Taking the bus to Porto was fairly uneventful. Yesterday I planned to take a taxi to the bus station. I couldn’t even think of walking 1.5kms and figuring out where the terminal was. This morning I was, OK, I can do this.
It’s just as well because no one was at the desk at 8:30 to call a cab and I’m still not that great with Uber. I headed out again walking with my pack.
I’m getting up to speed with Google Maps and I did have a paper map of the town. I found the train station. The trick was getting to the bus station which was on the other side of the tracks. After spending a good 20 minutes hunting around for a bus, I finally asked a security guard who pointed me to a skywalk wedged between construction cranes – who would have thought.
Once the bus drivers decided who was going to Lisbon and who was going to Porto the crowd stopped moving back and forth between the two buses. It was a Monty Python moment complete with animated gesticulations and explosive Spanish expressions.
When we finally boarded, there was still some confusion and people kept moving their luggage back and forth between buses. Added to this the bus driver going to Lisbon got on our bus, walked up and down the aisle announcing a place I had never heard of – This has all happened before for and if I had to bet on it, it will all happen again.
Finally I got to Porto; hailed a cab for 10euros and got to the hostel about 1:00pm. After lunch I explored Porto a bit. It was mobbed – crowds of tourists, busy locals and lots of traffic. I did, however, find an amazing French restaurant with a starter of beef carpaccio. I’m blowing the budget tonight.
More later
Because no one expects the Spanish Inquisition
Love it!