Payday + three day weekend (due to the feast of the immaculate conception) = trip to Porto, Portugal! By chance, some friends of mine from Lisbon were going to be in Porto that weekend and a friend from Vigo happened to be driving down there to visit his girlfriend so it seemed like a good place to go for the weekend. I found housing at Yes, Porto! –a centrally located hostel that was cheap, safe, and right in the city center!
We left Vigo around 8:30pm and got to Porto at 9. How is that even possible you ask?! The one-hour time difference between Spain and Portugal is why. My friend put his car on the blablacar website so we had a random couple come with us who needed a ride to the international airport. My friend and I decided to play a game with them and see how long I could pull off pretending to be Mexican (perhaps my darker skin tone would help because my accent is horrible). I have no idea why, but as soon as they hopped into the car, I literally couldn’t speak Spanish. I was so nervous, and I could barely answer the most basic Spanish questions. I’m pretty sure I answered him with my age when he asked my name. I decided that the car ride would be miserable if I tried to keep up this Mexican act so I told him I was from the states to which he replied he ‘knew from the get go.’ I was relieved after revealing my true identity and finally felt at ease speaking Spanish. I guess when people know I am American, it’s easier to speak Spanish because they understand when I make mistakes and pronounce things incorrectly. It is a goal of mine though to pass off as Spanish, but it honestly might be impossible considering my Asiatic features.
Friday night was very chill- I was too tired to go out (should no one say ever, but I did anyways) so I walked by the river with my friend and explored. The riverside was beautiful at night, but it was quite chilly. The next day I decided to go on the free walking tour provided by our hostel. The tour guide was awesome—she knew so much about the city and was very funny. Fun fact: Our tour guide was J.K. Rowling’s student at the English academy sooooo basically, since I met a student of J.K Rowling, I’m practically famous. Our walk around the city was gorgeous. We walked through the city center (Praca Liberdade) with the beloved Dom Pedro IV statue standing tall in the middle. We learned random historical facts like how Porto became nationalized, the myth about the old nun whispering in the central train station at midnight, the many battles for power, why some dragon statues are missing their heads, contributing architects to Portuguese bridges, the origin of the name francesinha, a very popular Portuguese dish that consists of ham, baloney, sausage, steak, egg, hamburger, bacon, onion, cheese, and tomato sauce (if you almost died just reading that, imagine eating it), etc. etc. If you want to know a little bit more about the aforementioned facts, you’re just going to have to visit Porto for yourself! On the walking tour we walked by and through the center, the train station, the theatre, Praca de Batalha, Ponte de Don Luis I (connecting Porto to the wine city across), Rua Catarina (busy shopping street), La Iglesia Santa Clara (all good errythang inside) and many many other churches/monasteries, Café Majestica (where J.K Rowling wrote the first harry potter book), narrow neighborhoods, and Cais Ribeira (the riverside). I met people from all over the world on my walking tour, one of which is from Madrid and happened to study at Duke for a semester and attended the UVa v. Duke basketball game while there (BOO Duke).
That night I met with another friend from Lisbon and his friends who live in Porto. We crossed the bridge to get to the wine area and ate at a fancy restaurant in what appeared to be quite far from the city center. His friends are all pharmacists so you can imagine how much expensive delicious food they ordered and the endless bottles of vinho verde that kept coming by our table. I’m grateful and very glad I wasn’t the one taking care of the bill that night. After dinner, we went to his friend’s house and drank and did karaoke the rest of the night—for those who know me, you know I was not up there singing. I enjoy karaoke…for one-hour max, but after that it’s just too much.
On Sunday, I decided to do the afternoon walking tour that covered the other side of the city. We had a different tour guide from yesterday, and he was equally as funny (probably funnier) and nice and made us start the tour with everyone sharing one word they knew in Portuguese. I could not stop laughing as he repeated the words in English: “Okay great you know ‘sorry,’ okay wonderful the word ‘pig,’ okay ‘to live’, great ‘fu**’.” We began the walking tour after everyone shared their very random Portuguese words and made our first stop at the Torre dos Clergios and followed with the livaria llelo, a bookstore that inspired J.K Rowling and the harry potter books. We walked by the lion’s square to get to a central park where we saw several statues of old people laughing that were designed by a Spanish architect. Some say they are laughing to depict the elderly in a happier light while others say they are laughing to mock the Portuguese judicial court (the building right by the park). After we walked by the only monastery with live-in monks to get to the miraduoro—a beautiful overlook of Porto and the wineries across. We took a small break at a café where I finally tried the famous ‘nata’ dessert, and it was delicious. We continued the tour to Igrega San Francisco and finished at Harry the Navigator Square and Palacio de Cristal. I met people from all over the world, one of them an auxiliary like me in A Coruña, a city in Galicia, and some others from Barcelona, Australia, and Germany.
That night I decided to do the dinner and pub-crawl that my hostel provided since I had not done it yet. The dinner was honestly not worth the 10 euro I paid, but I’m glad I did it for 1) the unlimited drinks 2) I got to hang out with the people I met from the walking tour and 3) we met Colombians who were working in Lisbon. I had so much fun at dinner and out and about in Porto with all of them. I don’t remember the names of the bars we went to (no, it was not that kind of night I just never looked at the names), but I had a lot of fun at each place.
Porto is a beautiful city, and I know I will be returning soon (but actually… my flight to Milan over Christmas break is flying from there lols so I kinda have to).
Yours truly,
TLT
We left Vigo around 8:30pm and got to Porto at 9. How is that even possible you ask?! The one-hour time difference between Spain and Portugal is why. My friend put his car on the blablacar website so we had a random couple come with us who needed a ride to the international airport. My friend and I decided to play a game with them and see how long I could pull off pretending to be Mexican (perhaps my darker skin tone would help because my accent is horrible). I have no idea why, but as soon as they hopped into the car, I literally couldn’t speak Spanish. I was so nervous, and I could barely answer the most basic Spanish questions. I’m pretty sure I answered him with my age when he asked my name. I decided that the car ride would be miserable if I tried to keep up this Mexican act so I told him I was from the states to which he replied he ‘knew from the get go.’ I was relieved after revealing my true identity and finally felt at ease speaking Spanish. I guess when people know I am American, it’s easier to speak Spanish because they understand when I make mistakes and pronounce things incorrectly. It is a goal of mine though to pass off as Spanish, but it honestly might be impossible considering my Asiatic features.
Friday night was very chill- I was too tired to go out (should no one say ever, but I did anyways) so I walked by the river with my friend and explored. The riverside was beautiful at night, but it was quite chilly. The next day I decided to go on the free walking tour provided by our hostel. The tour guide was awesome—she knew so much about the city and was very funny. Fun fact: Our tour guide was J.K. Rowling’s student at the English academy sooooo basically, since I met a student of J.K Rowling, I’m practically famous. Our walk around the city was gorgeous. We walked through the city center (Praca Liberdade) with the beloved Dom Pedro IV statue standing tall in the middle. We learned random historical facts like how Porto became nationalized, the myth about the old nun whispering in the central train station at midnight, the many battles for power, why some dragon statues are missing their heads, contributing architects to Portuguese bridges, the origin of the name francesinha, a very popular Portuguese dish that consists of ham, baloney, sausage, steak, egg, hamburger, bacon, onion, cheese, and tomato sauce (if you almost died just reading that, imagine eating it), etc. etc. If you want to know a little bit more about the aforementioned facts, you’re just going to have to visit Porto for yourself! On the walking tour we walked by and through the center, the train station, the theatre, Praca de Batalha, Ponte de Don Luis I (connecting Porto to the wine city across), Rua Catarina (busy shopping street), La Iglesia Santa Clara (all good errythang inside) and many many other churches/monasteries, Café Majestica (where J.K Rowling wrote the first harry potter book), narrow neighborhoods, and Cais Ribeira (the riverside). I met people from all over the world on my walking tour, one of which is from Madrid and happened to study at Duke for a semester and attended the UVa v. Duke basketball game while there (BOO Duke).
That night I met with another friend from Lisbon and his friends who live in Porto. We crossed the bridge to get to the wine area and ate at a fancy restaurant in what appeared to be quite far from the city center. His friends are all pharmacists so you can imagine how much expensive delicious food they ordered and the endless bottles of vinho verde that kept coming by our table. I’m grateful and very glad I wasn’t the one taking care of the bill that night. After dinner, we went to his friend’s house and drank and did karaoke the rest of the night—for those who know me, you know I was not up there singing. I enjoy karaoke…for one-hour max, but after that it’s just too much.
On Sunday, I decided to do the afternoon walking tour that covered the other side of the city. We had a different tour guide from yesterday, and he was equally as funny (probably funnier) and nice and made us start the tour with everyone sharing one word they knew in Portuguese. I could not stop laughing as he repeated the words in English: “Okay great you know ‘sorry,’ okay wonderful the word ‘pig,’ okay ‘to live’, great ‘fu**’.” We began the walking tour after everyone shared their very random Portuguese words and made our first stop at the Torre dos Clergios and followed with the livaria llelo, a bookstore that inspired J.K Rowling and the harry potter books. We walked by the lion’s square to get to a central park where we saw several statues of old people laughing that were designed by a Spanish architect. Some say they are laughing to depict the elderly in a happier light while others say they are laughing to mock the Portuguese judicial court (the building right by the park). After we walked by the only monastery with live-in monks to get to the miraduoro—a beautiful overlook of Porto and the wineries across. We took a small break at a café where I finally tried the famous ‘nata’ dessert, and it was delicious. We continued the tour to Igrega San Francisco and finished at Harry the Navigator Square and Palacio de Cristal. I met people from all over the world, one of them an auxiliary like me in A Coruña, a city in Galicia, and some others from Barcelona, Australia, and Germany.
That night I decided to do the dinner and pub-crawl that my hostel provided since I had not done it yet. The dinner was honestly not worth the 10 euro I paid, but I’m glad I did it for 1) the unlimited drinks 2) I got to hang out with the people I met from the walking tour and 3) we met Colombians who were working in Lisbon. I had so much fun at dinner and out and about in Porto with all of them. I don’t remember the names of the bars we went to (no, it was not that kind of night I just never looked at the names), but I had a lot of fun at each place.
Porto is a beautiful city, and I know I will be returning soon (but actually… my flight to Milan over Christmas break is flying from there lols so I kinda have to).
Yours truly,
TLT