7.31.2018

Getting to Lisbon

Our final 3 nights are in Lisbon, as usual we save the big city for last.  Our train from Guimaraes connected in Porto where we met up with Wilmington friends.  We had an outstanding lunch that might have been the best meal I've had here so far.  





The place was in my Lonley Planet book.  Seems like lately so many places in the LP books are overrun, but this one didn't have a huge wait.  



The best places are the ones that don't seat more than 20 people .... They do what they do very well. 

We ate and then walked them to the bridge so they could hook up with their cruise boat.  We climbed a billion stairs to get up to the top of the bridge where people could walk across for a great view of Porto.



We easily made our train to Lisbon and settled in for the three hour trip.  In Lisbon we had to connect to the Metro, but not understanding how it all worked we got on what turned out to be the wrong train.   Maya figured it out and I asked the person sitting next to me where the train was going....and we jumped off just in time.  The metro station was underground....duh we should have known that! When we pulled into our stop, Baxia-Chiado, there were three exits and we didn't have a clue which one would lead us up and out to where we needed to go.  We went up the wrong exit first, walked a few blocks, realized we were going the wrong way and had to backtrack.  All this with just a paper map as we are just using our phones with wifi in our accomodation only.  

First impression of Lisbon: all of Europe is here on vacation.  It's a little Times Square, a little Fisherman's Wharf, and a lot crowded.  Can't say I love it.  We wandered around a bit and made our way to the Doll Hospital which I read about on atlasobscura.com.  For 2 Euros we got a tour of a doll museum and repair shop, they take their work very seriously and have work sent to them from all over the world.  Understand, we weren't there because we like dolls or toys.  We went there for for the creep factor.  Maya is particularly creeped out by dolls and it makes her skin crawl the way they "stare" at her.  There are bins of doll parts, tortured ruins of dolls needing repair, and entire rooms filled with dolls.




Look at her freaked out face.  She can barely contain herself.



It's a box of eyeballs.

We are staying at Shidao Hostel, pretty low key with a wide range of ages, in other words I am not the oldest person here.  The 20 somethings are quiet, it's not a party hostel....obviously I actively avoid paces like that.  It's darn expensive though, 70$ a night, ouch! That's the going rate for a decent private room with a shared bath in a clean hostel, which surprised me.  It does include a light breakfast and a communal kitchen. The dorm bunk beds are a bit cheaper elsewhere but I'm not interested in that scene.  Our room has these twin beds, other rooms have full size beds.




We didn't do much else in Lisbon, except for visit the large cathedral...



Tomorrow we will take a train for a day trip to Evora to visit a chapel lined with bones, see Roman ruins, and eat falafel.


































7.30.2018

Braga Day Trip

Braga is the third largest city in Portugal and it was our 2nd choice for where to have the five night apartment stay.  After our day trip today I am really glad we chose Guimaraes.  Braga is just too big feeling and I don't like the architecture as much, too many modern buildings and traffic.  Our main reason for going to Braga was to visit the Bom Jesus do Monte located 5 k outside of the town.  We got the bus to Braga this morning and had directions on which city bus to then take to the sanctuary.  We left the bus station to walk to the bus stop and even though we had a map we got really turned around.  After ant 10 minutes of walking in the opposite direction of where we meant to go we saw a family leaving church services and asked them for directions to the bus stop.  I don't speak a word of Portugease and only one of the family spoke a bit of English, in the end they offered to just drive us to the bus stop because it was too hard to explain and my map didn't seem to be useful to them.  They seemed like pretty nice people so we did get in their car....and it all turned out good.  Hitchhiking is risky.....but the times we have done it with the kids have been good experiences.  

We decided to walk up all 650 steps to get to the top.  Took me about 20 minutes as I huffed and puffed my way up.  Maya ran up....XC has made her strong.  Back in the day pilgrims crawled up on their knees.







Another way to get up or down is to ride on the fully water powered railway.  Bom Jesus is only one of three of this type of transportation in the world.  It's hard to explain how it works, I had to read up on it.  This was one of those times that had Luis been with us he could have given us a whole physics and engineering  lesson.  We do miss having a teacher as a travel companion.  This link does a good job of explaining for those interested.
How the Funicular Works

We took it for the ride down just for fun, takes three minutes and costs 1.20 Euros.



The bus back to Braga has an abbreviated schedule on Sundays and we didn't take note of it before ascending the stairs so we were stuck waiting an hour.  Here's a pic of the bus schedule for Bom Jesus back to Braga.....for next time.


By the time we got back to Braga we were starved, but it being Sunday most restarunts and all the shops were closed.  We found a cafe, had a quick sandwich and just walked back to the bus station.  We had no desire whatsoever to walk around and look at churches and certainly could not bear another  museum.  Just didn't care too much for the "big city"  vibe in Braga and wee so glad to be back in Guimaraes.  

Our bags are packed for the morning train back to Porto where we are having lunch with some Wilmington friends, Bee and Georgie,  who also happen to be vacationing in Portugal.  They are heading out on a Douro River cruise and have the afternoon free so we that it would be fun to try and get together.  After lunch we will get on the train and head for Lisbon for our last three nights.  

























7.29.2018

Last Day in Guimaraes

We just grew to love this town so much! Sure, there are a lot of tourists here but it still has that small to mid sized town energy that we like.  We did finally make it up to the castle and palace.  It all reminded me of a Playmobile set the kids used to love.






I'll say that the "Vaudeville Ronde Voux" really made our stay here unique as wee had 2 fun shows/events to attend for free each day.  European circuses are weird...I don't really know how to explain it.  It's not cheesy like Ringling Brothers with glitz and glam, it's more bohemian and packed with very artistic performers.  We we're absolutely memorized by the final show. Four acrobatists accompanied by a vocalist who sang in three languages and a base player.




Our apartment turned out to be pretty good, and especially for the price.  The plaza has a few small restaurants and shops but otherwise it's residential.  Even so, right outside our window there are always people talking and shouting into the night.  In fact there s a group of loud and annoying drunks out there right now at midnight.  


7.28.2018

Porto Day Trip

Porto is absolutely mobbed with tourists, shoulder to shoulder everywhere.  We took the train, about 75 minutes, and stayed for 5 hours.  The train station itself, Sao Bento, is listed in guidebooks as a sight to see in itself.  




We came specifically to go to the Frida Kahlo exhibit at the Photography Museum.  During our last two trips to Mexico, Frida Kahlo images were everywhere so we've become fans enough to seek out this unique exhibit.  The photographs tell the story of her life, some taken by others and many taken by her.  We learned so much about the passion and pain that defined her life.  She had a pet monkey named Fulang Chang which we wished we would have known when we got our dog because we most definitely would  have named her that and probably called her Fufu for short, yes, we would have. I'm sure we wouldn't have been the first.





I'll go ahead and say it, Portugese food isn't very exciting.  We have enjoyed that special cholesterol elevating dish, the Francesinha.  I did a lot of research to seek out the tastiest, inexpensive, not overrun by trip adviser devotees example in Porto.  I came up with Casa de Pasto O Golfino and it was indeed wonderful.  We order just one with a side of fries and a salad and it's way more than enough food and costing us 12 Euros.  The place sits only about 20 people but we didn't need to wait long.  




There are some lovely architectural sights to see and we did enjoy wandering around shopping and looking at stuff.








After some souvenirs, museum admission, transportation, and food we spent $100 in Porto for the afternoon.  Took a bite out of the budget since we have been getting by on $45 a day, not including accommodation.  Bigger city bigger money I suppose.  Portugal is affordable, especially accomodation.  We are doing well on average spending $90 per day with everything included....admissions, accommodations, food, transport.  

There's always room in the budget for our twice a day cafe and pastry on a plaza habit.


We ended the day back in Guimaraes with two treats.  One was a total lunar eclipse which would be the longest one for the next century.  We went up to the highest point in town, a castle built in the 13th century on a hill, for the viewing.  Second, we watched day two of this circus festival with an oddly funny juggling act.  The program description: There will be some juggling.  There will be some slackness.  There will be puddles.  

How can that not be fun?








7.27.2018

Getting to Know Guimaraes


It's got everything a Medieval European town should have: a castle, a labyrinth of winding cobblestone roads, and cafe filled plazas.  We are staying put in  a cute apartment for 5 nights.  When first planing this  trip my friend Sean painted a sweet picture of reading, napping, day tripping, and cooking good food from daily market trips.  I'm glad we took his advice.



The view from this place is picture perfect, and only $35 a night.





Getting here was pretty easy but we did have help.  We took the train from Averio to Porto-Campanha then had to get another train to Guimaraes.  I didn't really know I could use the same reloadable card as the one I bought in Averio so there was some confusion.  Luckily there was a nice person in the kiosk line who totally helped me out, got my card reloaded, and pointed me in the right direction.  Sometimes those kiosks are easy and sometimes not.  Next time, I'll just go to the ticket booth and talk to a train employee to get things sorted out.  Anyway, we arrived in Guimaraes and a woman approached us, like she was looking for us, and said something fast in Portuguese and the only thing I could catch was the name of our apartment, Casa Torta.  I didn't know anything about the owner meeting us at the train station but before I knew it she handed her phone to me and I talked to the owner who had sent her mom to pick us up.  It seemed pretty legit, I wouldn't normally allow someone to approach me like that because I am accustomed to people trying to scam me...so we got in her car and she drove us to the place.  It saved us a 1 km walk with backpacks that are weighed down with a kilo of salt from Averio and kilos of rocks and sand collected from the beach at Sao Jacinto.  


Guimaraes offers some nice low key things to do, such as take this 5 euro round trip cable car ride to the top of Penha Montain for a walk around gigantic moss covered boulders, secret grottos, and a lookout point.





The city is also known for its art and culture.  The huge Platform of Arts and Creativity is full of modern art and a permanent collection of African masks.  I'm really intrigued by modern art and sometimes it hits just the right chord, and other times it's a series of canvases painted white and hung in a horizontal line that leaves me wondering ....why??


Or books in boxes on the floor.  



Feeling it.


A suggestion on how to make your own modern art.

We had an opportunity to meet and talk with visual artist Ann Hamilton and her crew of graduate students/artists as they were working on a huge installation for a September opening.  Folks were busy hand sewing together huge sheep skins and others were felting animal fur to coats.  The work was evolving as they were creating it and it was highlight to talk with them and observe the process.



As it turns out there is also a "Vaudeville Rendezvous - Vous" which bills itself as a sort of circus with acrobats, juggling, and aerial performances but it's really more like modern dance and performance art.  There are 2 different acts each night in various spaces around the town.







This one was right outside our window in the plaza below.  

Guimaraes is a sweet little place and it turn out to be a great location to base out of.  There's a good market a few minutes walking distance from the apartment, so we can stick to our two meals in one meal out to same money.  Sometimes I cook, for example a simple rice and beans and a salad, and other times we just do bread, cheese, and olives.




We are digging the mix of Medevil and Modern. More to come as we are here a few more days.