Friday, January 12, 2024
The pillows of Porto are very squishy. They are very large when plumped up, but when you lean on them (or sleep on them) they squish waaaay down. It’s kinda like an inflatable with a slow leak. They also do amazing things to my hair. The first night when I got up to use the bathroom during the night I actually walked back into the bathroom to look at my hair again. Big. And forward. And fluffy. And tangly like crazy. It happened each night. I even had to turn the lights on in the room before showering so Keith wouldn’t miss out on the spectacle. I slept through three alarms this morning, then suggested we dash down to eat before showering, because breakfast ended 90 minutes before check-out. Keith was alarmed by the possibility of my going out as I was. It was really funny. Breakfast lasted an extra 40 minutes because Scotland was there. We caught each other up on our days’ adventures and lots of chit chat and our goodbyes. Then we followed them to the elevator and found out they were in the room next to us the whole time!
They had spent the previous sunny day at the river front, and I suggested to Keith that we try to find it. I had seen on the map that it wasn’t too far to the left out of our hotel, and the map app said it was a 25 minute walk. We walked out the door and found the river.
I have no idea when they put it there. It did not take 25 minutes, but the walk down the hill was considerable. We thought the ramp next to the stairs was the ADA accommodation. Wheeee.
Sergio told us yesterday that the Porto area started becoming a tourist destination only about 10 years and that things are really starting to be built up for tourism. It is interesting to see absolutely derelict buildings next to someone’s fine looking home. There is quite a bit of construction going on on a lot of old buildings.
Down on the waterfront, we looked at lots of crafter’s booths and I got earrings and a necklace from a very sweet girl. It was a lot of fun to talk to her.
We decided that Uber was going to take us home, back up the hill, so we had a little extra time to wander down the street. Good thing we did! I took this picture because Sardine World was just such a thing to notice.
Then we noticed the next building. It was so interesting that we had to walk in. Then it was so confusing. Grand! And kinda empty. And they seemed to be selling potatoes. No! Fish and cheese dealies. And port. I was so confused. We had eaten so much breakfast, but this was obviously a thing not to be missed. They are called Pastéis de Bacalhau. Keith liked it a lot. It was okay – better when I got a taste of just cheese and not so fish. The port was good, and weird because we’d just finished breakfast. The organist came out with much fanfare and put on a show. It was weird that nobody clapped until I did. I mean, I clapped quite a few claps before people joined me – after each song. There were Americans there. I heard them talking. What’s the deal people? You clap after someone plays you a song.
The sardine place was amazing. What was that about? Walls of sardine cans. One section said shrimp scampi. Shrimp scampi sardine? There were sections with years on them 2015, 2014, 2013. Do people eat aged sardines? Do people eat sardines? We saw a circus themed sardine store tonight in Lisbon. Do circus people eat sardines? (We do not….) Does anyone eat sardines? I bought a towel with sardines on it. Because it is a pretty yellow and waffley, not because of the sardines. And it was €1.
We trained back to Lisbon. It is Daniel our train friend’s birthday, so I was very glad we were riding the train today. The train went 115 mph. I stared out the window really hard, watching the ground near the train, trying to get that we were going that fast. I didn’t get it. I used the restroom on the train and bounced around so much that I started laughing, and that really didn’t help. The water turned on by pushing a button on the underside of the cabinet above the faucet (well below eye lever). If I wasn’t soapy, I would have just run away, but I had to persevere. I felt very victorious. I celebrated with a Coke Zero from the trolley man.
We checked back into Tesouro da Baixa, our hotel in Lisbon. Bruna told us she is always here, and I was very glad to see her. Gabriel, the new guy from Brazil (there are a LOT of people from Brazil around here), tried to help us, but we walked right to Bruna. He got with the program that we were back, and we all had a lovely time together.
We are on the fourth floor, with a little balcony this time. Bruna told us to go out and look left and we would have a nice little surprise. We went left and looked down and saw the top of a building. It’s flat, like it might be used as a patio in warmer weather. We looked to the right and saw a nice view of the neighborhood. We agreed that she had turned herself around thinking about the room. That happens to me.
We went to Time Out Market tonight. It is a food court of food specially selected because it is the best of its kind. I guess Time Out is a magazine and they write about the places you should go in different cities, so they had an idea to create a place people could go to get the best all under one roof. There are about 30 restaurants and big community tables in the middle. We had a steak sandwich with lots of toppings called a Prego (it is the national sandwich). We shared so we could have a doughnut for dessert, because we’ve been told they were the best doughnuts in the world. Eh. It was good, but just a good doughnut. We also shared a pavlova on our way out, because pavlova! It was way better than the doughnut, in my opinion.
Our walk there was UP hill, then DOWN hill, to the point of silliness. Going up I stopped to look in a store window and said I felt like I needed to lean against a street sign or I would just slide down the hill. We took a different route home, so we could see different shops, etc. and it was FLAT the entire way. What the actual hell? I was walking along and saw this smile in the ground. I really wish I just had some googly eyes or some paint or something to make eyes. It was just so perfect. (I don’t think I mentioned that the ground in Portugal is all like a mosaic. The streets are mostly made of cubes of stone, and the sidewalks and squares are mosaics. It is pretty amazing, and pretty bumpy a lot of the time.)
Back in our room, Keith opened the balcony to let in the cool air. He said, “I think I found what Bruna was talking about.”
Apparently when she said, “Look left,” she meant look left, not look DOWN and left. That picture is not zoomed in or anything, that bell tower is RIGHT THERE. I’m really hoping it rings at some point. How cool would that be?