We docked this morning (Was that just this morning; it seems so long ago?) in Leixoes, in the vicinity of Porto, from which area all port wine comes. After leaving the city we drove through beautiful agricultural landscapes to the ancient city of Guimaraes, the country’s first capital and the birthplace of its first king.

I said it was an old city, right? So, once again here are images of old buildings, some lovely and some not so much.

The city was at one time a center of religious activity — monasteries, convents and churches everywhere– but most are now museums or government buildings. The castle was largely destroyed but a rich patron had it reconstructed.

This symbol identifies the path of the Camino de Santiago which is a network of pilgrimage routes from all over Europe leading to the cathedral de Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Today it is more likely to be someone’s hiking trail than a pilgrimage route.

This picture composed of ceramic tiles was a good example of how they are used. We also learned that there is a group called the tile mafia who steal the old tiles and sell them to tourists. What will they think of next?

From Guimaraes we drove to Braga, an ancient city founded by the Romans. As we were getting off the bus one of my friends tripped on a sharp pipe and injured herself badly. We did what we could to stop the bleeding while we waited for the ambulance in the steady rain there on the sidewalk. The shopkeepers brought tea and tried to help but it was a pretty primitive emergency situation for which no one was prepared. After the medics had stabilized her and the ambulance left I walked a few blocks but didn’t see much before we headed back to the ship.

Later tonight we heard from my friend that God had blessed her by getting her in to surgery in just over an hour, for an hour, with a good surgeon who sewed her up with many stitches and they may be able to rejoin the ship later in Spain. She is the fourth one in our Bible study group who has experienced foreign hospitals on this trip. Viking does a good job of meeting them at the hospital and getting them settled and redirected but it is a traumatic experience none the less.