Dear friends, subscribers, and followers,
After finishing my second Camino, I am now in Porto, Portugal, where I celebrated my birthday today with friends who have walked the same route.
Thank you so much to the new subscribers to this newsletter. Your support means a lot; receiving birthday presents like this is very motivating.
And thank you to all those that wrote to me. I have read all your kind wishes and have tried to answer as many messages as possible, but it is getting late, so I decided to write to you in this newsletter. There are still so many stories to share, but I wrote earlier today about how I experienced walking the Camino while the world struggles with the frequent, widespread, and devastating impacts of climate change; you can read that story by clicking here.
I will end with a few photos of Porto to give an impression of this day. The selfie on top of this article is not about my extra year on the planet but about the ceramic blue tiles, azulejos. I don't often take selfies; today is an exceptional selfie day, with one before the cathedral in Santiago in the first article and then this one. I won't make a habit of it.
These blue and white tiles cover large blank church walls and random walls in other buildings, like the train station in Porto. Initially, these azulejos were often decorated with blue, yellow, green, and white colors. But during the 16th century, the blue and white tiles you see in the photos became the most prevalent.
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I hope your day was lovely 😊
Brilliant! Many congratulations and happiest of birthdays! The selfie is entirely justified and it's good to see you looking so happy. Bravo!