Last night in Porto

I have enjoyed my time here, but all good things must come to an end. I did quite a bit of walking while I was here, doing the usual getting lost at least twice before I found the correct route, but it was all good. Porto is a mixture of old and new, the area I am staying in has quite a few new buildings around, but right accross the street, there is a row of beautiful big houses, that look to be pretty old. One of the things I have noticed is that there is a lot of tagging on the buildings, I thought that was mostly a North American thing, but I guess it is global.

I took the subway, over to the train station to buy my ticket for the Algarve. The subway here reminds me much more of Edmonton's than Toronto's, the cars seem brand new, and the stations are quite modern. I still managed to get lost on there, took the train going the wrong way, but since I had a day pass it was no big deal. The system is similar to ours as well, no turnstiles, but a little thing that you flash your pass at, and then there are transit people who randomly check on the train to see that you have a pass or ticket. They have these little machines that read the pass, to make sure you had it read before getting on the train. I could have taken a train that would only be about 4 hours, it leaves at 6 am, but in the end decided, I would take the slower train and enjoy the sights, and since that train leaves at 9:00 am it seemed like a better option. The slower train is only about 2 hours difference, and I am on vacation I have the time. I booked first class, since the dfference was only about 10 Euros.

I had lunch the other day in the old part of town, at an outdoor cafe, cafe con leche and a pizza. The cost was pretty reasonable, 4 Euros. It is very hilly here, so comfortable shoes are a must. It is funny how you can pick out the tourists, while walking around. They generally have day packs on, and likly to be wearing shorts. The locals seem to wear jeans, and carry bags. The buildings are little and ornate, lots of wrought iron, in the old part of town. I was not really in the mood to see any museums, or galleries, so I did not. I think I should have rearranged the trip and stayed at the Algarve first, gotten rested up, but I guess it really doesn't matter. I have seen what I wanted to see here, had a nice place to stay and enjoyed myself. One thing I find nice, is that people call me madam, makes me feel kind of special, even if they don't mean it that way.

Time to have some supper, room service tonight, and pack for the trip tomorrow.