Phrase of the week: “Oh, Porto”: The phrase used many times to explain the less than optimal situations that we encountered when travelling around Oporto, Portugal.
Observation of the week: We realized that we like Spain a whole lot more than northern Portugal.
For this trip we teamed up with our friends from Duke, Myles and Jason. Another friend from Cornell, James, had left a couple days earlier, but we were able to meet up for a day. We arrived in Oporto on Friday morning and took the train to the city center to check into our hostel. It was raining, and the city looked completely depressed, but we still stayed positive.
Unfortunately, Tim didn’t confirm the specifics of the room in the hostel, because when we checked in, there were 8 bunk beds and a shared bathroom. We quickly left the boys and found another place to stay down the road. It had a hand-held shower and no heat, but at least we weren’t sharing it with strangers. We had a dinner at a local seafood restaurant – Alicia had one of the region’s specialties, grilled octopus. Everyone decided to skip the tripe. We went down the river that runs through the city for drinks after dinner, the only redeeming part of the whole city. Sat in a bar with heat lamps (they have something against heat in this town) then called it a night. James, Myles and Jason had Port tours lined up for the day, but we didn’t meet up with them until lunch time. After two tours and realizing that we’re not big port fans, we decided to sit at one of the outdoor cafés along the river and people watch. After an early night following a McDonald’s dinner, we couldn’t wait until we left for Santiago de Compostela the next morning. Needless to say, we don’t recommend that anyone visit Oporto. If you want to learn about Port, head down to your local liquor store.
Santiago de Compostela, Spain, was a bright spot on our weekend. The hostel where we stayed was spectacular. All of the rooms were recently renovated, so everything was new and clean. There was a small bar on the first floor and the staff was really nice. The smaller city has an “old town” similar to the one in Barcelona, but it is much less seedy. It is the final destination of the pilgrimage and one of only three cities deemed "holy" by the Vatican. There were plenty of small shops to walk around and check out. The restaurants were all pretty nice and an Irish pub even played the Superbowl. Tim lasted through the middle of the second quarter before exhaustion kicked in and he called it a night.
We were in town this past weekend and saw the Font Magica (Magic Fountain) in Montjuic on Friday night. It was spectacular. The fountain was lit with different colors and was programmed to complement a mix of classical music. It was nice to be able to walk around the city and get a weekend off from travelling. We are both looking forward to visiting Prague next weekend!
Observation of the week: We realized that we like Spain a whole lot more than northern Portugal.
For this trip we teamed up with our friends from Duke, Myles and Jason. Another friend from Cornell, James, had left a couple days earlier, but we were able to meet up for a day. We arrived in Oporto on Friday morning and took the train to the city center to check into our hostel. It was raining, and the city looked completely depressed, but we still stayed positive.
Unfortunately, Tim didn’t confirm the specifics of the room in the hostel, because when we checked in, there were 8 bunk beds and a shared bathroom. We quickly left the boys and found another place to stay down the road. It had a hand-held shower and no heat, but at least we weren’t sharing it with strangers. We had a dinner at a local seafood restaurant – Alicia had one of the region’s specialties, grilled octopus. Everyone decided to skip the tripe. We went down the river that runs through the city for drinks after dinner, the only redeeming part of the whole city. Sat in a bar with heat lamps (they have something against heat in this town) then called it a night. James, Myles and Jason had Port tours lined up for the day, but we didn’t meet up with them until lunch time. After two tours and realizing that we’re not big port fans, we decided to sit at one of the outdoor cafés along the river and people watch. After an early night following a McDonald’s dinner, we couldn’t wait until we left for Santiago de Compostela the next morning. Needless to say, we don’t recommend that anyone visit Oporto. If you want to learn about Port, head down to your local liquor store.
Santiago de Compostela, Spain, was a bright spot on our weekend. The hostel where we stayed was spectacular. All of the rooms were recently renovated, so everything was new and clean. There was a small bar on the first floor and the staff was really nice. The smaller city has an “old town” similar to the one in Barcelona, but it is much less seedy. It is the final destination of the pilgrimage and one of only three cities deemed "holy" by the Vatican. There were plenty of small shops to walk around and check out. The restaurants were all pretty nice and an Irish pub even played the Superbowl. Tim lasted through the middle of the second quarter before exhaustion kicked in and he called it a night.
We were in town this past weekend and saw the Font Magica (Magic Fountain) in Montjuic on Friday night. It was spectacular. The fountain was lit with different colors and was programmed to complement a mix of classical music. It was nice to be able to walk around the city and get a weekend off from travelling. We are both looking forward to visiting Prague next weekend!
3 comments:
Porto sounds like the "1" on the scale of "1 to 10". I'm glad you weren't saving it for my visit!
that is an awesome picture of you guys. lol.
Your faces say it all!
Mom Dee
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