Oporto!

Hey everyone!

So much goes on during my travels that I have decided to update you more often!

My trip from Dublin to Portugal was seamless. I totally loved Ireland but now that I am in Portugal, some things in Ireland are waaayyy overpriced. For instance, when I was leaving Dublin I went to this coffee shop in the airport.. I asked for a hot bacon breakfast roll thinking it would be some kind of sandwich... it was literally a big white bun (that wasnt even very good) and overly salty bacon. Thats it!!! FOR FIVE FIFTY! That is almost 10 bucks Canadian. It was ridiculous.

Anyway I arrived in Porto and once again was welcome with open arms by my host Ricardo! He is one of the sweetest guys Ive met with a wonderful temperment. He lives not too far from the city centre (walking distance for me, since I walk everywhere). His place is beautiful! It has a view of the whole city and the ocean on most sides, I will take pictures. Rita is his 8 year old boxer. Ricardo went out of town for the weekend so he left me with his keys, his house and his dog and told me he will get back Monday. He dropped me off at the Riverside area, gave me a map and showed me all the things to do and see. Just by fluke, the first people we saw was a couchsurfing friend of his named Pedro who was just starting to show his guests around, 2 girls from Albania. They took me with them for the afternoon.

First we walked by the river and then went to this little restaurant. Pedro doesnt like tourist places so he took us to a normal restaurant here. My lunch was 4 (thin) chicken breasts with grilled pineapple, rice which was really good, and french fries. It cost 5 euro!!! Imagine that stupid bacon breakfast roll cost more than my whole lunch lol.

We walked up a big hill that has huge stone walls on both sides. There was no sidewalk and it was only about 1.5 lanes wide lol. It was sketchy but fun! At the top we went to Grahams Port Wine cellar for a tour. Despite my lack of interest in wine it was educational and fun! The cellar was neat. I didnt care for the actual wine tasting part so I gave Pedro some of mine haha.

The sisters and I checked out a photography museum afterwards. It was very nice, some kewl pictures but mostly I enjoyed the old building it was in! The girls went back their own direction and I walked back to Ricardos with plans on going out for the evening. Once I got back to his house, I figured out how to hook my ipod up to the stereo and I rested my feet for a while. I ended up falling asleep for a bit, so I didnt go out.

The windows in the living room that I am in are massive so it was bright this morning but I slept through it. I needed to catch up on sleep, since my last night in Dublin went until 3 am and I was up at 6:30 to head to the airport. My last night there was awesome, I said bye to the boys at La Med and Paul and I hopped from bar to bar having a drink at each one.

So far my day has been awesome here in Porto. I walked back downtown to where we were yesterday. Everything is closed up here on Sundays except for the odd cafe. At the first one I stopped at, I got ham and cheese heated up inside a kind of Pastry. It cost me One euro! I just love how cheap it is here! Then I strolled onto another cafe, where I had some apple pastry things. They were small and good. On the patio there was a nice couple behind me from Switzerland. They speak about 5 languages! (There is a story to how I found this out). Then there were a few other couples on the patio as well from different places, some that spoke only portuguese.

A man came from inside the cafe, walked right out to my table and started talking to me in Portuguese (I could be spelling this wrong lol). I told him I didnºt speak english but he didnt seem to care, he kept talking in long sentences. Evevtually I heard this one guy say "This is hilarious because she has no idea what he is saying", which was true. A while went by, he kept talking, and I turned behind me to see the swiss couple. They were laughing and I heard them speak english so I said, do you guys know what he is saying? They told me they understand some Portuguese but not everything. He was saying I looked like a movie star, and as the italian guy from Geneve put it "He tells you only pretty things". Eventually he grabbed a napkin and folded it into a heart, lol, and proceeded to kiss it and throw it into the wind. Then he decided to start singing. Everyone was watching the performance in front of my table lol... the cute waiter kept shrugging his shoulders at me apologetically and I just laughed.

I guess because my hair is blonde and my skin is white it is obvious that I am not from here. Yesterday I was walking up to Ricardos and this car drove by me... he slowed down, almost to a stop and honked so I looked to the middle of the road thinking something ran out in front of him. The guy behind him almost rearended the vehicle, so he went forward again about 10 feet and stopped again. He was rolling down his window to say something to me but the guy behind him got impatient and started honking so he took off lol! Some people might think that I am pretty but lets be honest, I am not a traffic stopper! These people are hilarious. I have to admit that the people from here are really beautiful everywhere you look. I know a few Portoguese guys from Toronto who are very good looking but it seems like the whole country is!

So far it has been awesome here, mild weather, friendly people! It took me a while to find this internet cafe but it is cheap, clean and friendly as well. Now I am set during my stay in Porto! This city is beautiful, very laid back and it has an indescribable charm to it. I look forward to posting pictures when I get a chance!

Bye for now :)