Porto

I’m leaving Porto tomorrow. We had to leave a day late again because the water was too rough. I’ve had a great time in Portugal. The people here are really friendly and eager to help tourists, even if they don’t speak English. The language barrier has been a bit tough, especially when ordering at restaurants. They’d give you an English menu but they don’t understand what the English translation of the food is! It takes a long time but it’s kind of funny and it’s a really good experience.
We got into Porto on Wednesday and we had a nice afternoon exploring. We took a half hour metro ride into old Porto. When I was leaving an internet cafe in old Porto, I decided to ask a man that was there where he would recommend for a good supper in the area. He was extremely helpful and told us to go to Le Chien Qui Fume (in English it’s The Smoking Dog). We got directions and managed to find it. It was in a back alley and it was kind of a hole in the wall. But it was really nice inside. There were Portuguese tiles covering the walls. The food was traditional and amazing! It was also really cheap. The restaurant was extremely popular with the locals and most of the few tables were reserved however the Portuguese don’t eat till around 8-9 o’clock so they snuck us in. The supper was a great experience and definitely a highlight of my time in Porto.
On Thursday we had a port program. We took a bus into Guimaraes, a medieval town. There’s a castle with dungeons and a really beautiful church. The dungeons were closed though:P I was a bit disappointed. At lunch when we were eating lunch in a cafe, we heard a group of people chanting really loud. Then a group of people, some dressed in suits and black robes and others in white jumpsuits, emerged. There had to have been over a hundred of them. They sang some songs and did some other crazy things, and then they sat down for lunch. We decided to ask what was going on. They told us that everyone in the robes was the third year university students and the ones in the jail suits were the first years. The first years had to do everything that the third years told them to do. It was pretty funny :)
Friday was another port program. We took a two hour bus ride to the only national park in Portugal. We then went on some hikes. The first one took us to a medieval village that had been washed away when the hydro dam was built. We walked through the foundations and the walls that remained. It was quite cool actually. We then hiked into a lake and went swimming! That was probably one of my favourite days. It was so nice to get some exercise and spend time in nature.
Yesterday, we had a full day of shore leave and the teachers let us sleep in as late as we wanted! I got an early start though because I wanted a full day in Porto and I had to be back for six for galley. I had the best day ever! We walked A TON and explored. We climbed the Torre dos Clerigos, the tallest tower in Portugal. From the top you could see the entire city. We saw some amazing churches and went to a farmers market to buy fruit. I also ate a lot of pastries. They’re so good and so cheap here! We walked along the river. It’s absolutely beautiful there. It helped that that it was a perfect, sunny day. While we were out, we walked past the university. When we were passing it we noticed that there was a group of guys with guitars, mandolins, drums and a ukulele. They asked if they could perform for us! It was great:) One of them danced with this girl Bryn who I was with. It made my day.
Right now I’m sitting in McDonalds. I know, I’m disappointed in myself too. It is however the best and closest WiFi. We had classes this morning but shore leave in the afternoon so I’m happy to be out. I hope that we can leave tomorrow but the storm is so bad and the wind would be completely against us that I’m not sure if we’ll be able to leave. I hope so. I’ve had fun in Portugal but I can’t wait to be sailing again. Guess I’m really turning into a sailor!

taken from a square in Guimaraes (also the photo quality is probably worse cause I finally figured out how to compress pictures)

A church in Guimaraes

The famous church from Guimaraes

The destroyed village that we saw during the hike

The remains of the village again

View from the top of Torre dos Clerigos

Torre dos Clerigos

Me in front of the river

Some houses in Porto. You can see the famous blue and white Portuguese tiles.