Today was a great day. There was no rain and it was warm enough for shirtsleeves. I had breakfast at the cafe I had the salad at last night, Negra. They did a wonderful scrambled eggs on toast in a very relaxing atmosphere. I then left to find Livraria Lello, the most beautiful book store in the world.
My booking was for 11:45. I took a seat on a stone wall as I had an hour to wait. There was a huge line up but they had marshalling down to a science. Everyone got in at their allotted time slot and although it was very busy inside it was manageable.
It seems that a lot of my time is spent waiting to wait in line. There were books to buy inside but the selection was limited. I was hoping there would be more touristy stuff to buy. But I guess being a bookstore they decided to remain tasteful. Drat. I wanted a tea towel, place mat, or something that said “I support book stores” rather than a picture of Porto. This didn’t happen. I did climb the iconic red circular staircase and wondered how I was going to get back down with my vertigo and fear of heights but I managed.
I almost hated to leave. I wanted my wait time to equal my browse time but there were just too many people to hang around for long.
I then walked back toward my hostel and waited for my reservation time at my favourite restaurant in Porto, Costume. So named because it is in the theatre district. At 1:00pm I was seated and I knew exactly what I was having – marinated feta (or the French equivalent), olives and crusty bread to start with a generous portion of beef carpaccio as my main course. I ate everything with one glass of white wine. Yummm!
Back at the hostel I checked in for tomorrow’s flight online. I couldn’t print my boarding pass. This happened the last time as well and everything worked out so I’m not in as much of a panic. I know I’ll have a long wait at the airport. It’s the price of travelling. I’ll keep you posted.