I arrived in Porto around 5:30 and the first thing I noticed was that the cold, windy, rainy weather had followed me from Ledesma. The second thing I noticed was that I had no idea where the bus had dropped me off and no idea where to go. I knew, in fact, only one thing: in cities built in mountainous landscapes next to rivers, the best way to get to the river is start walking downhill. So I did. Once I reached the river I figured out where I needed to go and headed east. Unfortunately my destination was about 2 miles away and (of course) back up another hill!
After grabbing a much needed shower at the hostel (which is brand new and has an awesome aquarium- quite a steal for 14 euro a night), I headed downstairs to join the obligatory pub crawl. Only, it was raining and cold and Thursday so there ended up only being 6 of us daring souls. So instead of doing the crawl we did a port tasting and then had a few Super Bocks (excellent beer- not actually a bock though) at some great bars. The best part was getting to know all the Pancho touring staff. So for the remainder of my time in Porto, by knowing them basically everyone knew me. I'd be great at this tour guide/pubcrawl stuff!
I awoke the next morning and took a train up to Braga (a city famous for its Baroque architecture). The train system here in Portugal is outstanding- it was only 6 euro round trip to Braga and took about an hour. The most interesting thing to see there by a wide margin, in my opinion, is the Bom Jesus do Monte Sanctuary. It's nestled up in the hills a bit outside of the city and as I approached on foot, the low clouds forming a fog around it made it feel as if I had set out for Shangri-La.
The sanctuary is a bit of a climb (and obviously I took the long way hiking through the woods) but it is well worth the trip. The most stunning feature is the Baroque staircase featuring a cascading series of fountains. The sanctuary itself is also fantastic and there is a grotto and tons of other interesting elements.
On the hike back down from the main stairway there are also numerous chapels that occupy the directional change-points, where inside gruesome/creepy biblical scenes are depicted. You also get a tremendous view of Braga from atop the sanctuary.
The rest of my time in Braga was spent wandering around checking out the various Baroque churches and other sites such as the ancient Roman fountain. I also purchased an umbrella and, per the Mike Steele Law of Inverse Causality, the rain immediately stopped and held off for the rest of the day. Since I had some time to kill before my train I swung by the supermarket and picked up some bread, ham and cheese for sandwiches that cost me a whopping 4.50 euro. Shopping in Portugal is so cheap.
I arrived back in Porto just in time to join up with my friends at Pancho for the Friday night pub crawl. This time we had about 30 people in our group, and our first stop was the port tasting. Since I had been there before and knew everyone (and because I know a great deal about port anyway ha), they let me teach the class to our group. Suddenly I'm kind of a big deal here, ha! After the tasting we hopped around from club to club and I finally packed it in around 5:30am with the club still jammed full. The Portuguese are just like the Spanish when it comes to nights out- the first club didn't even get full until 2am.
As we left, Bernardo and I had to help a fellow over-imbibed pub crawler back to his place. So when I finally got back and laid down it was 6:30am. At the exact moment my head hit the pillow someone else in the room's alarm clock went off. Apparently my job is to ensure that the sun never sets on my fellow hostel-goers. On Saturday I arose around 10:00 and made my way to the free walking tour. And to my great surprise, OH SNAP! Guess who I saw?
Of all the gin joints in all the world. My ex-girlfriend. This was certainly something that I had not anticipated- being robbed, trampled, lost, frozen, murdered and a whole host of other possibilities were contemplated but this one was certainly the furthest thing from a reality in my mind. Oh well, f-it right? When in Rome do as the Romans, when in Porto bury the hatchet with the ex. In all it was nice getting caught up and hearing her adventures. It was actually quite humorous to me because within the first 20 minutes of talking to her I was fully reminded of all the things about her that I found so fascinating as well as all the things that make her, well... let's just say not the person for me. But at the end of the day I think we'll be able to exist as friends. How good of friends? Only time shall tell. But hey, it's a start.
After the walking tour I accompanied her on a river cruise that came with a port tasting and we met some nice folks from Estonia by way of Amsterdam who became our pals for the rest of the day. After doing a port cellar tour and tasting several glasses we acquired some bottles of port and took the party to the riverside.
The best part of this was watching the sun go down over Porto which provided some excellent photo opportunities.
Then, in an odd twist of fate, the ex decided to assume my normal course of action when drinking by a water source and got absolutely bombed. We had to physically assist her across the bridge to dinner later. After some food we all sobered up considerably and then hit the clubs. While she went back to her hostel to grab her phone, Kaarel, Mati and I had a beer at an outdoor cafe in one of thee plazas near some of the better bars.
As we sat there discussing various topics such as our favorite English words and how they would respond to the question "how do you feel about antics?" in a job interview, I was approached by not one or two but three groups of people I knew in Porto. After much back slapping and glad handing, I think my new pals may have been a little astonished by my apparent sudden popularity in the city. While it's not conducive to a healthy sleeping lifestyle, you sure can make a lot of great friends spending time in the bars in foreign cities.
In the end we went to several places and ended up at this club where an evidently very popular female DJ was spinning. I finally turned in at 6:30 because I was going to take a train to Lisbon. When I awoke at 11am, I immediately scrapped that idea with great gusto and drifted back soundly to sleep. I eventually did get out of bed and took a fantastic walk around Porto soaking in the (FINALLY) nice weather! From the top of the bridge and into the cellar-side I was able to snap a couple of good shots of Porto. Tomorrow morning I'm on an early train to Lisbon, making my Rick Blaine reference even more appropriate.
After grabbing a much needed shower at the hostel (which is brand new and has an awesome aquarium- quite a steal for 14 euro a night), I headed downstairs to join the obligatory pub crawl. Only, it was raining and cold and Thursday so there ended up only being 6 of us daring souls. So instead of doing the crawl we did a port tasting and then had a few Super Bocks (excellent beer- not actually a bock though) at some great bars. The best part was getting to know all the Pancho touring staff. So for the remainder of my time in Porto, by knowing them basically everyone knew me. I'd be great at this tour guide/pubcrawl stuff!
I awoke the next morning and took a train up to Braga (a city famous for its Baroque architecture). The train system here in Portugal is outstanding- it was only 6 euro round trip to Braga and took about an hour. The most interesting thing to see there by a wide margin, in my opinion, is the Bom Jesus do Monte Sanctuary. It's nestled up in the hills a bit outside of the city and as I approached on foot, the low clouds forming a fog around it made it feel as if I had set out for Shangri-La.
The sanctuary is a bit of a climb (and obviously I took the long way hiking through the woods) but it is well worth the trip. The most stunning feature is the Baroque staircase featuring a cascading series of fountains. The sanctuary itself is also fantastic and there is a grotto and tons of other interesting elements.
On the hike back down from the main stairway there are also numerous chapels that occupy the directional change-points, where inside gruesome/creepy biblical scenes are depicted. You also get a tremendous view of Braga from atop the sanctuary.The rest of my time in Braga was spent wandering around checking out the various Baroque churches and other sites such as the ancient Roman fountain. I also purchased an umbrella and, per the Mike Steele Law of Inverse Causality, the rain immediately stopped and held off for the rest of the day. Since I had some time to kill before my train I swung by the supermarket and picked up some bread, ham and cheese for sandwiches that cost me a whopping 4.50 euro. Shopping in Portugal is so cheap.I arrived back in Porto just in time to join up with my friends at Pancho for the Friday night pub crawl. This time we had about 30 people in our group, and our first stop was the port tasting. Since I had been there before and knew everyone (and because I know a great deal about port anyway ha), they let me teach the class to our group. Suddenly I'm kind of a big deal here, ha! After the tasting we hopped around from club to club and I finally packed it in around 5:30am with the club still jammed full. The Portuguese are just like the Spanish when it comes to nights out- the first club didn't even get full until 2am.
As we left, Bernardo and I had to help a fellow over-imbibed pub crawler back to his place. So when I finally got back and laid down it was 6:30am. At the exact moment my head hit the pillow someone else in the room's alarm clock went off. Apparently my job is to ensure that the sun never sets on my fellow hostel-goers. On Saturday I arose around 10:00 and made my way to the free walking tour. And to my great surprise, OH SNAP! Guess who I saw?
Of all the gin joints in all the world. My ex-girlfriend. This was certainly something that I had not anticipated- being robbed, trampled, lost, frozen, murdered and a whole host of other possibilities were contemplated but this one was certainly the furthest thing from a reality in my mind. Oh well, f-it right? When in Rome do as the Romans, when in Porto bury the hatchet with the ex. In all it was nice getting caught up and hearing her adventures. It was actually quite humorous to me because within the first 20 minutes of talking to her I was fully reminded of all the things about her that I found so fascinating as well as all the things that make her, well... let's just say not the person for me. But at the end of the day I think we'll be able to exist as friends. How good of friends? Only time shall tell. But hey, it's a start.After the walking tour I accompanied her on a river cruise that came with a port tasting and we met some nice folks from Estonia by way of Amsterdam who became our pals for the rest of the day. After doing a port cellar tour and tasting several glasses we acquired some bottles of port and took the party to the riverside.
The best part of this was watching the sun go down over Porto which provided some excellent photo opportunities.Then, in an odd twist of fate, the ex decided to assume my normal course of action when drinking by a water source and got absolutely bombed. We had to physically assist her across the bridge to dinner later. After some food we all sobered up considerably and then hit the clubs. While she went back to her hostel to grab her phone, Kaarel, Mati and I had a beer at an outdoor cafe in one of thee plazas near some of the better bars.As we sat there discussing various topics such as our favorite English words and how they would respond to the question "how do you feel about antics?" in a job interview, I was approached by not one or two but three groups of people I knew in Porto. After much back slapping and glad handing, I think my new pals may have been a little astonished by my apparent sudden popularity in the city. While it's not conducive to a healthy sleeping lifestyle, you sure can make a lot of great friends spending time in the bars in foreign cities.
In the end we went to several places and ended up at this club where an evidently very popular female DJ was spinning. I finally turned in at 6:30 because I was going to take a train to Lisbon. When I awoke at 11am, I immediately scrapped that idea with great gusto and drifted back soundly to sleep. I eventually did get out of bed and took a fantastic walk around Porto soaking in the (FINALLY) nice weather! From the top of the bridge and into the cellar-side I was able to snap a couple of good shots of Porto. Tomorrow morning I'm on an early train to Lisbon, making my Rick Blaine reference even more appropriate.
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