Portugal
Out of context: Reply #10
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- rafalski0
Just returned from Portugal a few hours ago. The trip was good, really inspiring. I still hear the language in my head.
I am living now in a country that has some similarities with Portugal: catholic heritage, Atlantic 'western end of Europe' feel, deceiptively cold sea, rainy winters and last but _definitely_ not least, omnipresent mould.
I loved the trip. I only had really met 4 Portuguese people before in my life (3 girls, 2 stunningly and unforgettably beautiful, one quite a tad less, still impressive national stats anyway).
I liked Lisboa. The best idea me and my gf had was to get a daily ticket and jump onto trams, especially around Alfama. That was a rollercoaster! The ticket worked for the Santa Justa Elevator and those unbelievable steep trams as well.
We enjoyed walking around Barrio Alto, it must be a vivid area in the summer.
There were some nice situations in less touristy places. One time we got on a tram and went somewhere west (not sure where) and got hungry, so stepped out to get something to eat. Got into some caffeteria with waiters who looked like they were on a boat cruise in the 70's. When we tried English on a waitress, she would run scared for someone speaking it.. (a lot of people do to be fair) And I had just asked if she spoke it so I could point a cookie with a finger..
Other time a granny who saw us looking at a city map on a bus stop took us 100 meters further to show us where a tourist info point was. She didn't ask if we wanted to follow her, she was one of those grannies who tell you how things are, no questions asked. I tried my Spanish on her, but she said something that sounded that Portuguese was the language to speak.Oporto was great - we had no preconception of it and the bridges blew us off - amazing views and a lovely town.
We neither had porto nor bacalhau in Portugal, so that we have a reason to go back there.
Overall.. it was great time there.