So para empezar, our bus was scheduled to leave at 11:40 am on Friday, but, running on Spanish time, showed up an hour late. We got to Porto around 4 PM (it wasn't an express bus, so we made lots of stops). We grabbed a taxi to take us to our hostel. We stayed at Pilot Hostel, which is fairly new. Since there were four of us we got our own room (2 bunk beds) and it only cost us each 28 euro for two nights, and that includes free breakfast. I love that Europe has such affordable travel options. I'm so sad the states don't have anything like that. I would travel a lot more within the US if there were.
The next day (Saturday) we got up and had the free breakfast, which was light just like Spanish breakfast. We had cereal and toast/breads basically. Then at 10:30 there was a free walking tour, so of course we took advantage of that. It was not an official guide but it was instead by a woman who has lived in Porto her whole life, so we got to hear stories and such that she had learned from her life walking around with her dad. It was a really good tour, but we only saw half of the city and it still took something like 3 1/2 hours! Afterwards we grabbed lunch (I just got a hamburger, boring I know) and then crossed the river to go to a wine tasting! If you didn't know, Porto is famous for its port wine. Port is a very very sweet wine, usually for after the dinner as a dessert wine. I really enjoyed the winery visit, I learned quite a bit about ports, and then we got to sample three different types, a white, a 7 year red, and then a 10 year red. I mean this may make me sound uncultured, but I just really really can't drink wine! I couldn't even finish my little samples haha, they were making me sick!
After our winery visit we were exhausted from walking all day so we went back to the hostel and took a nap. We had plans to go on a pub crawl that the hostel offers along with other hostels, but I wasn't feeling so hot so I chose to stay in. A pub crawl is where you pay a certain amount (this one was 10 euro) and then someone takes you around to different bars and clubs and you take a shot at each one or get a beer at each one, all as part of that one price you already paid. My friends went and they had a blast, but like I said I wasn't feeling up to it. I'm kind of glad I didn't go because Portugal doesn't have a law like Spain (or maybe just Salamanca) does where you can't smoke in bars or restaurants. Anyone who knows me knows how much I absolutely despise cigarettes and cigarette smoke, or any smoke for that matter, so I would have been so uncomfortable in those places. Anyway I'm glad mis amigos had fun.
Sunday we had to check out by 11am but our bus didn't leave until 8:30 at night, so luckily our hostel was nice enough to let us leave our things behind their desk. After breakfast we went and hopped on a bus that took us to the beach! The weather in Porto was much warmer than Salamanca, but still not warm enough for me to bust out the bikini. The wind was really what made it chilly, but the water itself was FREEZING. There would have been no way on earth I would have actually gotten in that water, but I did at least touch it so I could say I have officially touched the Atlantic Ocean! YAY! :D We relaxed on the beach for a little while but then started walking to find lunch. We stopped and ate at a little cafe that was basically on the water, it was so nice. Once again I got a hamburger, but this time it also had an egg on it, which was delicious. Then we got back on the bus and went searching for Cafe Majestic, which is a cafe on the main shopping street in Porto. Apparently J.K. Rowling spent many hours there when writing the first Harry Potter book! Unfortunately since it was Sunday basically everything was closed, including the cafe, but we did get a picture in front of it! Afterwards as we were headed back to the hostel we were on the hunt for a place to get some coffee and a delicious sweet snack, and we eventually found a place that was open! I got a pastry that was covered in chocolate and had an egg based filling (like custard maybe?) and one scoop of strawberry ice cream that I'm pretty sure was the best strawberry ice cream I've ever had. Seriously. When we were fully stuffed we went back to hostel and spent about an hour there and then headed to the bus stop!Now in case you didn't know, Porto is basically all hills. ALL HILLS. If you're not walking up a hill, you're walking down one, all the time. By the time we found the bus station (after walking to the wrong one!) I was pooped! It was funny, I was talking to Danielle today and we're both sore from hauling our luggage all around Porto trying to find the bus station! At least I got a workout! Our bus left late (of course!) and we had to make multiple stops again, so we got back to Salamanca around 4 am. I was SO grateful, first for my Dramamine on the bus, then for my bed and my time to catch up on my sleep today! That is, of course, after my placement exam this morning at 9! I'm pretty excited because I tested a whole level above my original test I took a month ago! It's exciting to know that I'm actually learning! Hooray! :D
In summary, Porto is a beautiful city. Hopefully you can tell by some of my pictures that it can be pretty majestic there. However, it's so sad because there is a lot of poverty and run down homes. The homes, we found out, are so run down because during the dictatorship there was a law created that said that if a person was renting a home for a certain amount of time the landlord couldn't raise the rent for the rest of the time that person lived there. Even though the dictatorship ended, the law was still in place for a while after that. So for example if the rent was only 20 euro and the person stayed there until they were 90 (which is a common thing) their rent was/is still only 20 euro. There was no way for the landlords to keep up the properties for such small amounts of money, so many of the houses are very very run-down. Also now that the area is a UNESCO heritage site the houses are worth a lot more but nobody can afford to buy the properties because they would basically have to tear it down and start over, and there aren't many people out there with that kind of dinero, especially with the economies the way they are now. It's a sad situation. Anyway, at least in most of the places where the houses are run down, beautiful purple flowers have taken over. It's gorgeous to see such beautiful new life in contrast to the poverty and sad history that you see there.So yeah, new classes start tomorrow! I'll be taking 2 hours of grammar (required), history of women in Spanish history, Spanish lit, and business Spanish. I'm pretty excited about all of my classes, especially business Spanish! I think that will come in very handy in the future!
I hope everyone has a wonderful week and I'll talk to y'all next weekend! :)
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