Porto, Portugal

Well, I'm a few week late in writing about Porto, had some problems with the blog website. Anyways, I actually went to Porto solo. Surprisingly, it was my first trip alone. Most of my friends drove straight from Oktoberfest to Poland. So I took the long weekend and visited a place I have wanted to see for awhile.

Looking down the Duro river at the Ponte Luiz I.

On the far side of the Duro river looking back at Porto. Notice the boats and the giant bridge.

Very steep and long steps going down to the river, really cool.

Porto is really an amazing city. I was very surprised as to how cool it was. The city is on a hill that leads down to the river. On the other side of the river is where they make the famous Port Wine. Then they would put it on the funny looking boats and ship it off. I must have walked at least 10 miles up and down the streets. It just has a totally different feel than any other European city that I've been too. The other great thing about Portugal is the cost. Everything is much cheaper here. So shopping, eating and going to the bars aren't so bad. They also have American style shopping malls that you can't usually find in Germany.

Some cool buildings along the river.

Just walking around I saw some really goofy things. The funniest was these kids sliding down these stairs in milk cartons. There was a Canadian that went and started doing it with them. Turns out I end up meeting that same guy and his fiance at a Port wine tasting place. So I ended up going to the Irish bar with them. Well, they aren't your typical Canadians. In 10 minutes he was up singing Karaoke with gusto. The Portuguese were loving it. His staple song was "Do You Believe" by Cher. Then the entire Russian Water Polo team rolled in the bar. So then things got really crazy as these giants drunk Russians started singing their songs too. I became quite wary of the Russians due to the fact that my last Russian encounter ended with my camera being stolen(scroll down to Moldova for details).

The American, The Canadian, The Portuguese, and the Russians. Igor really enjoys western values.

Bottom line. I really really liked Porto. Its one of the few places that I would like to go back too. Mainly because I want to get out of the city a bit and visit the wineries in the countryside. I think that Porto is one of the hidden gems of Europe. It has all the touristy stuff, but you never feel like you are being swamped with tourists. In 5 minutes you can walk to a quaint little street where two old ladies are yelling at each other across their tiny balconies.