(days late. I don't currently know where I am except north of Porto, drinking 69 cent tetrapak red wine while waiting to go to dinner).
Let me back up to the end of my last post. We had heard that driving in Lisbon is terrible so we got a room just outside of Sintra with the plan to take a train into Lisbon. Good plan except Sintra is north of Lisbon so we had to go through rush hour traffic on the outskirts of Lisbon to get to Sintra. It makes the Colwood crawl look like a drag race.
We arrived in Sintra and got lost and ended up on that windy narrow road that I thought was one way but discovered later is actually two way (thank god we didn't meet any oncoming traffic).
Wednesday, October 12.
I forgot to mention in my last post that Alisma gave me her Spanish influenza (cold). So, we have been sniffling and sneezing across Portugal. My cough started in Sintra, I blame the hills.
Ok, next day. We drove into Sintra to take the train to Lisbon (or Lisboa as the cool kids, aka Portuguese people, call it). Parking is an ancient walled city is not easy. We were willing to pay for parking but pay parking had a limit of 4 hours, not enough for our day in the big city. Amazingly, we found a spot on a residential street not too far a walk from the train station. I will now take a moment to discuss what an amazing parking job I did. It was a tiny spot, on a hill. Remember, I am driving a standard. I think the only reason it was still available was because it was such a tiny spot. But I fit in. Because I am that good. Boast ended.
Lisbon. Wander, wander. Coffee and custard tart at some point.
Then we visited St. George's castle (or something along those lines). Another Moorish castle defeated by Christians and then turned into a palace, then barracks and then a tourist attraction (a story as old as time).
After this castle, we stopped for lunch is a funky (communal tables) cafe. While we were eating, it just started to pour rain so we stayed there for a while. Lisbon is pretty hilly. We started in the Alfama neighbourhood and then headed over to Barrio Alto (the name should be an indication - high neighbourhood). We walked a lot. There are three funiculars in Barrio Alto but we didn't find a single one. At the very end of the day, we found a tram going downhill for a couple of blocks, we took it just for the sake of it.
Then back on the train to Sintra to retrieve our car and back to the hotel.
Thursday, October 13 (one week left).
The next day, we wanted to explore Sintra a bit since it is a beautiful city with lots of heritage sites. There are 12 noteworthy locations but we only had time for three. We started with Pena National Palace and the Moorish Castle, which, you guessed it, Moors then Christians, then barracks then tourist attraction.
The two are close together and share parking lots but they are actually on two mountains and the parking lots are way below. I'm not sure how to describe our ascent. First, we had to go through Sintra historical centre,which is narrow twisty roads crowded with tourists. Then drive up a mountain of narrow twisty roads with more tourists but less road signs. Then we arrived but we missed the Moorish castle because, even though you can see it from every vantage point in the valley, you can't see it from the road. So we ended up in the last parking lot, below the palace.
We decided to start with the palace since we were closer to it (do not mistake closer with close). We got there quite early so there was still lots of parking. 15 minutes uphill through the forest from the parking lot to the entrance gate, then another 20+ minutes up the road to the palace. It is so steep that they have a shuttle from the gate to the door but we poo-poo'd that.
Getting from the palace to the Moorish Castle is bad or worse. We could walk (down and up another mountain) or we could drive. We choose drive. But it turns out there is no way to back track from the palace to the castle. So we drove back down to Sintra, back through the historic centre with even more the tourists in the streets, back up the mountain also with now more tourists trying to walk along the narrow twisty road to the palace or castle because the parking was mostly gone. This time we ended up in the first lot. Another long walk along a forest trail (quite nice but uphill of course) and then another ticket gate and long road to the 'door'. We got our workout that day.
Let me back up to the end of my last post. We had heard that driving in Lisbon is terrible so we got a room just outside of Sintra with the plan to take a train into Lisbon. Good plan except Sintra is north of Lisbon so we had to go through rush hour traffic on the outskirts of Lisbon to get to Sintra. It makes the Colwood crawl look like a drag race.
We arrived in Sintra and got lost and ended up on that windy narrow road that I thought was one way but discovered later is actually two way (thank god we didn't meet any oncoming traffic).
Wednesday, October 12.
I forgot to mention in my last post that Alisma gave me her Spanish influenza (cold). So, we have been sniffling and sneezing across Portugal. My cough started in Sintra, I blame the hills.
Ok, next day. We drove into Sintra to take the train to Lisbon (or Lisboa as the cool kids, aka Portuguese people, call it). Parking is an ancient walled city is not easy. We were willing to pay for parking but pay parking had a limit of 4 hours, not enough for our day in the big city. Amazingly, we found a spot on a residential street not too far a walk from the train station. I will now take a moment to discuss what an amazing parking job I did. It was a tiny spot, on a hill. Remember, I am driving a standard. I think the only reason it was still available was because it was such a tiny spot. But I fit in. Because I am that good. Boast ended.
Lisbon. Wander, wander. Coffee and custard tart at some point.
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| The Cathedral |
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| Inside the cathedral |
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| The chill cat people watching from his apartment |
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| I love the laundry (maybe I am just jealous that these people have clean clothes) |
Then we visited St. George's castle (or something along those lines). Another Moorish castle defeated by Christians and then turned into a palace, then barracks and then a tourist attraction (a story as old as time).
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| There was a wall walk which was a tiny bit scary |
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| We also visited a couple of giftshops and apparently, I only took pictures of bird stuff |
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| More fake birds |
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| The sidewalks are made out of cubes of marble which became so slippery when it rained that I had to take a picture |
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| Out tram. They like graffiti here |
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| Street Art (graffiti) |
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Then back on the train to Sintra to retrieve our car and back to the hotel.
Thursday, October 13 (one week left).
The next day, we wanted to explore Sintra a bit since it is a beautiful city with lots of heritage sites. There are 12 noteworthy locations but we only had time for three. We started with Pena National Palace and the Moorish Castle, which, you guessed it, Moors then Christians, then barracks then tourist attraction.
The two are close together and share parking lots but they are actually on two mountains and the parking lots are way below. I'm not sure how to describe our ascent. First, we had to go through Sintra historical centre,which is narrow twisty roads crowded with tourists. Then drive up a mountain of narrow twisty roads with more tourists but less road signs. Then we arrived but we missed the Moorish castle because, even though you can see it from every vantage point in the valley, you can't see it from the road. So we ended up in the last parking lot, below the palace.
We decided to start with the palace since we were closer to it (do not mistake closer with close). We got there quite early so there was still lots of parking. 15 minutes uphill through the forest from the parking lot to the entrance gate, then another 20+ minutes up the road to the palace. It is so steep that they have a shuttle from the gate to the door but we poo-poo'd that.
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| Our morning forest walk |
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| The palace |
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| Another wall walk |
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| That's the Moorish Castle from the palace so you can see how 'close' they are (not) |
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| Tiles |
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| I don't know who this guy is but he was far away and very big |
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| More tiles! |
Getting from the palace to the Moorish Castle is bad or worse. We could walk (down and up another mountain) or we could drive. We choose drive. But it turns out there is no way to back track from the palace to the castle. So we drove back down to Sintra, back through the historic centre with even more the tourists in the streets, back up the mountain also with now more tourists trying to walk along the narrow twisty road to the palace or castle because the parking was mostly gone. This time we ended up in the first lot. Another long walk along a forest trail (quite nice but uphill of course) and then another ticket gate and long road to the 'door'. We got our workout that day.
The castle has not been totally rebuilt, it is mostly just a shell. It started to pour while we were there so we didn't get to see it all.
Then onto the third site, Quinta de la Regaleira which has the most amazing 'initiation well'. This place was built on the side of a hill (so no break from the strenuous walking) for the royals to use to walk around and think about life (?) and probably look nice in their gardens.
There are so many tiny spiral staircases that lead to who know where. Sometimes we would pop out in a turret or onto a lower pathway. At one point, we entered a 'grotto with no lights (basically a black cave) and discovered a water fountain and then the most famous thing at this site, the initiation well. No signage, literally no lights in the cave. Thank goodness Alisma had her cell phone to use as a flashlight.
Then back down the mountain, through Sintra historical centre with all the tourists walking in narrow streets and to the highway to Porto.
I don't even know what to say about arriving in Porto other than, never, never, NEVER, drive in Porto. There are so many one ways that the map is useless. Literally, one block of a street will be one way and then the next block will be the other way and then the next reverses for the whole city. Alisma would try to get us close to our hostal and then we would be thwarted by another one way going the opposite of the way we needed to go. Eventually, she way a pay parking sign that was semi-close to our hostal and we just went in there and parked. And then sat in the car for some minutes to recover.
We hoisted on our backpacks and, you guessed it, headed uphill. Porto is also a city built on rocky cliffs. We made it to our hostel, Grande Oceano Guest House, and then trudged up to the third floor. Have I mentioned how they number floors here. Ground floor is zero. Then the next floor may be 1 or may be 'anti' or some other thing. Not so lucky to have no anti-floor this time so the 3rd floor is actually 5th.
By the time I put down my bag, I was done. Sintra, three hours highway driving and then Porto. I was exhausted so Alisma went out to dinner without me and I read my book. The hostel was a basic room with a shared bath. 30 euros so cheap (but not in the end because of the parking).
The next morning, I was still made at Porto. Nothing was open and for some reason, our breakfast place gave us boiled eggs with our omelets and then charged us for them. Pro-tip, if they put something on the table, you will be charged for it if you don't say no immediately. This happens with bread and olives and other stuff. Usually we are fine with it and eat it, but the eggs with eggs was too much.
After breakfast, we went back to our room and checked out. We took our bags back to the car to store in the truck while we explored the city. Fortunately, it was a nice day and once we found the river, a nice city.
BOAT TOUR!
And the most important part of visiting Porto, a visit to the 'caves' where they store great vats of Port as it is being aged. We went to Calam's port cave.
We left Porto around 4 (another rush hour) but our departure was much easier. Less traffic, Alisma had plotted our course and we were better prepared for the one ways.
As usual, this is way too long so I will stop now.
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| Forest walk # 2 |
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| The palace from the castle (using zoom) |
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| This is a well, that is a reflection of the well cover in the water below |
Then onto the third site, Quinta de la Regaleira which has the most amazing 'initiation well'. This place was built on the side of a hill (so no break from the strenuous walking) for the royals to use to walk around and think about life (?) and probably look nice in their gardens.
There are so many tiny spiral staircases that lead to who know where. Sometimes we would pop out in a turret or onto a lower pathway. At one point, we entered a 'grotto with no lights (basically a black cave) and discovered a water fountain and then the most famous thing at this site, the initiation well. No signage, literally no lights in the cave. Thank goodness Alisma had her cell phone to use as a flashlight.
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| This is one of the spiral staircase turrets |
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| Entrance to the grotto |
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| The waterfall, as seen from inside the grotto |
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| The unlit grotto pathway |
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| The initiation well from the bottom. This was to bring the nobility a connection between heaven and earth |
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| Midway |
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| Alisma climbing the stairs |
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| The well from the top (or near it) |
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| This is the actual top. You would walk right by it without knowing it was there |
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| Entrance? |
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| Taller turret |
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| There are always cats at these places |
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Then back down the mountain, through Sintra historical centre with all the tourists walking in narrow streets and to the highway to Porto.
I don't even know what to say about arriving in Porto other than, never, never, NEVER, drive in Porto. There are so many one ways that the map is useless. Literally, one block of a street will be one way and then the next block will be the other way and then the next reverses for the whole city. Alisma would try to get us close to our hostal and then we would be thwarted by another one way going the opposite of the way we needed to go. Eventually, she way a pay parking sign that was semi-close to our hostal and we just went in there and parked. And then sat in the car for some minutes to recover.
We hoisted on our backpacks and, you guessed it, headed uphill. Porto is also a city built on rocky cliffs. We made it to our hostel, Grande Oceano Guest House, and then trudged up to the third floor. Have I mentioned how they number floors here. Ground floor is zero. Then the next floor may be 1 or may be 'anti' or some other thing. Not so lucky to have no anti-floor this time so the 3rd floor is actually 5th.
By the time I put down my bag, I was done. Sintra, three hours highway driving and then Porto. I was exhausted so Alisma went out to dinner without me and I read my book. The hostel was a basic room with a shared bath. 30 euros so cheap (but not in the end because of the parking).
The next morning, I was still made at Porto. Nothing was open and for some reason, our breakfast place gave us boiled eggs with our omelets and then charged us for them. Pro-tip, if they put something on the table, you will be charged for it if you don't say no immediately. This happens with bread and olives and other stuff. Usually we are fine with it and eat it, but the eggs with eggs was too much.
After breakfast, we went back to our room and checked out. We took our bags back to the car to store in the truck while we explored the city. Fortunately, it was a nice day and once we found the river, a nice city.
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| city hall |
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| Lots of blue tile here |
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| This was a t-shirt I saw. Took a picture instead of buying |
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BOAT TOUR!
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| I loved the tall buildings along the water
(and everywhere else)
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| there are two walkways on this bridge, up top and along the bottom, we crossed the river on the bottom part |
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| There were so many derelict buildings on the river |
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| I don't know why there is a huge gap here and I can't make it go away so let's all pretend it doesn't exist |
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| This is just like the boat we took |
And the most important part of visiting Porto, a visit to the 'caves' where they store great vats of Port as it is being aged. We went to Calam's port cave.
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| First some history and a tour |
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| Tawny is ruby aged in smaller casks |
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| The huge casks where the port spends its first five years |
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| Bring on the samples |
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| Samples selfie! |
As usual, this is way too long so I will stop now.
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