Wow, have I got alot to catch up on. Well, Braga is a gorgeous little place but I only stayed one night before heading on to Villa de Geres. The bus ride was a constant climb though gorgeous lush forest with the mountain dotted with little villages. It was a hot afternoon when I arrived in Geres (for short) and I stopped at the first place I found, which of course turned out to be the most expensive place. It did not matter as the next day I moved to a lovely homey place that could have easliy been mistaken for an old person home due to crowd that sat out the front. At my know abode they spoke little English but served some fantastic trout and caldo verde (potatoe and leek soup which is strangely green). On my first full day there I set out to find the horse riding facility described in my Lonely planet. Much to my disappoint I found out after asking (in terrible portugese and some quite funny sign language) that the riding school had closed down a few years before. After swearing at my lonely planet (yet again) I set off on a lovely four hour walk. Despite the fact that the path was very well marked I went the wrong way for about two hours (all up hill of course). It didn't matter though as it was all gorgeous. It was amazing how much the vegitation changed during this walk. Initially it was dense humid rain forest with ferns and moss everywhere. Soon it change to a sparse rainforest and then a pine forest, then thick shrubs only to knee height. During my hike I heard a russling in the forest. I knew it was a large animal. Wow, could it be the wolves they described in my trustee pamphlet??? Nope, it was a pony that trotted right up to me. It didn't act wild but was in the middle of know where without brandings. By the time I finished the hike I was completely stuffed as it was really hot and mostly straight up hill. I really enjoyed my time in Geres and would love to go back, but I had to move on as the festival of St joao was to held in Porto and I did not want to miss that. I met up with Line (from Montreal) we went to the festival together. We started the evening traditionally with sardines, capsicum and potatoes. YUM!!!! We walked the streets. There were people everywhere with many sitting at large tables lining the streets eatting similar fare to us. Also, everybody was carrying plastic hammers and were hitting anybody taht went past with the hammers or sometimes with garlic flowers too. We were told that this to warn off the evil eye. It was bazzar. Line brought me a hammer and we started to join in. At midnight the fireworks went off. They were fantastic. We were so close that I could actually feel the force of the fireworks as they lite up the sky. We were standing near a stage at the end of the fire works. The crowd was thick, actually too thick. People were getting crushed and starting to panic. We were Ok, but it was quite scary. So we ended the night at that point which meant along walk home as transport was impossible because the crowds were so huge. The following day we went on a tour of Porto. It was really interesting and pointed out historical sites that I would never noticed otherwise. We also did a port tour and tasted a variety of ports. So good!!!!! Loved it. The following day I flew out for London. I was really quite sad to leave Portugal as I loved it for its food, port, people, history and nature. I would like to return one day.