It was the sunrise of summertime, and I desperately needed to get away for a few days and take a spontaneous vacation. I had an exam coming up at the University of Florence, however all the other students had finished up at the Cal State and were moving out to either go home or take a Euro-trip adventure. Not wanting to be left in the dust while everybody else embarked on their adventures, I made a last minute decision to accompany Jessica on her trip to Porto, Portugal. When I say last minute, I mean literally like I bought my ticket a day before actually going. There is something so incredibly exhilarating about spontaneity; the sentiment of having the world at your finger tips never feels so real than when you decide to pack your bags and take the road less traveled. Not knowing whatsoever what to expect, we jumped on a plane anxious to see what the lovely Portugal had waiting for us. We arrived and went directly to our hostel, which was also my first hostel that I've ever stayed in since I've Couchsurfed this entire year throughout my travels. We were greeted by the friendliest staff and the most adorable hostel equipped with everything from an open kitchen to wonderfully clean showers to the cutest little room with an open window view of the little streets that surrounded us. Right off the bat we made friends with two lovely American girls from Ohio, and decided to all room together and venture together for the next few days while they were there.
Right outside of our hostel there was the most beautiful church that defined a lot of the Portuguese architecture that I saw throughout the trip. I absolutely adored their style, mostly because their most popular style is constructed with blue and white mosaics. I came to learn that it's one of the defining designs of Portugal, which explains why most of the main buildings had this influence, from the churches to the train stations and houses. It gives the city so much unique Latin character and makes it distinct from other places that you travel. I've always appreciated those small characteristics of countries or towns that make them shine in a different light apart from everywhere else; it's truly what gives them their own cultural identity, which we wanderlusts love to find.
Our first afternoon we just wandered throughout the city to get a feel of everything it had to offer and an idea of what we were going to do in the next few days. We walked around the area of the train station and went up the hill where there's a large church overlooking the city, and that's where we saw the first view of the beautiful river that flows through Porto. The view that we got from the hill was breathtaking; I really didn't expect it to be so characteristic and beautiful. From one side, you see the views of the hilly city in all its glory, and when you turn around you see the side with the small mountains and the river that splits the city in two.
From the hill, we ventured down to the river side where we sat at a bar and got a drink to relax and take it all in. It was wonderfully cheap, which was a big weight off of our back after coming from the lavish Florence. The atmosphere along the river was pleasant; there were people set up dancing the tango in a small piazza, sellers with stands of cheap Portuguese goods, and most of all it wasn't overly impacted by the swarm of tourists that fill the more well known cities of Europe.
On our way back to the hostel, we were nearly stampeded by a crowd of priests and citizens marching and singing throughout the streets. There were literally hundreds of them, it was incredible. We couldn't figure out what it was for, and at first we thought it might have been for some funeral for somebody important, but later on we discovered that it was a religious holiday in the city. Despite the ignorant confusion, it was definitely an experience all the same!
Our first night, we decided to get a bottle of wine and some snacks and sit up at the view point in our hostel to just relax and have a good chat. We were exhausted from all the walking and nothing sounded better than drinking some wine with the girls and looking over the beautiful city that was hosting us!
At eleven pm every night, the hostel has a tradition where everybody takes a free shot together before beginning the night. The staff was so adorable! I really feel like they gave me a great idea of the wonderful Portuguese culture.
That night one of the American girls we met invited us out to go to a bar with her and her Spanish friends. It was quite interesting since they didn't speak English, but Jess and I surprisingly pulled through pretty well with our basic knowledge of Spanish and a mix of Italian ;)
The next day we got up and had the whole day planned at the beach. We started off by going to the famous bookstore that was in one of the Harry Potter movies...and it really was the real deal. Hands down one of the coolest bookstores that I've ever been in. The golden colors provided more of that antique book look, and right in the center of the store there are the most eccentric stairs that wraps around to the second floor. Sadly I didn't really have any extra money to get anything, but just being in there with the smell of new books was far enough for me.
I hadn't been to the beach since I arrived in Europe, so I was like a little kid on Christmas. It was still pretty cold like it is back at home in Cali, but wading up to my knees was good enough for me. All I needed was to lay in the sand and take in the sun with the sound of the waves in the background...that's paradise for me! We ran throughout the water for a bit then posted up for a good four hours with towels and sandwiches and sun bathed. It was just everything that defines summer in a single afternoon. Jessica ended up getting one of the worst sunburns known to mankind, and I burned pretty bad as well (surprising!) but really not even half as bad as her. We didn't even think of it being the first sun of the year for us, and we made the mistake of not really put sunscreen on...certainly a big mistake that I will make sure not to make again. We both suffered the next couple of nights sleeping and taking showers, and of course it all peeled off in the end. It was real cute. Anyway, after the beach we went to a bar that sat on the sand and ordered drinks. We took pina coladas, which happened to be one of the worst ones that I've ever had. When you think of a pina colada, you think of the delicious cream of coconut and pineapple flavor grinded up with ice and rum to make that perfect refreshing texture, all topped with pineapple to eat at the end...the kind of drink that truly makes you feel like you're in paradise. Well, these people just thought it was good enough to pour some rum and pineapple juice on the rocks, with random awkward chunks of pineapple. Such a weird concoction, but whatever...it provided us with that five o clock buzz that you finish the afternoon with.
That night, Jessica and I decided to go on a little romantic date for two along the river. We found a nice little place that sat up high above the water with decent prices, so we went for it. All we really wanted to do was try the typical Portuguese food after all! When the waiter came, he dropped off bread and cheese...which of course we ate naturally like we would at any restaurant in America. At the end of the meal, he ended up telling us that the bread and cheese was an option off of the appetizer menu, and it came to be about seven euros! So they basically stick delicious food in your face without saying anything in order to trick ignorant tourists like us....sneaky bastards! However, the food besides that was great...I ordered the typical Portuguese sandwich, Francesinha, actually a dish from the city of Porto as well. It's basically just a sandwich with three different types of meats and tiny french fries inside, wrapped on the outside with cheese and then covered in their special gravy sauce. It was delicious, but at the same time really rich and filling. We actually had a hard time finding anything really light in this city, so after the first three meals we had we were feeling rather heavy and were forced to venture out to look for soups and salads!
The next day, our American friends had left so Jessica and I embarked out on the city by ourselves, looking for whatever came our way.
We decided to take a path down the river that was obviously much less traveled by tourists. They were the smallest little alley ways in the midst of all the chaos of the city, filled with graffiti on all the walls and locals going about their daily business. These sort of streets always really bring the true character out of the city; it's all about the buildings and areas that aren't made to satisfy a travelers need to see everything written inside their guidebook.
Once we got down to the river, we walked up along it and went into all the little pottery stores. Portugal is famous for it's pottery; literally these stores were on every corner! They were all handmade and hand painted and beautiful; I would have liked to buy more if I didn't have to find some way to get it all home! In the end, I ended up getting my mom and I homemade candle holders, with the famous blue and white colors of course :)
Walking on the other side of the bridge was so beautiful. On this side you're able to look at the whole heart of the city from an outside perspective. It's so concentrated and colorful; the fact that it's built on hills allows you to truly see everything. I really got the most wonderful Latin paradise feeling as I walked along the shores of the river overlooking its beauty.
We purchased tickets to take a gondola lift from down below to above the bridge in order to get a beautiful panorama of the city. Our ticket included a free tasting of Port wine at their local winery, so we headed over to the cantina before going up. Downstairs they had a display of the process of making and corking wine, as well as the giant wine barrels to sit in.Upstairs was the tasting room, where we both got to choose one of the numerous types of Port wine that they offer. I took the Tauny port, which is the aged red sweet wine. We learned that the reason that it's so sweet is because in the middle of the aging process, they add brandy in order to give it the special flavor. They were extremely sweet...but wonderfully delicious!
From there we took our gondola ride to the top of the bridge, which was absolutely surreal. Despite being the shortest ride ever, the views that it provided us with made it all worth it. Overlooking the city from above was breathtaking...pictures just really couldn't do it justice! The colors of this Portuguese city are so much more apparent from above, and the mixture of that and the large river that flows through and into the ocean gave me the sensation of being in my own Latin paradise. Certainly worth every penny spent!
We went in search for lunch to get another typical Portuguese dish, which ended up being equally heavy and overly filling. Mine was basically just a scramble of their different meats with the steak fries, all covered in cheese and their special sauce. Jessica got the vegetarian version of their typical Franceshina. We left rolling out of there feeling like we weighed a thousand pounds. Oh well, it's for the experience I suppose! Needless to say, for the rest of the trip we made sure to have nothing but fruits and salads.
The next day we decided to get up early and head to a small medieval town called Guimarães, about an hour away in train from Porto. The people that worked at our hostel had recommended it as a nice day trip to see another aspect of Portugal. The train ride was beautiful; the whole way through was hilly and green, with little creeks flowing alongside the train tracks.
When we arrived in the city, we took a walk around the center in route to the famous medieval castle that makes this town so special. The town itself is a quaint little place, accompanied by the occasional tourist however definitely local enough to truly make you feel like you're seeing the day to day life of it's inhabitants. The people that we encountered were all so friendly and welcoming, even if they didn't speak any English they did whatever they could to help us and to communicate with us in the best of their abilities. I absolutely adored the little old Portuguese men; they would always shower us with sweet compliments and would teach us a little something about the town or the culture. They just all really made us feel integrated with them as well, and we appreciated not being treated just like any other ignorant tourist.
We headed up to visit the castle, which was built in the 5th century. The workers inside were so kind to us; we tried to get a student discount only to realize that it was only for Portuguese students with a card, but they gave us a senior discount to help us out anyways. I think they appreciated how excited we were to get to visit it, but regardless it was just one of those random acts of kindness that can make your day just that much better. Inside the castle was amazing; they had redecorated it with furniture from anywhere between the 16th and 19th century, with descriptions of what the different rooms were used for. We got to tour around and see everything from the interior of the entire place, to the typical clothing and accessories of their time period. It's always so surreal to walk around in these ancient castles and imagine people walking in the exact same place as you so many years ago. It really made me feel like such a speck in time.
We walked over to the even older castle that was still intact on the outside but basically in crumbles on the inside. We explored within its walls and came across a man who had wild birds on display...extremely random but awesome at the same time. They were all beautiful birds, but the owl was my favorite. They are such interesting creatures; I've always had some strange fascination for them. He let us hold the falcon, which freaked me out at first but obviously the bird is trained to be held so he casually jumped from my arm to the trainer's, and then to Jessica's. I suppose I can cross holding a falcon within a medieval Portuguese castle off of my bucket list? :)
We found this little restaurant in an alleyway where nobody spoke English, so they ended up searching through their folders to find their menu rewritten in English for us to understand. They were so sweet and kind, we had to eat there just because of their service! We ended up getting a full delicious meal including a beer and coffee for five euros. Best deal of our lives. I'm telling you, getting of the beaten path is what gets you the absolute best restaurants with the loveliest people!
We returned and went on our last stroll throughout the town since we had to leave far too early the next morning. We wandered down and got some souvenirs for our family and went down to the river. We ran into this lovely group of Portuguese singers and dancers that were putting on a mini show for those passing by. It was so wonderful; one of those moments where you really feel integrated into the culture.
We got some beers and stayed in at the hostel that night, talked and made new friends. We had to be up at before six am the next morning, so we didn't really have any other options. I took some pictures of the hostel when we got up as we were leaving...as you can see we were up way too early for normal life.
We were so sad to be leaving Portugal, it's beautiful landscapes, astonishing architecture, and absolutely lovely people. I'm more than happy that I got the last minute opportunity to get to experience this wonderful country. It inspired me to make another trip and visit everywhere else it has to offer. Their culture in general is fascinating to me, and the people really make you feel like your at home. If you ever get the opportunity to embark within the boundaries of Portugal, I highly suggest that you snatch it up!
Obrigada, Portugal! <3
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