A swift return (and a Metro question)

[BartM]

I talked so much, to everybody, after my walk from Porto to Santiago in May that my brother decided to finish his Camino which he started over 20 years ago. He got to somewhere on the Camino del Norte before getting a trapped nerve in his back and having to go home. So, he is joining me next week in Porto to walk the Camino to Santiago!
He only has two weeks and we want to spend a day in Porto so we were thinking of doing that and then taking the metro to start our walk on the coast. Can someone explain how the Porto Metro tickets work? If we have Andante cards how do we load the correct tickets to get us out to Zona PV_VC?

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Andante cards give you unlimited access to the metro. The red line gets you to the northern coastal area.

 

[Henry B]

Or take the metro to Matasinhos. You will comfortably walk to Santiago in less than your allotted 2 weeks.
Bon Camini

 

[Martin&Yvonne]

It’s very easy, you can select instructions to be in English on the ticket machines. Your first purchase will be incl the Andante card. I believe it’s €o.60 for the card. If you already have an Andante card you can put it upright in the card reader and load the card with the number of zones you need. Machine takes all type of payment cards and cash. When you switch lines you would need to scan card again before you hop on next.
I assume you mean Povoa de Varzim Vilà do Conde. However if you have 2 weeks you can easily start in Porto and walk the coastal in 12 days.
Good luck.

 

[trecile]

I would take the #500 bus to Matosinhos instead of the metro. It's about a half hour ride, and you will be able to see the coast as you go. I think that it cost 2€, payable when you board the bus. You can get on the bus at Praça da Liberdade in Porto.

 

[BartM]

Thanks for your help and suggestions.
We would like to do the Variante Espiritual which is another reason to save a little time leaving Porto.

 

[Rod Murray]

Two suggestions- get your Credencial stamped at the Cathedral in Porto while you are there. Also, there’s a St James’s Anglican Church in Porto well worth the visit. The St James window is quite stunning. We attended the Thursday Eucharist and they were so very welcoming! They have a Pilgrim‘s lounge, a stamp as well, and the Priest even offered special prayers for us as we began our walk. They even have tiny bottles of Pilgrim’s Port to take with you as you walk. We then took the Metro all the way to Povoa de Varzim that afternoon, even though we intended to start at Matoshinos. We did miss some nice beaches we were told, but had booked our first stop in PdV So had to get there in one day.

 

[BartM]

St James’s Anglican Church in Porto well worth the visit.

We didn’t manage this-St James’s Anglican Church is only open Sunday and Thursday 10:00 to 13:00 and other times by arrangement. I phoned them but they had other commitments and could not welcome us on a Tuesday. Something for next time...
The metro seems to work like this (or maybe we misunderstood and didn’t actually have valid tickets). You get a rechargeable Andante ticket. You put onto it tickets for the travel you want to do (one zone, two zones etc) and validate it before each journey. BUT you can only have one type of ticket loaded at any time, so if you have been travelling in the centre and have zone one tickets you need to unload them and put on a zone six ticket to go out of town. This seems very inflexible but repeated readings of the instructions seem to say that that is what to do.
We are now walking up the coast, in the rain.