I got up at 4:30 a.m., so I would have time to make it to the airport for my 7 a.m. flight. I had no problems getting up and out the door. When I got downstairs I could not find the receptionist and all of the lights were out. This was a problem because I needed to turn in my keys and get my 10 euro deposit back. I had asked the night before and they assured me that someone would be there. Finally I asked "Hello?" and I heard someone start like they had just woken up. The receptionist got up from the direction of the couches, where she had been sleeping. I turned in my keys, got my deposit, and she called a cab for me.
When I got to the Fiumicino Airport I found were my bag was supposed to come out and waited. While I was waiting, an airport worker was going around my lane asking if people had come from Lisbon. The Lisbon Airport was also striking, which included the person who was supposed to load the bags onto the plane. So all of the people from Lisbon didn't have bags. It got worse, because TAP (the airline) was striking the next day, which includes the pilot that flies from Lisbon to Rome so they can't get their bags the next day either. So in two days, if they still want their bags, they have to return to the Fiumicino Airport to collect them. The system of striking in Europe is crazy! I am so glad it is not that bad in the U.S.! Thankfully, my bag made it alright.
I took the train to Termini, and then the H bus to the apartment. In total, it was about a 2 hour trip. Usually the trip takes me 3 hours from Ciampino. I got back to the apartment and chilled for the rest of the day. I also had to work on my presentations for tomorrow. I have 2 of them. I also started a rough draft for my Art History paper, which isn't due for 2 weeks. I also had a meeting with my Marketing group about the presentation for tomorrow.
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After the boat tour I was really hungry, so I went back to my little cafe on the square. I had an omelet and a piece of chocolate cake. It tasted coconutty to me, but it was still good. My first waiter was really bad, and pretty much ignored me the whole time. Then the waiter I had yesterday came and took over. He was much better.
After the market we walked to the Majestic Cafe. This is an important cafe in Portugal. This is where people would go to talk about politics, and these people gathered together and overthrew the monarchy and created a republic in its place. This was a favorite place of J.K. Rowling, and she was witnessed writing on paper there. The Portuguese people like to believe that she was writing the Harry Potter series while there, but at the time she worked as a teacher so she might have been grading papers.
At a lot of places in Portugal you see colored arrows on the walls of buildings, on the streets, and other random places. Our guide told us that they were directions to pilgrimage sites. I guess people still walk on pilgrimages, because those arrows weren't on streets. I know the Santiago pilgrimage site is in Spain, and is a long ways away by walk. It is a day trip from Porto by car though.
We walked through a pretty park, and this was one of the statues. There are a lot of statues throughout Porto with this theme: a man crushing an eagle. The eagle was the symbol of Napoleon, and he conquered Portugal. So these statues represent Portugal crushing Napoleon, even though that really didn't happen.
Here is some graffiti done by 3 artists. The new mayor of Porto is passionate about the arts and supporting local artists, so he supported them. Our guide warned us about the local beer customs. If you are ordering beer in Porto, always ask for Super Bock. Never ask for Sangria, which is a local beer produced in the south of Portugal. Lisbon and Porto have a rivalry going on. If you ask for Sangria, depending on where you are, you might get beaten up. Or the bartender will deny that he has it. Our guide pointed out some popular bars and then left us. I enjoyed this tour a lot more than the earlier one, probably because we weren't walking up and down hills this time. So this time I gave the guide 10 euros.
I was able to find the Duke's palace pretty easily, but by the time I got there I was starving, so I got some French Toast. French toast in Europe is different from American french toast. The European french toast is toasted bread with ham and cheese. It is no concoction of egg and milk. I like our version better. At the snack bar where I was buying food I found some Doritos, so I had to buy them too. I didn't think they would let me explore the Duke's palace with cheesy fingers, so I continued walking until I had finished them.
When I got to the train station I found out that I had an hour and 45 minute wait for the next train. So I waited in the train station for awhile, and then I decided I was hungry so I left to get something to eat. When I ordered a cheese omelet, I didn't expect to get sides of french fries and rice. I actually liked the sides better than the omelet, probably because I couldn't find any cheese in my omelet. I finished eating and went back to the train station to wait some more. My train finally arrived and I got on and made myself comfortable. I was sitting there reading when all of the lights on the train went off. So I'm like, okay, I'll just read off my phone while sitting in the dark and hope there wasn't a power outage or something. Then the intercom came on and said something in Portuguese and everyone in my car jumped up and exited the car. I decided this was a sign that I was not meant to be in that car, so I jumped up and grabbed my backpack. Then I followed a guy from my original car to the front of the train to a new car. I sat down and made myself comfortable again and the train left. I was really glad that I had decided not to play Dumb American and I got my ticket validated before I left because there was a Fare Validator on the train. He checked my ticket 3 times while making his rounds up and down the train.
It was dark by the time I got to my hostel, so I decided to stay inside. When I got to my hostel there was a big group of people checking in before me, so I sat down to wait. After the big group was shown to their room, a couple went before me. I felt really bad for them because their bank only lets them withdraw so much money from ATMs before cutting them off, and Portugal isn't a big user of cards, so they needed cash. The hostel doesn't have a card machine, so they would have to pay in cash for their 3 nights, which came to over 100 euros. They wanted to save their cash and got in a big argument with the receptionist about this. They kept saying over and over that this wasn't modern. They only paid for one night and are going to find another hostel/hotel that accepts cards for their other nights. Finally it was my turn, and I had just enough to pay for my room and the deposit of 10 euros. The deposit I had to pay in small change, because I didn't have enough bills and I didn't want to go to the ATM. I also had to pay a deposit for a lock, but I will get my money back.
Then I went to the Tourist Affairs office and waited for my guide to show up. And waited, and waited. Finally I went inside and asked if they could call the company, which they did. My guide, Jao, hurried over. Apparently he had emailed me asking if I wanted the 9:30 a.m. tour, or the 2:30 p.m. tour, but I never got the email. My emails have been acting up this last week. I was also the only person on the tour, but he went ahead and showed me around.
Jao also showed me this medieval street. Back then, people living inside the city had to pay a tax to the archbishop based on how wide the entrance to their house was. So people would building long, tall, skinny houses, but put the door on the skinniest part in order to pay less in taxes. This house shares a side with the remains of the old city wall.
Jao showed me a couple of other places and then left me back at the city square. I gave him a 10 euro tip. Usually I wouldn't give so much, especially for a 1 hour tour but I felt bad since I was the only person on the tour and Jao was so nice. This building is the Arcada, which overlooks the main square in Braga. It is part of Braga's Renaissance urban development. It was used to give evangelical sermons and other speeches. One of the places that I wanted to see was Bom Jesus, so I took a bus to the bottom on the hill that it is on. Then I took this funicular to the top of the hill. It cost 3 euros, but it was worth it. The only other way to get to the top is by the stairs, of which there is almost 700 steps. I'm cheap, but not that cheap. I will pay money not to have to climb 700 steps.
I decided to explore Braga a little bit before I left. So I walked to the Convento do Populo. This was created at the end of the 16th century by Carlos Amarante. This is where he introduced the first daring neoclassical designs.
I found this little shop selling souvenirs cheaply. So I bought a shot glass and a pitcher for myself for 9 euros. I'm glad I calculated how much it was going to cost before I paid. I gave the guy a 50 euro bill, and he tried to give me back 11 euros in change. I don't know if he thought I gave him a 20 euro bill or what. I just looked at him, and started to say something. Then he spouted off something in Portuguese and gave me 30 more euros. I'm glad I decided to check this time, because usually I don't. I just assume they are giving me the correct amount. Of course, I usually don't pay in 50 euro bills, I just wanted to get some small change. One of the places I went to was the Chapel of Saint Benedict of the Hospital. This is an important chapel where many supplicants stand before the railing hoping for divine intervention. While I was there, several people were leaning against the railing and praying. I felt awkward about going in there to take a picture. I also stopped by the Igreja de Santa Cruz. This building was constructed in the early 1600s. My last church to see was the Igreja do Hospital de Saint Marcos. This church has several different architectural styles, including rococo, Baroque, and classical motifs. It was built in the 18th century. By the time that I had seen everything that I wanted to see, I was getting tired of walking and lugging around my heavy backpack. So I walked to the train station, which a little ways outside of the city gates. The guy I tried to buy my ticket from didn't speak much English, so he wrote out instructions. If I wanted to take the train to Guimaraes (pronounced Guim-a-rye-sh), I would have to wait 40 minutes for the train to another city, catch a connection and take that train to Guimaraes. All told, it would take about 3 hours. He communicated this by writing down places and times. Then he said "autobus 50 minutes." So I thanked him and started walking to the bus station. It, of course, was on the opposite side of the city by my hostel. It took me about 20 minutes to get there. When I got there, I had to wait another 50 minutes for the next bus out. So I sat and waited, and then got on the bus. I thought it would be a nonstop bus. It wasn't. So the whole time I was worried that I was going to miss my stop, because I didn't know what my stop was. Luckily, the last stop was the bus station, which is where I got off at (because everyone else was getting off). From there my hostel wasn't that far away and I was able to walk.
I talked to the lady that owns the hostel with her husband. She was very proud of Guimaraes, and told me all about the history of the place. It is a UNESCO World Hertiage Site and was named Capital of Culture in 2012. Every year a city in Europe is named Capital of Culture, so it is a big deal. It is from Guimaraes that Portugal as a nation was founded. Portugal's first king was born here, and they were the first city to rise up in revolt against Spain. She was very nice. They didn't have many guests, because it is the winter and considered off season. I had originally booked a 8-bed dorm, and she mentioned that there were 2 women from Malaysia there. Then she offered to switch me to the 6-bed dorm, where I would be alone, for no extra charge. I jumped on the opportunity, so I got my own room again. I went up to my room, got settled in, and then called Mom and Dad to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. Then I relaxed, read my book, and went to bed. I got up and left the apartment around 8 a.m. I wanted to get to Termini early so I would have enough time to return the purse I bought from Accessorize in Florence. They have a store in Termini, and I wanted to return it and get my money back since I don't need it anymore. I waited about 15 minutes for the H bus, then took it to Termini. I started to wander around Termini, realized I had no idea where I was going and decided to Google it. I was going the wrong way, of course. When I got off the escalators I turned right instead of left. So I turned around and found the store. It was out of business. The sign was there, but it was dark inside and there was nothing inside. So, it looks like I got a new purse. Right across from the store was McDonalds, so I got some breakfast to go. Then I went and bought a ticket to take the train to Fiumicino. I got the train leaving in 30 minutes, because I didn't think that I could make the train that was leaving in 5 minutes. I still hurried to try to hop on that train, because my ticket didn't specify a time. As I am running up to the platform, the train is pulling away. So I have another 30 minutes to wait for the next train, and I eat my breakfast while I wait. Finally the train came and I took it to the airport. At the airport I didn't know where the TAP airlines was located, and I needed to print my ticket. I had been having problems with my email, so I couldn't print my boarding pass ahead of time like I usually do. Then I found a little kiosk and I was able to print my ticket there. Then I just had to get through Security and find my gate. I was 2 hours early, so I pulled out my laptop and started working on my Art History presentation. I also used the free time to figure out how to get from the Porto Airport to Braga. My original plan was to take the train, but while I was researching I found that there was a bus that goes there. I boarded the plane with no problems, and flew to Portugal. I really like that airlines. They gave us lunch, which was actually pretty good considering it was airplane food. It was a simple meal, just spanish rice, bread, and apples, but I enjoyed it. When I landed I followed the signs for a shuttle bus and found GetBus, the bus that would take me to Braga. The bus to Braga didn't come for another 40 minutes, so I sat down and waited. Then I paid 8 euros, and rode there. There was only 1 other person on the bus, besides me.
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June 2022
AuthorThese are details from my adventures around the world. |