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Published: August 27th 2007
Santiago De Compostela
The night that led to 'singing in the rain´all the way home in the wee hours of the morning..and a nasty cold that followed me through Portugal..so worth it!On the way from Pamplona to Porto, Portugal, I stopped in Santiago De Compostela to meet my host for Porto and stay for a couple nights. The city is so beautiful and I was able to meet quite a few ‘pilgrims´ who had just finished the Camino. This city is really beautiful; lots of green space, gorgeous architecture excellent food and great people. I stayed with a CS host my last night with a bunch of CS people and we partied ´till the wee hours..walked home in the pouring rain..singing in the rain (English, Spanish and Portuguese present)… doing the whole fake umbrella around the light pole…and waited until 0600 for authentic Tortilla de Patatas - sooo good!
I quickly saw Porto and Lisbon (Portugal) in about 5 nights because I spent soo much time in Spain and had to meet up with the tour group in Morocco for July 21. I was really gross, nasal..cough up a lung ill when I was staying with my host Gabriella in Porto and she was such a gem. I had a beautiful bedroom and bathroom to myself, keys to her gorgeous apartment and loads of good conversation while I saw the sights and
Santiago De Compostela
Tagging Canada on the map of the world at my Santiago CS host´s house - 1st Canadian to stay there!!!! My Porto CS host is in the pic with me, tagging her '´real´home, New Zealand :) was disgusting It was so different to be sick in Portugal than in Canada, my hosts couldn´t understand why I would always apologize when blowing my nose or ensure to everyone that I was washing prior to cooking. They were like..listen, you are sick, do not apologize, there is nothing you can do..we do not care! They couldn´t believe that back in Canada I would avoid being around people and ‘exposing them´ or not go over to older family members´ homes..very different. While in Porto I wondered through the old city, toured and sampled at a Port distillery (Taylors is the best and worth the hike) went to the beach and caught up on sleep. Portugal really is a different world in Spain..lots of diversity in income and living conditions…and the language was a real challenge for me.. thank goodness the people in Porto are amazingly nice..and the pastries are deadly!
I road the train from Porto to Lisbon with a CS host and in the end..long story but the host I actually stayed with in Lisbon and I got toured around by these two other CS hosts who are in production and knew where to go for the
Porto, Portugal
The classic pic..amidst windy back allies..(the third world of western europe) I found cats, kids and soccer (football) socks hung from every wash line) best of anything and everything! We ate, drank, ate pastries and went sailing for a whole afternoon. I found Lisbon to be a beautiful city as well but definitely a little rough around the edges compared to Porto. I got to see Harry Potter in English with Portuguese subtitles which I was reading for some reason? It was an interesting experience to be sitting in a Portuguese theatre with two Portuguese guys and watch a movie in English, very surreal! I caught the night bus to Gibraltar, Spain and had my first close call with the buses when I got off the bus at the wrong station in Seville, Spain (who knew there were 2?) at 5 in the morning. I asked a bus driver 10 minutes before I was to leave where the bus was and managed to understand his signals that I was not in the right place at all. I scared the life out of a cab driver as we raced through the sleeping streets and made my bus as it was leaving, then of course the ticket wicket was closed and the bus driver wanted a paper trail… but I made it and had a silly
Porto, Portugal
Gazing across the river..below the Taylors Port distillery grin on my face..like I had just conquered the world
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