Day 27: Ryanair to Porto

Although the airport hotel was comfortable, both of us were restless. We had to be at checking by 4:30, so we set the alarm for 3:30, but I woke up every few hours and checked to clock to make sure we didn't oversleep. When the alarm finally went off, though, we got up and over to the airport right on time. It was a good thing we did, too, because the airport was filled with people waiting to check in at 4:30 AM!!!

The process went fairly quickly, though, and by 5:00 we'd checked our bags, got our boarding passes, and headed back to the hotel to eat breakfast (which was really great, rather than waiting in the airport terminal). Full and relaxed, we headed over a little before 6, went through security (a little less demanding than the states; we got to keep our shoes on, for instance), and boarded the plane for Porto.

There's no assigned seating on Ryanair, so everone lines up as soon as possible to board the plane. We were pretty fortunate, though, to get two exit-row seats, so I had plenty of leg room for the two hour flight. We also sat next to a fellow from Seattle who filled us in on all the Ryanair lore. (For instance, you are not allowed to have any baggage, including your coat, in your lap when you sit in the exit rows.)

The flight was only 2 hours, and by 9:15 we were off the plane and had retrieved our luggage. The airport at Porto very modern, and really clean and nice looking. Here's a picture of Kathy in the terminal:



You can see more of our pictures from Porto and Rothenburg on our Flickr upload site. I had a chance to upload a few more pictures today.

The first thing we had to do was to get a day-long transportation pass from the Tourist Information Office at the airport. When we went to get the pass, though, the lady at the counter told us that the person who handled that didn't come in until 9:00. Since it was about 20 minutes past nine, we wondered what was up. We didn't know that Portugal was in a different time zone than the rest of Europe!

The wait gave us time to look around the airport and get a cup of coffee. Everything, even at the airport, seems much less expensive in Portugal than the other countries we'd visited. When 9 AM rolled around, we went back to the TI office and picked up our two day passes and hopped on the metro line to the center of the city (about 14 Km away). The metro in Porto is also new and modern (but mostly above ground, which is really nice for sightseeing).

Our first stop in town was the San Beneto train station, where we made reservations for the express train to Coimbra and checked the schedules for the regular train to Braga, where we'll go tomorrow. In Portugal, Spain and Italy, you have to have a reservation for all express trains, even when you have a Eurail pass. In Spain, the reservations cost almost half as much as buying a ticket outright; in Portugal, though, reservations are only 4 Euro each.

Once we had our reservations, we decided to walk over to our hotel, to see if we could drop our luggage off there while we explored the city, even though check-in wasn't until 2:00 PM. When we got to the hotel (the Grande Hotel de Porto, an elegant old place right on the Rue Santa Catarina, the main shopping street), rather than having us stow our luggage, they just checked us right in. By 10:30 we were out exploring the street.

We started with the upper city, walking up Santa Catarina and noticing the beautifully decorated churches; they tile them with a technique that looks a little like Wedgewood china. Along the way we visited the central market which sells produce as well as flowers, poultry, fish, bread, olives and whatnot.

After that, we headed down to the river to see the Ribera district, the old houses and their steep stairways that line the river. We climbed down the steps to the river and then went to a recommended restaurant right on the river for lunch. In keeping with the theme of trying local food, we both had the green cabbage soup (which must be an acquired taste) along with our meal.

After our visit to the river, we took the funicular back up to the main part of the city, and then spent the rest of the afternoon riding the metro to every corner of town, and then getting out and exploring. That was really interesting. As it got late in the day, we rode over the river into the Ville del Gaia section of town (where the Port wine warehouses are all located) and climbed to the monastary that overlooks the town of Porto. It was really beautiful.

When we got back to town we stopped by a mall (hidden only a block from our hotel) and picked up some sodas and chips. Then, we headed back to our hotel, took a short rest and cleaned up, and then went out to the Majestic Cafe for a light supper. Kathy had a cheesburger (which was good) and I just had some soup, since I was still full from lunch and the chips.

After that, we headed over to the Internet Cafe where I was able to upload about a dozen pictures (which took a little longer than normal because of the way the Cafe computers are set up), and then we headed off to bed.

Porto is really a wonderful city.