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?