Blogs from Porto, Northern, Portugal, Europe - page 23

June 29, 30, 2008 PORTO, Portugal This was a bit of a long drive ( 5 hours ) from Santander through a couple of small mountain ranges to the north coast of Portugal. Our “GPS Lady” ( sometimes referred to as something not so polite ) took us a little off course with some new roads that have been opened that obviously were not on our GPS maps yet. We are getting spoiled and can’t even read a map anymore ! Made it to our destination safe and sound with a diversion through the city of Porto and back north to our resort hotel in Vermar. Porto is a very big city and obviously a major port. Our resort at Vermar is about 25 KM north of Porto and we were very impressed with this beach ... read more

It was clear as soon as we entered Portugal that, even by European standards, their drivers are complete lunatics. Every car journey seems to be treated as if it’s a Formula One GP and the fact that we’re travelling on a British plate makes us a target for “special treatment”. Some of the manoeuvres we’ve seen have been outrageous and speed limits appear to be of as much use as a trophy cabinet to Manchester City. Thankfully though, both us and Bella (Angela’s pet name for her car - no idea why...................) are still in one piece and going strong. As we made our over the border from Spain and headed south through Portugal it soon became obvious this is another country with many areas of extraordinary beauty. First stop was in Ponte de Lima, ... read more

Our 11-week trip is ending in Porto, a very different city than we´ve visited before. It is huge: 1.2 million in the Greater Porto area. It is built on loads of small (unless you´re trying to walk up them) hills so that getting geographically oriented is tough. We were warned not to attempt driving in the city, so we left our rental car at the airport and took a taxi in. Our first day we bought a 10 euro ticket on the city tour bus. It was a great investment. They have three different routes and you can get off and on at any point. In a day, we only had time for two of the tours, the historic city and the bridges. We took a long lunch between the two down along the river at ... read more

Friday 8 February 2008 Our bus arrived at Porto bus station early afternoon. The ‘bus station’ was basically a big shed which was half way through being renovated. There being no signs in sight to direct us anywhere, probably because of the renovation, so we enquired at the information desk. The instructions from our hostel advised catching a Metro to it. In Barbara’s best attempt at Portuguese she asked “Metro? Por favour”. To attempt Portuguese probably wasn’t a good idea because then the man proceeded to rattle off Portuguese instructions to us at 1000 words per minute. Our best interpretation of his hand signals was to go outside, turn right, then at the plaza walk down the stairs. Easy?!....maybe not. We followed these instructions to the letter, but when we got to the plaza there were ... read more

Tervehdys! Matka edennyt Madridista Lissabonin kautta Portoon. Kaupunki taynna portviinikellareita ja mukavia ihmisia. Kieli tosin kuulostaa enemman venajalta kuin espanjalta, joten siita ei mitaan ymmarra. Turistikohteita en ole paljon kierrellyt, enemminkin keskittynyt tutustumaan uusiin ihmisiin ja hostelleissahan se onnistuu mainiosti. Laskin tossa yksi yo, etta olen ehtinyt jo tutustua ihmisiin 30 eri maasta. Toisaalta hostellissa tutustut vain toisiin reissaajiin, paikallisiin tutustuminen on paljon hankalampaa. Kirjekavereiden ja intercambio/kielenvaihto -iltojen ansiosta sekin tosin on onnistunut kohtuullisesti. Niin ja tietysti baareissa kierros kaikille ja olet saanut monta paikallista ystavaa:) Oikeastaan ainut negatiivinen kokemus Portosta sattui viime viikonloppuna, kun olimme kellareita kierrelleet argentiinalaisen ystavani kanssa koko illan ja paadyimme yolla yok... read more