This past weekend I was able to take some time away from Madrid, AND Spain, and see a beautiful city inside Portugal. Its called Porto, Portugal, which may sound familiar if you have ever heard of or drank "Port wine." Yes, you guessed correctly, Port wine DID start in this part of the world. :)
Porto was an incredible city. I went with TJ, and we were able to spend two and a half days there. The hostel was exceptional, the food was unique, and we met some great travelers. We arrived Friday evening, after a really short but terrifying (Ryanair, obviously) flight. After getting settled in to the hostel we went out looking for dinner. Where we were looking was not the central part of the city, or the touristy part, and unfortunately this meant we couldn't find much. The greatest problem, I guess, was that I didn't not expect such poverty in Portugal. Whether it's their financial crisis, or just Portugal itself, the city was obviously quite poor, and without tourism I'm not sure they would have anything. Many store fronts were boarded up, or the ones that weren't were all very crappy kind of places. It was unexpected, but now I feel dumb for not knowing. Anyway, we found some very very cheap dinner and even cheaper beer at a random little restaurant. Afterwards, we ventured down to the river to see what everyone in our hostel was talking about. It was absolutely incredible. On one side of the river is Porto, and on the other city is technically a different city that is still considered Porto. Quite confusing when it came to maps, but it made the city itself very interesting. Pretty much, the "other" city, Vila Nova de Gaia, held the wine cellers and vineyards. The side that we were staying on was where you could find the city center and historical churches, buildings, things of that nature.
The other interesting part of Porto was that it is also connected to the Atlantic. Therefore, we could still see the beach while not having to leave the city. We took a trolly that ran along the shore of the river Saturday morning to the beach and spent most of the day there. It was very, very windy and much cooler compared to the beach in Valencia, but that is just because it is the Atlantic. The water was FREEZING! After the beach, we went back to the hostel, grabbed a friend we had met from the night before, and then headed to the river for a boat cruise. For 10 euro we were taken under 6 huge bridges, and got another view of the city(s). Afterwards, we had some Portuguese cuisine next to the river.... a breaded meat dish covered in cheese and sauce (aka heart-attack casserole). That evening, we joined two Australians, two Germans, and a brother and sister from Holland in the garden connected to the back of the hostel. We bought some beer from the hostel and talked with everyone into the next morning. The hostel honestly made the trip so much better. The place itself felt kind of like a vacation home in Northern Michigan, the way it was comfortable just like a home. The staff were some of the nicest people Ive met while in Europe, and eventually just brought out the crate of beer for everyone to have. It was a really great night.
On Sunday, TJ and myself went and saw the historical sights of Porto. We saw the famous churches and monuments, then went across the river to the wine cellers. We felt very sophisticated wine tasting, but I personally don't care for Port wine. It is extremely sweet, and you can only drink a little bit (my heart yearned for Franzia). We saw a tour of one of the wine cellers, and were able to go to three different places to sample for free. That night, after watching some Family Guy at the hostel with some other girls from Holland, we went and got Portuguese barbeque. It was delicioussss.
To save money, we booked a plane ticket for Monday morning instead of Sunday night. Since we had Monday off work, it ended up working out really well, BUT sleeping in the airport Sunday night was simply awffful. The last metro was at 1AM to the airport, so we got there at 1:30 and had to wait until our 6:30 flight. The life of a broke backpacker....
Nothing too exciting happened last week before my trip. On Tuesday night, my roommate Kristin and her friends made us a huge dinner. Kristin's friends in Madrid came as well, and with about ten of us it was a really great night at the apartment. I'm still very shocked I have been this lucky with my apartment. I found out I will have yet another new roommate in August after Kritisn leaves, so once again there will be another cycle of people. However, it keeps things interesting I guess. Wednesday night I had my intercambio, this time expanded with a friend of mine and a friend of Laura's. Thursday I went to El Tigre (Finally!), which is a famous bar in Madrid that gives you tons of tapas with every drink. We had sooooo much food.
On to a some pictures!! There are a lot, and this was me picking very selectively...
 |
| Night view of the city across the river. |
 |
| What it looks like during the day! |
 |
| Porto near the water. |
 |
| We made it to the Atlantic! |
 |
| :) |
 |
| People jumped off the bridge. CRAZIES |
 |
| Douro river boat ride |
 |
| Both cities connected by those bridges |
 |
| Beautiful beautiful Porto |
 |
| Blinding sun |
 |
| With our interesting looking food.... but tasted great |
 |
| Center of downtown |
 |
| From the very top of a tower where we met 2 separate groups of people from U of M |
 |
| Tile all over the buildings |
 |
| Cathedral |
 |
| From the top of the highest bridge |
 |
| Outside one of the wineries |
 |
| Inside the celler. THAT IS A LOT OF WINE |
 |
| Out of order... buuut this is on the trolly on the way to the beach |
 |
| The garden at night at our hostel |
 |
Our beds for the night.....
|
As you can see... I really liked Porto :)
Hasta luego!
No comments:
Post a Comment