Portugal. Journey to the edge of Europe
Journey to the edge of Europe
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In childhood, each of us had a children's encyclopedia of the world around us, which I was shamelessly squeezed out of my first class classmate. My attempts to return my favorite book were in vain. The page with the fish was very memorable, and there was a Portuguese Ship. That's how I first learned about Portugal. Our 80th flight was coming to an end and we were landing on the mainland. Having settled in the already familiar hotel for the second time, we went for a walk along the reputable promenade between Lisbon and Cascais. In fact, this walk only emphasized the fact that there is nothing to do in and around Lisbon. But they did a good deed, helped three girls go down from a one and a half meter parapet down. Then my conscience tormented me, but how they will climb back. As a result, having reached Cascais by train, we began to explore this cozy town.
While we were on the train, the Russian-speaking chief assistant of the second chef of a French restaurant in Lisbon met us. The guy with his friend were very happy to meet with us. The guy moved to live in Lisbon 5 years ago. Then he told a lot of things, but unfortunately all his thoughts and conclusions were refuted by the facts from Wikipedia. At least the fact “. . . Well, what, Portugal is relatively recent in the European Union, one of the last countries to join... ” The main thing is confidence. Well, at least the Portuguese did not understand his speech. From his stories about how cool it was to move to Portugal, we concluded that if you are full of energy and feel confident in the profession of the second assistant to the first chef, then you should definitely move. What kind of cook and assistant is there, I already got confused myself, but one of them was far from the first. He spoke so many words per minute that the number of Russian words clearly exceeded the permitted norms. Guys from nowhere appeared and disappeared just as suddenly.
In the meantime, we ended up in front of the park.
In a huge park with peacocks and other interesting things, one could have a little rest. After a very active Madeira, a strong drop was felt.
The town itself is also quite nice with streets, restaurants and a promenade. This day in Lisbon was incomplete, as part of the flight grabbed itself. Accordingly, he was in a relaxed style.
“Room 404”
This morning, when we checked into the hotel, the room was not yet ready, so we just left our things and arrived in the evening to move in. The guy gave us a card from room 404. Having reached the fourth floor and opening the door, our horrors of a year ago came true again...
In front of us was an unfinished room with a bunch of different building materials lying in the center, various tools flashed in memory of the horrors that were happening during the repair. The tile cutter immediately prompted that Friday when our tilers were gone, as they were put in jail for something. The absence of light immediately clearly illuminated the picture of the end of the repair, in which the wiring was broken. Lack of mattresses and beds - furniture makers who left us an oversized new mattress that we did not order and did not pay for, and disappeared forever. Remains of bricks… but not them, those 44 bricks… it’s better not to even remember to whom, for what and where we almost put them… a pile of concrete crunching under bare feet when I couldn’t find my slippers at night and walked through the ruins barefoot . Flashes of memory faded, before us the ominous 404 room in the dark.
Showing a photo of the room at the reception, the guy had unfeigned surprise on his face, then he understood something and, with a very awkward look, gave out other keys. By the way room 405 was much better than 404.
After spending the night at the hotel, we went to the "northern capital of Portugal" Porto.
Porto
The train journey took more than 3 hours. Checked in with one grandfather in a hotel. “Amigos Ukraniano! “Grandpa and I became instant best friends. It was still early for checkin, we left our things and went to the city. At first, the city was no different from the capital, in many places it smelled. But as soon as we got to the river, our route was adjusted again, now we knew for sure that we could not hurry back to Lisbon. The whole country seems to have changed, this is no longer a quiet Lisbon. I wanted to walk everywhere and at once, and at the same time on both banks and all six bridges! Many people walked around with big toy hammers, we even got hit on the head with such a hammer once. It turns out they had a Sã o Joã o holiday yesterday, on which the hammer was an important attribute. And here people walk well! The best way to get started is to take a river cruise. Before the cruise, we also visited a number of architectural sights and ate a very tasty local dish Francesinha.
The dish was just as delicious as it was on the banner. After tasting the first piece, I already knew what I would have for lunch in the following days. An hour boat trip cost 12.5 euros and you are taken along six bridges. And each bridge tried to be better than the previous one. One of the bridges was designed by Gustave Eiffel. When another bridge was being built, it was built similar, but twice as large - with two tiers.
On the boat, people were divided into two groups, extreme people sitting in the open air and ordinary travelers who did not get a place on the bow. The extreme people themselves did not know that they were extreme until a giant wave covered all the selfie masters. Extremals, in turn, were divided into pessimists and optimists. Basically, the division directly depended on how much expensive equipment you held in your hands at the time of the tsunami.
Fortunately, Dasha and I ended up among the losers who did not have enough room on the nose. Well at least no one was washed away. Sunny Porto literally charged with a positive mood. After a walk, while I was looking for a restaurant with a toilet, Dasha was entertained by some clown, forcing him to have fun and dance. Moreover, the clown was quite stubborn and it is not entirely clear where he came from. The main thing is that nothing was stolen) We went to the left bank along the lower tier of the bridge. The left bank of Porto is famous for its wine cellars and tastings.
Flyers for a free tasting were presented to us by one of the tourists, although about 20 grams of wine is poured at the tasting. But a paid tasting of two types of wines cost so much that it’s easier to open your own wine cellar in Kyiv) This is of course exaggerated, but a bottle of Asti martini champagne in the same Port costs 6 euros, and the cheapest tasting is 13 euros per person. In fact, we had a tasting of Portuguese wines every dinner)
There is also a beautiful green embankment on the left bank, where everyone sits and rolls, basking in the sun. We can say that the coasts of Porto are opposite, the right one is for active recreation, the left one is for relaxation. After lounging in a clearing, we went to the top of the slope, so that from there we could walk along the upper tier of the bridge. The upper tier was so high that both banks of the city looked completely different. It’s also cool that a tram rushes through the upper tier. The views from this bridge are a separate attraction of the city. On the other side, a monorail of a rather unusual design runs along the slope for those who are especially tired. The level of passengers is horizontal, but the wheels connected to the passenger unit by a large accordion constantly change the angle. The problem of the right bank was not to run into another clown who would make you dance. He, like a shark, swam among the crowd, looking for a new victim. One of the most popular entertainments in Portugal is a ride on an old tram.
The tram in Porto just goes from the center to the ocean. They know how to make money on everything, you don’t invest in the modernization of tram transport for a hundred years and then profit is a popular tourist attraction. Sitting on the tram, for some reason I felt like a steam locomotive driver, constantly pulling on the rope leading to the bell above the driver. It was evident that the guy was already accustomed to the ringing of the bell and did not resist. The second part of the entertainment is the exchange of greetings with passers-by, who are just as happy about the old tram as they are sitting in it. The tram reached the end of the road and in front of us was a hefty park with a boundless ocean. The power of the raging ocean blew so strongly that only the most daring and wettest reached the pier to the lighthouse.
It was impossible to look away from the raging ocean. We decided to walk back. It didn't turn out to be close. On the way, I decided to drop into a restaurant to visit the toilet. When I approached the entertainer standing behind the counter and talking about something with the visitor, I got into an awkward situation. Breaking their heart-to-heart conversation, I noticed that the visitor was holding a gun pointed at the entertainer and both were looking at me. To our common happiness, the gun turned out to be not real, and the guy gestured to me where the toilet was. During the scene with my trip to the restaurant, not a single entertainer was injured. I don’t know why it seems to me that it was just the entertainer, but just an inner feel. This story is more favorable than that of my colleague who went to the Brazilian zoo and got into a real shootout. I hope not one entertainer was injured there either.
Crossing the bridge, we noticed that on the roof of an abandoned house a seagull was teaching something to its cub. They walked together on the roof, and mother told him something from time to time.
It was getting quite late at night, but we managed to get to the restaurant before closing time. In Portugal, the second most positive after taxi drivers are the police. They can always clarify the way and you with the sweetest smile and eyes full of enthusiasm will tell you how to get to the right place. A concert was being prepared on the central square, but unfortunately the time of its beginning contradicted our early rise tomorrow. On the way home we found a store with Russian and Ukrainian products. The price system in the store was somehow complicated, we did not understand whether it was cheap or very expensive there. Our grandfather Amigos was waiting for us at the hotel. He tried to tell us so much, but unfortunately, in Portuguese. But we understood the main thing, tomorrow there will be national dances in the city. Alright, let's get to them. At the request of drinking water, we received a lot of convictions that the water in the tap was ideal) While relaxing in the room after such a contrasting day, grandfather knocked on our door, claiming that it was urgent. When we opened the door, we saw grandfather handing us two plastic water cups “Amigos ukranianos! ". Porto is a chic city, we really, really liked it. A return train ticket to Lisbon was not purchased from us by a specialist, which means we will be able to extend our stay in this city.
Douro Valley
Having risen in the utterly early, it felt like we didn't go to bed. At the reception, the door was closed, when our elderly friend heard that we were trying to leave the hotel, he was very surprised, looked at his watch and began to laugh heartily, it was clear from his laughter that it also seemed to him that we did not have time to go to bed sleep. He let us out, but at the same time he continued to laugh, saying something in his own language. The best way to get anywhere late in Porto is to use their wonderful metro. It took about 50 minutes from the hotel exit to the train departure. We had to take the metro a couple of stops with a change. But they have it so rarely walks and manages to be late. That at one point we raced at full speed from the subway, without waiting for the train. We jumped at the speed of light in a taxi and after 5 minutes were already at the station for 5 euros. It is worth noting that the subway was not much cheaper. Cheered up, so cheered up. It took a little more than two hours to drive, while you can sleep no more than an hour and a half, because in an hour and a half the famous valley will begin. Indeed, the most beautiful views that we have ever seen from the windows of trains appeared outside the train window. We were driving to the city of Pinghao, at one point the train stopped and we were told “Train change! How can they suddenly change transport. We were transferred to another train, and we went further. In the city itself, there is one hefty mountain, from which beautiful views will open.
But the ascent to this mountain under the scorching sun was rather heavy, we went up for about 50 minutes, probably. The views were certainly beautiful, but from the train were no worse. I would make a note to myself that it is better to take a taxi up the mountain. I don't think it will be very expensive. We went down another way where we got stuck in unexpected sands.
And once they turned onto the path to the wrong city, it’s good that the local grandmother understood what a train was according to our explanations. When we went down, tourists arrived by train, apparently not as early as we were. Our path lay further to the next city. According to Pinghao, the result is that it’s worth stopping by, but in the heat it’s not necessary to go to the top on foot.
Lamega
Then we went by train to the city of Regua. The guide, delighted, asked: “Back to Porto? “No, we'll see you on the way back! Having agreed with the conductor to meet on the next train, we got off. Since everything is hard with the Protugal bus system on weekends and Mondays, I had to get to the city of Lamega by taxi for 15 euros one way. In the city of Lamega, we had to refresh ourselves, otherwise, in addition to pistachios from the machine, we had not yet eaten. The town is so local that it was almost impossible to explain in a cafe, at my request “Menu” I was offered a choice of “Ground” or “Black”. There were restaurants where there was no food at all. In one, we finally got lucky and they covered the clearing for us. And the sangria in this restaurant took first place. It was made from white ice sparkling wine and included: Orange, pineapple, kiwi, strawberry, apple. Less lucky with Dasha's fish dish. The fish was a little rotten. Although she was taken away at the first request, the waiter assured that, in general, this was her normal phenomenon, since this variety was brought from Iceland. Dessert was delicious chocolate mousse. So delicious that on the way back we looked at it again. Then there was an attempt to figure out the bus schedule, which came down to the fact that you would also have to go back by taxi. The first point of visit in this city was a large church, which should have been located not far from us. When we started to figure out on the map how to get to it, we were spinning and spinning and found out that we were standing near its side wall. It's just easier for us.
Then we climbed up the mountain to the castle. The castle overlooked an endless valley with many villages. Dasha literally took part in the defense of the castle, shooting attacking knights from an interactive crossbow.
Having defended the castle, we proudly went down the mountain in order to climb another mountain with a large sanctuary - the church of Nossa Señ ora dos Remedios. It would be ideal, of course, for a bridge to be built between the mountains, but in Portugal it seems that they are very fond of climbing the mountain on foot. Everywhere it was emphasized that it was necessary to overcome 686 steps up. I came to the conclusion that it used to be considered very cool to have a lot of steps.
The heat beat so that the consciousness was a little cloudy. If in many cities we managed with bottles of 0.5, this time one and a half liters took 10 minutes. Before this serious climb, it was necessary to lie down on Bunny's knees. We chose a comfortable bench in the center and a 20-minute rest. While we were lying, a man came up to us and told us in Portuguese-English what extraterrestrial pleasure he gets every time he comes to this city. After receiving a mutual response, he wished us all the best. Relax, up. Along the way, take a bottle of water with you. It is worth noting that the builders of Nossa Senhora dos Remedios were quite loyal, placing a huge garden on the entire plane of the rise. So it was not necessary to go up the stairs, it was possible to zigzag along the shady park. There was also an option to take a tuktuk, but the sun so exhausted the whole city that even tuk-tukers abandoned their vehicles.
From the top there was a view of the whole city. The second gesture of loyalty was the fountain, the water in which was so icy that even the mind was sober from the fact that you put your hands down there. In planning our routes, we are pleased with the fact that there are as many as 24 hours in a day, otherwise the trips would be much longer. Judging by the booklets, our today's route is recommended by tourist information as a three-day one. Going down was also wonderful, down the same shady park with many fountains and other joys. On the way we saw a small frightened mouse. It's like a little achievement, so have you ever seen a Portuguese-scared-little-mouse? And we saw it, it means achievement))) Of course, this is not comparable, as I saw, in the Canary Islands, how a peacock sneezes, but it’s also bad. He was amusingly trying to run away from us as soon as possible, which is why he turned over and tumbled clumsily.
Regua
From the city center we took a taxi back to the city of Regua. Before the train departed, we had another hour, which we spent with pleasure exploring another authentic town. It was beautiful and fun, people were dancing in the open air, and one man was so carried away that he even started watering everyone with a hose. In this heat, no one seemed to notice his water. What I liked about Portugal is that people walk all the time. But about this we must hurry, because the festivities are coming in the port tonight. A train of increased comfort with division into classes arrived at the platform, but since our route did not imply division, it was possible to choose any seat in any class on a regular ticket. The choice was obvious, but not everyone understood this chip. For some reason, there were a lot of Russians in our first-class car, although 5 minutes ago a Russian-speaking person in these places was considered a rare attraction. One man told another how he could not understand who should be paid extra. In 30 minutes of driving, he mentioned so many times that he wanted to pay someone extra, that I was already ready to become that someone. Then the controller showed up, and the man naturally chose him as a subject for additional payment. It’s a pity the controller didn’t realize and refused to accept the surcharge, because judging by the guy’s determination, after the surcharge, the controller could easily buy his own train.
On one of our previous flights, we watched a strange movie that had a twist, while the characters were sleeping, the train took a wrong turn and got lost, and they thought it was a sign. An alarmed Dasha wakes me up and tells me the news, after which I fully understand what it was like for those heroes in the film. The first thought is “Here it is, the very sign! ” second thought “And what is the actual sign and why is it the same one? ". Our eyes did not believe, but the GPS clearly showed that we were not going to Port at all, but to Lisbon. Dasha even for a second was delighted that we saved ourselves on the road, but our beloved grandfather, who lived 320 km from Lisbon, had the things. And most importantly, everyone is sitting so calmly, but this is understandable, because only we look at the GPS. It was necessary to decide something, maybe an error in the GPS? But how can such an error be that it shows the same country and coordinates, also lying on the railroad tracks? There was only one way out - to restart the tablet. By the most incredible coincidence, this turned out to be a GPS error. With an error of 100 kilometers, so much so that he ended up on another railway. Now, while writing the story, it dawned on me, because we were connected to the wi-fi network on the train, which corrected the location and, therefore, at one moment, apparently, the main station distributing the Internet to the trains showed its location in our signal and the roof was torn off by the GPS. However, our train was late.
As mentioned above, using the metro in Porto is expensive and not profitable. For 5 euros in a taxi we got where we needed to go. The driver at the end pressed some button and the bill increased sharply by almost 3 euros, to my demand to explain why he did this, the guy tried to prove something to us for several minutes, and then waved it off and said that we should pay the meter for those 5 euros, which were at the beginning.
The festival was in full swing. Teams from different regions of Portugal took turns taking the stage with several songs and dances. Each representative had his own role, costume and paraphernalia. When we arrived, a crowd representing the Douro Valley region came to the square. They were like family to us. And their songs are mmm. . . we still drink with Dasha the words “Oh Douro, Douro! ". Although it was already dark, the spotlights from the stage were so bright that I put on sunglasses. Most likely, this was done for the locals, who are not used to it when the bright white sun does not allow them to open their eyes. The concert was cool and somewhat relaxing. After reaping in Mac, so as not to waste time, we set off on a long journey to our hotel and sleeping quarters.
Porto Again
We had to slow down, the third day was relaxing. After a good night's sleep, we leisurely wandered to Crystal Park, which is located on a hill not far from the center, since our hotel was even higher, for us it was more like an elevation, not an elevation. We had breakfast in some confectionery, but there is not much to eat there. But in Portugal it seems to be the best you can get if you want to eat in the morning. Having bought promotional juices for 30 cents at the Pingo Doce market, we got to the park.
I would not say that the park is something incredible, but just right for relaxation. Another abundance of ducks with ducklings brings some harmony, and we also saw an unrealistically red-haired girl. For about an hour we walked along the lakes, fountains, fountains, various living creatures and plants. The next place was the library where JK Rowling was inspired to write Harry Potter.
Everything would be fine, but in fact it is a bookstore (old and beautiful), in which you have to pay 3 euros for entry. At the same time, the crowd of people there is such that if it had been like that when the writer went there, then instead of Harry Potter, she would probably have come up with a disaster plot. Not far from us was a restaurant in which we tried the very Francesinha for the first time the other day. Then the plans self-corrected. I had a large portion of this delicacy in my plate. Until evening, we wandered along both banks, parks and the bridge without any particular purpose, absorbing the whole atmosphere of the city.
Finally, we decided to visit some famous market and at the same moment he was behind us, again a pleasant coincidence.
Train to Lisbon
When buying train tickets, there is a rule that if you buy more than 5 days in advance, there is a chance to get a good discount, but we didn’t have five days left. Instead, there was one interesting train, the cost of which was 6 euros more than usual, judging by the description, it should be on a magnetic cushion. We decided to try out this curiosity. An interesting point is that a flight for two would most likely cost less than a train for 30 euros. When we arrived at the platform, in a taxi for five euros, the taxi driver did another trick with a button that increased the price by 3 euros. Before the train, we had another 40 minutes, and this is more than enough to learn Portuguese in order to find out what's funny. The taxi driver in Portuguese repeated something so confidently in a circle that after the tenth time we even understood. He wanted an extra 80 cents for calling on the phone, you really can’t fault it, he has such a mark in his car, and we really called him through the hotel. And he also wanted 2.2 for the fact that he put our backpacks in the trunk, and not in the cabin. By the way, our backpacks are considered a small cabin bag, their transportation is free even from low-cost airlines on airplanes. It took us about 5 minutes to understand the Portuguese taxi driver, the next 5 minutes I spent on him learning that part of the English language, which says that such a trick will not work. As a result, we paid him 5 euros for the meter and eighty cents for the call, and that's it. The platform did not have a monorail system, and therefore the train would be without a cushion. But what is its highlight then. The train arrived in two parts to neighboring platforms, you had to determine which of the trains was yours by the car on the ticket. Then, with a difference of 10 minutes, these parts set off one by one. It was curious, but the suspicion that it just cost 6 euros more did not leave. At one point, I noticed a speedometer on the electronic scoreboard and realized what we paid for. When the speed exceeded 200 km / h, it was as if gravity changed its properties. The road leaned on bends and the train, like an airplane, made real turns. Our record speed was 224 km / h, even I needed pills for motion sickness.
The problem is gone. Well, despite the tickets, we sat down along the train. There was also some fun on the train with an automatic toilet door that got stuck and if you want to get inside, you need to do a rescue operation to free the prisoner there. Then, at best, you will get out yourself, and at worst, wait for your knight.
During the purchase from android, the bug does not allow you to select places. Therefore, we asked the man to sit in another seat so that we could sit side by side, but later we saw two empty seats for the ride, and not against it, and moved there. First, the controller approached that man, he explained that his place was taken, when the controller turned and saw that the man's place was free, he looked at him very suspiciously. By the appearance of a man, we took out his brain. Next, the controller came up with his PDA and to the places where we are sitting, he clarified not Philip, if my name is. Then I realized that I was Andrei from a nearby place and warned that Philip would come at one of the stops. Although it was clear that we had completely confused everyone. When Philip came, I met him by name. But the guy never caught the strangeness of how I know his name. Fortunately for us, two other places along the way were vacated at this stop. Whether it's how we in Bolivia took out the brains of the French when they decided to get to know us on an excursion, and I already knew all the details about the guy, including age. Which I spied when buying an excursion at an agency. True, I was mistaken then, the name turned out to be not Andre, but Andrea and these data were his girlfriends)
There are no photos from the train, but here are some cute ducks for you.
In general, paying 60 euros instead of 48 was worth it to ride on such a train. But stock up on motion sickness pills. When we came for the third time to check into the hotel, the girl at the reception thought that we had just come for our keys, and at first she didn’t understand why we demanded check-in. She was just at that moment telling one tourist that there was nothing to do in Lisbon, and you couldn’t go to Sintra by direct train. Since Sintra was scheduled for tomorrow, just on a direct train, I asked why not? “Every day this train is robbed. ” We decided to take the risk anyway. We were also curious that the Portuguese practically do not work on weekends and in the evening all the shops are always closed. We were wondering what they are doing in return. It turned out that everything is banal: they watch TV, do laundry and yell at children. And they do not work for the reason that the law obliges the employer to pay twice as much to his employees. In the mornings, I noticed that the main entertainment is drinking espresso from small cups. And, it seems, the smaller the cup, the steeper your espresso. We even saw in our favorite supermarket chain Pingo Doce, how the visitor did not have time to pay until the end, but already drank his espresso. The first time we were looking for a market in Portugal and they told us to go to Pingo Doce, it sounded like a foreign insult when you want to send a tourist further.
