Blogs from Porto, Northern, Portugal, Europe - page 24

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Europe » Portugal » Northern » Porto November 28th 2007

Hullo! well, firstly i have to admit to the fallacy of pretending to still be in portugal, this is being written whilst in a warm little cafe in Beirritz France (surfie town, cool cigarette smoke exhaling cold, hot frenchies..). So, portugal is just a memory for me now, but let me represent in the true style of impressionism that has come to set the standard for my Blogs.. with a touch of surrealism for those keen on adventure in their reading. Okay? orright. Phew! its been a big one. Again i've forgotten about my last one so hang on a sec. Alright! hanging out in Sevilla, i do recall. So, as transit always has a way of fucking us (the french swear, i do declare..), we managed after several busses, a few hours of trudging and ... read more

Europe » Portugal » Northern » Porto October 17th 2007

Europe » Portugal » Northern » Porto September 29th 2007

Bom Dia Bo & Dud, Week 10 and we are ending the week in Portugal. On Tuesday we had 2 new experiences. Our first was catching a bus into Santiago de Compostela and getting back without a hitch; our second was finding a Spanish Post Office and buying a stamp to post a letter to Torre del Mar - success on both counts. So, Santiago de Compostela, the end of the pilgrim route - I’ve heard it said that it’s the journey that counts not the arrival, and speaking as one who enjoys travel I can acknowledge this. However, if I had walked the 100 km route that you are required to complete to earn the title of pilgrim, with nothing but a walking stick and a shell (slight exaggeration but all pilgrims seem to have ... read more
The Man Himself
Incense Swingers
Sticks & Shells

Europe » Portugal » Northern » Porto July 26th 2007

Hey guys, Well firstly apologies for the lag in entries, the last month has been busy. After San Fermin, we headed to Valladelavilla to take part in Pueblo Ingles, a week long english school for spanish business people. We had heard a little about the experience, which involved talking one-to-one to Spanish people, group activities and lots of food. And it turned out to be an intensive week of english upon english which caused many a headache, but at the same time was fun and involved lots of food, wine and general clowning about. The Spanish people were mostly businessmen and women, from the age of 21 to 50-ish. Out of the Anglos (english speaking people) there were three other Australians, a New Zealand couple, a heap of Americans and a few candians. Each day involved ... read more
Valladelavilla
Valladelavilla
Xavi and Ben...

Europe » Portugal » Northern » Porto July 12th 2007

If I had to advise people whether to travel to Portugal or Spain, I would be a very tough choice. Despite the reputation of being Spain's less attractive cousin, Portugal was just as beautiful, and about 1/4 the price. Our first stop was Porto, right on the river which made for some gorgeous views thanks to the perfect weather we had throughout Portugal. After hitting the hostel and getting rid of our stuff, we checked out the waterfront and did a bit of wine tasting, and Hannah, being Hannah, couldn't rein in her shopoholic (and alcoholic ;p) tendencies and treated herself to a couple of bottles. It was also an early night as we slowly recovered from our late nights and early mornings in Pamplona. The following day was more sightseeing as we checked out ... read more
Back across the river
The town square
Oporto Waterfront by Night

Europe » Portugal » Northern » Porto July 9th 2007

We were not in Porto for long before we fell in love with it. Not only did we score a cheap room in a nice hotel - a huge step up from camping in army rows - but there were hills! Not something we get to see much of in London or Europe, but very much apart of our daily live back in NZ. We headed down to the Ribeira district on the edge of the River Douro. The area was so beautiful, full of old colourful building with bright paint and tiles along both sides of the river. We grabbed an ice-cream and walked along the river edge to cross one of the many steel bridges to ‘Villa Nova de Gaia’ on the other side, which is known for its many wine lodges. We got ... read more
Ribeira on the edge of the River
Purely Portugal
Porto's Waterfront

Europe » Portugal » Northern » Porto June 28th 2007

Portugal - Porto - Day 2 Hi Everyone This entry is about our 2nd day in Porto. We started off the day with a open top bus tour around Porto and managed to see heaps of the major sights, about a million chruchs and momuments, there seems to be one on every second corner there. Our bus trip ended down by the Douro river where the grapes are grown to make authentic Portugese Port, it is a beautiful setting with a lot of new restaurants and a great view of the old Port city. We went port tasting at Sandemans and Grahams and a couple of other cute little places. They have really little winding roads going back from the waterfront and they speed around the corners and just beep their horn to let cars coming ... read more

Europe » Portugal » Northern » Porto June 27th 2007

Hi Everyone I know we have been super slack with staying in touch but we have hardly had a chance to catch our breath so far!! At the moment we are in Porto (Portugal), we had our frist day here today but I should start from the beginning.... Our flight to London went well and we only arrived about half an hour later than expected. Adam and I both had about 6 hours sleep over the 24 hour flight so of course we were feeling extremely refreshed when Tommo (Adam´s friend who lives in London) picked us up from the airport. This was lucky as we only had 2 hours to get back from the airport, get showered and get to the pub in time for the All Black game against the Springboks. GO THE ALL ... read more

Europe » Portugal » Northern » Porto June 19th 2007

After our huge day the day before we opted for a lazy morning and Mick and I wandered along the beach and found a local bakery. We met up with Bern and Shaun for lunch at a beachfront café before heading into Porto for a look around. Porto is a city of cobbled streets, old terraced houses with decorative tiles and statues, lots of them. We saw a police chase with 5 or 6 cop cars chasing a tiny hatchback down the crazy little streets. We crossed over the river to Vila Nova de Gaia, the home of Port houses where all the Port made is brought to store. We toured the large Sandeman Port Wine house complete with tasting. We stopped at a café for a “tower” of beer and some cheese watching rain showers ... read more
Port tasting at the Sandeman
The long awaited “Churresqueria”
Beer tower before......

Europe » Portugal » Northern » Porto June 15th 2007

Time for our next adventure. We got up early and drove up to Preston in the rain (again). We met up with Shaun and got out to “John Lennon” airport in Liverpool where we met Bernie with plenty (hours) of time before our flight to Porto in Portugal. We got off the flight and picked up our hire car only to go in the wrong direction and get completely lost! We ended up hailing a taxi and following him to our hotel where we had dinner and went to bed exhausted. Friday we headed north to the resort town of Povoa de Varzim. Along the way we were stuck in traffic for seemingly no reason, only to realise that we were in the path of a cycling race. It added a bit of adventure to the ... read more
The 'Tour de Portugal'?
The boys enjoying the Sangria
Down at the beach




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