Another night of stealth camping. We tried to find the municipal campground in Vila do Conde, but it was too far out of town and no one could give us reliable directions to it. The language barrier doesn't help, of course; although this is a beach town, it is frequented primarily by Portuguese tourists seeking escape from the hot interior - few and fortunate are those who live near water. We ask this one driver, who is convinced that we can set up our tent in the nearby parkland...so we gave that a shot, but were told around 2330 (after returning from a couple of drinks on the town) that it is illegal to camp there. What to do? The police were nice, at least, and advised us to camp "somewhere where we can't see you" as it was too late to check in at the municipal campground (which, as it turns out, was merely 2 km up the main road out of town towards Porto...we passed it on the way out.) Needless to say, we took their advice and found some less busy parkland on the opposite bank of the river - lacking in the usual amenities of hygiene, but sufficient for a quick sleep before today's short ride to Porto.
The thing with stealth camping is that you have to maintain the stealth part. For camping near urban areas, this means an early start to the day; we get up at 0600 to beat the morning traffic, wake up with a morning stretch, and take tea (very inexpensively - under 3€ for our pastries and beverages combined!) along the highway. We hit the circunvalación (the ring road that surrounds most European cities) about 0730, where we are brought halfway around the city on increasingly busy motorways before we decide to make our way through the inner streets. Through a combination of bus station maps, awkward inquiries (remember we don't know the language here - although similar to Spanish, it's different enough that you cannot simply speak Spanish and be understood!) and general "adventure navigation" (our term for ad-hoc navigation without consulting the map) we find the city centre, passing first by the Palacio Cristal with its domed roof, four seasons statues, and gardens facing the River Douro. Another navigational feat to find the local tourism office and ask about relatively cheap accommodation - by this time, we have enough of a feel for the city that we can easily find the pensions they point us to.
We spend a bit of time knocking some chores off the list - there are postcards to be sent, for instance, and other trinkets acquired that must also be posted home so that we can relieve ourselves of the additional burden. (For instance, we have these shirts we got on this pub crawl in Amsterdam. They're impossibly tacky, but we've been using them to clean chains and intend to wrap our Bordeaux Fête le Vin glasses in them for added protection while in transit.) After this, we head over to the opposite side of the river, which is packed with the port wine caves that Porto is so well known for. We take a port and chocolate tasting at one place before heading over to Sandeman for a tour of their cellars. In this weather, the white port is surprisingly refreshing - like white wine, it is best served chilled. (That said, we vastly prefer the tawny ports offered, which have a fantastically delicious rich caramel taste.) It is interesting to note that most of the port companies here were established by foreigners, and that Sandeman was one of the first trademarked brands under UK trademark law.
Not yet satisfied with our port enjoyment in Porto, we pick up more port at the supermarket to accompany a spread of bread, cheese, grapes, nuts, and chocolate which we consume down by the banks of the Douro. We probably eat better than any other cyclists in history :)
Anyways, that's all for today - a fairly low-key day, but a welcome spot of rest before the sprint down to the Strait of Gibraltar. Until later!