Hi,
This week will mark an important time in our journey. Tuesday, June 4th, will be our 1st anniversary of living in Portugal. It’s hard to believe we’ve been here a year already. Time has flown by. We’ve seen so much in this past year. I wonder what we will see and do in the coming year? Hopefully, we will all be happy and healthy.
This week we stayed true to our plans for seeing local sites. We popped down to Gaia (i.e., the other side of the Douro River) to catch a procession at Capela do Senhor da Pedra (389R+GH Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal). This Capela is on the beach, perched on a group of rocks. We’ve been here before, but we learned that we hadn’t posted the video we took last year, and that we had lost that video and pictures. So, when we heard about the yearly procession, we decided to return and try again.
We stopped by a dog park we’ve visited before, Parque Canino de Arcozelo, (3959+8J Arcozelo, Portugal) and let the dogs run around and tire themselves out before taking them out in public. We’ve found this works best for everyone involved. The dogs run and enjoy themselves at the park, making them more inclined to walk responsibly on the streets of the village and not attack the people we find there.
It is a short trip from the dog park to the chapel on the beach, but when we got close, we were caught in a traffic jam. Yep, that’s right, we were late and didn’t get there in time to park and watch the procession. Instead, we watched the procession from the car as it passed in front of us and turned away from us. Not the best vantage point, I admit. But at least I could see the procession. Chris was blocked on his side by a large van in front of us (as was the dash-camera), so I’m afraid we don’t have any of that to show to you. However, we did manage to walk around the Market that was set up in the town, see a marching band, and make our way to the Capela on the beach, so we have a little bit for you to see. I hope you know that we are trying to get better at capturing everything for you. Maybe next time, you will see our leaps and bounds concerning videography…but I wouldn’t hold your breath. 😉
NOTE: Dogs are permitted to walk around the park where the Market was held and to walk along the sidewalk that follows the beach, but they are NOT permitted on the beach itself. This means that they cannot walk up to the chapel. This is why Chris went alone to video the Capela and the water. The dogs and I waited in the shade at the park until he returned.
Nola