dreadful after an all-night flight, I kind of like the artsy effect
of my reflection in the window! Not to mention the big
circles under my eyes!
My journal entry for:
May 22 and May 23, 2008
Wow, it's finally here. I sit in my hotel room in Porto to recap these last two days. I met Karin, Ray and Joe at Karin's house at 3:15. We packed up our sticks and my knife and scissors in a huge shipping tube that Karin brought home from work then headed off to the airport. Karin's son, Patrick, met us somewhere along Broad Street and dropped us off at the international terminal.
We wondered around the airport a bit. It turned out our gate wasn't in the international section. What a shame, international is so much nicer! We finally settled in for a light meal and a few beers. It was the same spot in which I whiled away the tme while waiting for my long-delayed flight to leave for Munich last year. I had a very good beet and goat cheese salad and two Smithwicks. I could have drank more! We exchanged some money, I got 50 Euros to cover food and cabs, then we headed over to duty free. I picked up a bottle of Dubonnet to drink on the plane, it's the only thing I could find with a screw off cap! I'm sipping it now as I write this.
Plane left on time. They served dinner at around 10:30, I had some awful beef dish. Was really jonesing for a smoke so I bought a ton of junk food that I inhaled on the plane. There was a kid on the plane who screamed what seemed the entire flight. I did doze off very briefly but at 2 a.m. our time, the sun was out full blast and it felt like morning.
We got to Lisbon at 8:30 their time, 3:30 a.m. our time. As there was no coffee served on the flight in the morning, due to so called turbulence, it was quite a bitchy morning. No sleep and no coffee. After we got our luggage, we grabbed a cafe con leche at an airport cafe.
We took a cab to the train station, which was a magnificent building. While waiting, we had another cup of cafe con leche and delicious sandwiches were bought for the ride. We boarded our train to Porto and passed some amazing scenery. Farms, fields, mountains and towns. There were cows and horses grazing in the fields.
As we got near Porto, the sun came out. It was supposed to rain hard all day but it turned out to be a nice but cool day. We got a glimpse of the old city from the train. It looked quite beautiful and I was looking forward to spending some time in the home of port wine! But it was not to be the case.
We took a cab to our hotel which was located in what looked like a business-residental section of the city. The hotel itself was fine, a little worn and nowhere near the old city. I was really disappointed as I was so looking forward to seeing this historic area (and drinking some port)!
Joe and I shared a room. As soon as I got there I unpacked and took a nap. I was beat. After a shower and dressing, we all headed to an internet cafe in a mall next to the hotel. I e-mailed Jon (my son) that all was well. We walked around the neighborhood a bit, found an older section which had some real character. There was an interesting residential alley that was all uphill. It was like a bank of apartments on either side, then it dead ended.
We had dinner at a restaurant near the hotel. It was in an old church building. The food and wine were fabulous and very inexpensive. I wanted to eat something authentic to the region so I had baked salt cod, it was delicious. It came with baked baby potatoes and roasted red peppers and broccoli raab, all cooked in heavenly olive oil. For the four of us, with a bottle of wine and two bottles of water, the bill was 101 Euros. Very cheap and the service was excellent.
Right now, I'm dead tired but can't sleep!
Additional thoughts:
Turns out the airlines wouldn't let us carry on our backpacks, too big they said. Though I kind of wish I had my pack travel cover, I'm still glad I didn't have to lug the weight of it to Santiago. My pack survived completely intact!
Hotel personnel and our waiter at the restaurant spoke English.
Photos from this leg will be posted next.
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