We headed up the coast to Porto today but since we had lots of time we decided to swing by the town of Figueira da Foz on the way. It was a nice beach town and it was worth the quick detour.
Today’s excursion was primarily on the freeways here. It was pretty painless once we figured out the toll system. We did have to stop for gas once and put about 9 gallons of gas in the car at a cost of about $70. Yes, gas is expensive here which is why you don’t see tons of large cars. Our little Kia gets great mileage. We have been here a week, driven all over creation and this was the first time we had to fill up.
As I mentioned in a previous blog, people here drive fast and tailgating just seems to be a way of life. However, on the plus side, you rarely see cars just cruising along in the left hand lane on the freeway. People pass and move back into the right lane. I don’t know if it’s a law but people just don’t seem to stay in the left lane. And if you do, you can bet that it won’t be very long, regardless of how fast you are going, before you will look in your rear view mirror and see somebody right on your butt.
The good news is that we found our hotel in Porto. The bad news is that it was interesting finding a place to park!! We initially parked up the street from the hotel (a Hilton hotel nonetheless) and went to check in and figure out where the parking garage was. It was a VERY interesting exercise to get our luggage back to the hotel and find the parking garage. We will not be driving again here until it is time to leave. Porto is definitely not an easy place to drive (or park!). However, after that little adventure we got settled in to our room.
We went out for a little stroll to check out the area. Our hotel is just a little ways from the Luis I bridge which is a landmark here in Porto. We walked down onto the bridge just in time for sunset.
When we got back to the hotel, we asked them for a dinner recommendation and they made reservations for us at a nearby restaurant for 7 p.m. The desk agent told us it was a 5 minute walk. Google said it was an 8 minute walk. About 6:45 we headed off to the restaurant and thus began yet another adventure for the day! Neither the desk clerk nor Google maps mentioned that the short walk entailed descending over 100 stairs through a rabbit warren of winding little alleyways. For two people with bad knees it was quite the ‘short little walk’!
We eventually emerged from the winding alleys and descending stairways to find our restaurant. The food was worth it. It was a charming place and the food was delicious. We did, however, opt to take a cab back to the hotel once we asked the restaurant staff directions to a ‘real’ street.
We are very much looking forward to exploring Porto more tomorrow. It is a charming place – as long as you account for all of the hills and understand a ‘5 minute walk’ might not translate exactly as you expect! The adventure continues.