learnt that Portugal produces 50% of the world's cork used to stopper wine bottles, mainly in Europe. The cork is carefully removed from the bark of Cork Oak trees, which are protected by law. One other interesting item raised was that Eucalptus trees were introduced to Portugal by a monk who had lived in Australia. They have multiplied and are now considered to be feral weeds, and the source of many bushfires. Porto has numerous painted tiles in public buildings, with each tile telling a story. Each of the tiles is a work of art in its own right, and they seem to remain free of the awful world-wide graffi problem. While waiting to link up with their friends, Isobel & Mark took a 7-day return cruise along the Duoro river to Salamanca in Spain. The cruise took them through the Duoro valley, which was characterised by steep, rugged terraces abundant with vines, and wine-producing farms called Quintas. After meeting up with their friends, they set off on the 10-day Portugese Camino de Santiago walk from Porto to the historic Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.  |  | | Portugese Camino de Santiago | Santiago de Compostela |
Thanks Isobel for a very interesting presentation. Thanks also to our caterer, Vicky Carlyle, who managed to produce a tasty buffet with a Portugese theme. |
