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Published: October 2nd 2022
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Déjà vu, instant replay or here we go again.
I’m up had brekkie, it’s brekkie if I make it and it’s muesli, banana and yogurt with some coffee. It’s breakfast if someone else makes anything! Made a cup of tea for Lee, she doesn’t call that brekkie or breakfast as it’s really only a precursor to starting to wake up. Then it’s off to another walking tour. Different company, different itinerary but same sort of deal. This one concentrated significantly more on the old town and the river quarter which is fine as the details and information content is what I thrive on. Run by Porto Walking Tours this one was conducted by a native ‘tripe eater’ unlike yesterday’s tour which was lead by an Irishman! The tours usually touch on food, language, culture and history but are open to questions and comments which is just as well or I’d get a reputation as a ’pain’. It’s only when they talk ‘football’ that I tune out. Including a 15 minute break (that = 10 Porto minutes!) the tour last 2.5 hours and like yesterday finishes in a spot a couple of kilometres from our start. That spot just happened to be
down by the river where Lee and I were yesterday so again I had no concerns about navigating home bit Portuguese guides seem to assume that tourists have the navigation skills equivalent to Vasco de Gama. I’d estimate that there were 30 in the group and there were 22 yesterday (I counted them in the picture, today no picture sent to me because I don’t have a mobile!) and if each gives the same donation as me that averages €260 per tour. Let’s round that to €250 or €1000 per month for 4 half days work. That’s approximately 135% of the minimum wage here in Portugal, more than 100% of the average wage here and well I’m concluding I’m over tipping and I never thought I’d be accused of that heinous crime! Another fact from the tour, Portugal transported more slaves from Africa than the British, American and the Dutch combined. The numbers totalled more than 6 million! And don’t get me started on the Portuguese Inquisition, their ‘benign colonialism’ of their African ‘provinces’ or the treatment of the Jews. Some very scary bits.
But I’m home again for a peanut butter sandwich and to get Lee as we
are off to walk some of the King Luis Bridge. I’ve got the impression it’s much more attractive to l’ok at from a distance than it is to walk but… Bit like Henri de Talouse-Latrek who ate at the Eiffel Tower restaurant everyday for years because he considered it such an ugly building and it was the only spot in Paris where he couldn’t see it!
May go looking for a ‘francesinha’ tonight. Pretty sure I’ve spelt it correctly. The description is quite scary so if you’re brave you do a little research. The francesinha district is a bit of a walk away so it may be difficult but a good one is great and a not so good one can be terrible. The spelling is OK but just realized as it’s Sunday most of those small cheapish places will be closed. Even the cafe that I have my pre tour espresso and pastries was closed today, well €1.80 I saved.
Time for our late afternoon ‘passeggiata’ (Italian I know but that’s the extent of my foreign language vocabulary!).
Bye for now.
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