Day 6 - 18.63 km Caminha, Portugal to Oia, Spain

Ola - our shortest journey to date - only 18.63 km - a walk in the park so to speak :). Our day started off with a great breakfast from the hotel and then a short 900 metres to where we took our short boat ride from Portugal to Spain. We paid 5 euro each to take the boat - that basically only held 6 people + the captain. Okay - we recognize that this is not Canada, but no life jackets, not enough seats for everyone and not much to hang on to. However,the captain quickly laid his jacket on the front of the boat for us ladies to sit on (the boat was wet from the morning dew) and he insured that we were safely seated before proceeding. It was such a pleasant ride, so peaceful and picturesque and the water was relatively calm. Once we reached Spain, we opted for the shorter more steep climb through the woods that ended in A Guarda. The forest was quiet, shady and had a soft dirt road for us to walk on - a treat for us and our feet! Once we went through A Guarda we went along the coast for about 4 km - it was so picturesque, the sound of the waves greeting the shore, the birds and the warm sun on our backs....just perfect!!! Some of the pathway reminded me of the west coast trail on Vancouver Island. We came along a path that led to an enclosed circular area that housed a place to keep trapped lobsters until they are needed by the restaurants or for sale. It was really neat to see how this was made/used - pretty creative. There was only one cafe from A Guarda to Oia and if you can believe - no bathrooms there - only a dozen houses or so and one makeshift Cafe, but the coffee was good and the "borrowed" buns with cold cuts and cheese from the morning buffet breakfast was tasty. We shared our snacks and learned that if you needed anything, Sandy had it in her backpack (a knife, crackers, etc.). We noticed that there was a long stretch that was damaged by a forest fire and new growth was just coming through - the eucalyptus trees seem to be the first to grow. We travelled along one of the major roadways for a ways today, but there was a wide pathway for us to walk on. We saw more cyclists today than any other day - they even have a part of the roadway designated for them. We think it would be a great place to do a bike trip. Once in Oia, we had plenty of time to rest up, do a walk about town and relax. After 4 long walking days covering over 100 km - today's 18.63 km felt like a great break. Our hotel was so quaint - it was so cutely decorated with old style furniture, the door had one of those old fashioned large keys, the light switches were on a little toggle that you turned and even better, it was near the centre of town. But we will see how well we will sleep with the festival starting at 10 pm! We had a late meal again as the restaurants would not serve us until 8:30 pm. We enjoyed fresh seafood in our Paella dish and others had fresh cod and Hake - all excellent. There was a festival in town tonight and it seems that the whole village and more came to enjoy the live music and fireworks. The teenagers under our window seemed to take great pleasure in finding out who can talk the loudest and make the most noise. We decided that the music sounded a lot better than the teenagers below, so off to the concert we went. It was totally awesome - who knew you could make such great music from some bagpipes, an accordion and drums - is sounded quite amazing. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and it was so orderly - no one pushing others to get closer to the stage, people clapping and some dancing to the music - a great experience. It is now past midnight and although tomorrow is only around 20 kms - we need to have our suitcases out by 8. It is also Sunday - a great day to reflect and be thankful we are here in the sun verses the snow and rain back home. Buenas noches!