Bem Vindo a Portugal

My first day of exploring made me glad I'd just walked a Camino. Porto is not a flat city. The river has carved a great canyon in the landscape and the coastal hills are ever present too. The walk from the river back to my apartment will give me a good daily workout.

I wandered the streets and alley ways and found some good viewing spots looking over the Rio Douro. Pastry shops abound yet again, outshining even Paris in my opinion but don't tell the French.

I was reminded that the first day in a new country one must pay particular attention to important details such as how to cross a road safely. One must determine if cars actually stop at pedestrian crossings and under what conditions, whether green means green like at home, or just that it's a slightly safer option than red. In Portugal people use the crossing regularly despite what colour the light is and cars quite happily drive across when the green walking light is on as long as they aren't too close to you. Then you have to work out if public toilets might exist and if you have to pay for them, what times shops open and close and how to catch a train or bus. That's without the whole need to speak another language today. Now I'm just speaking to the Portuguese in Spanish like I was speaking to the Spanish in Indonesian.

And google has now decided to show me everything in Portuguese despite me resetting it to English ten times which makes googling anything somewhat painful. The joys of modern travel. Of course these days I can snuggle up in bed at night and buy a ticket to a river cruise or a bus tour for tomorrow without needing to speak another language, find a tourist office or wander around at all. And despite the fact that I'm travelling to five countries, I don't have to change currencies like we did years ago.Read more