On the move again

Yesterday morning, was a clean up and zip up, ready to move accommodation day again, it was nice being in one place for three nights…I ordered an uber to the train station around 10.30am… I have to say the Portuguese people are so nice and friendly…after a few unsavoury experiences in Spain …. The hospitality here leaves Spain for dead!

Waiting for my taxi…first time I had noticed the bright yellow tiled house across the street!

Uber came and dropped me to the train station. Again with very helpful station attendants, I managed to get my luggage into a storage locker at the station (didn’t realise this process would be so complicated dealing with a machine not a human) and wait for Kevs (my brother) arrival!

He also stowed his bag and we went in search of our apartment for the next five days! Yes as promised close to the train station…but we couldn’t check in until 3pm…so we decided(after a coffee and beer) to walk towards the Dom Luis bridge and cross over to the Southside!

We took the high road, which was very scenic (don’t you think?)

Spied this building in the distance, for all the Grahams out there (we thought of Uncle Graham with the spelling!)

Kevin showcasing the Dom Luis bridge from above!. We got into the crowds at the upper level, which was blocked off by gates and a bunch of police! I was sure the day before I had seen people on that top level! A nice policeman explained to me that the festival was ongoing (Sunday) and due to a plane show was closed to humans for the day…but would be back to normal today!

So we climbed down 500 steps to get to the bottom…the closer we got the more congested (humans) it got…and loud banging music….all rather hectic!

We made an executive decision to escape the turmoil and take the cable car back to the top and find a quieter place for lunch (to fill in the time before we could check into our flat for the next five days…

View from the window of the cable car going up! Back at the bridge…

And up the Duoro river..we will give it another try today to get across to the south side!

And down on the roofs and gardens of the cliffside Portuguese homes..

We found a pleasant cafe and had a cool drink and a pizza…noting the well fed seagulls hanging around…they are the size of a small dog and not at all phased by humans.,

The planes were zooming around overhead all afternoon, managed to capture this one from our cafe.. By now the temperatures had risen to 29 degrees and we booked an uber to go back and collect our luggage and check out our accommodation..

Another high class Portuguese estate…dogs and kids (just like home!)

The flat has two bedrooms upstairs with air conditioning in each room – nice! Downstairs…a terrible stench prevails…bad plumbing…smells like the sewers of Portugal were greeting us on our arrival!! Kevin performed all his quick fix plumbing tricks, which reduced the pain, but it still prevails…so today we will buy some bleach and pour down all the plug holes!

We then found a supermarket and stocked up on supplies and tried to get the internet up and running … two hours later … as it was waving in and out, even with Kevin’s expertise, we gave up and embarked on our evening drinks and dinner!

No day in Portugal is complete without the Portuguese tarts…I will quickly be regathering the pounds I left on the Camino at this rate!