Before coffee on Monday morning I took a shot of the Estação do Oriente (train station) in Lisboa as seen from our hotel window. And, of course, the giant recycled feline…
Everyone rides the trains here. They are cheap, clean, efficient, and effective. There are multiple reasons why high-speed trains have been ‘derailed’ in the states; land rights, government red tape, lobbying of the automobile and airline industries among them. I’m not going down that rabbit hole too much now but also, according to a report by the American Public Transportation Association, more opposition comes from the “Not in My Back Yard” (NIMBY) and “Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone” (BANANA) crowd.
I had booked our rides a month out to ensure seats but it took a bit of homework on the ground at the station to figure out the system as the Oriente is a major hub with several trains coming and going on the hour. The language barrier was not helpful, either, but since most of the population in developed countries speak multiple languages, we found that people on the ground most helpful to the clueless foreigners from the states. Glad I didn’t bring my MAGA hat.
After boarding and a three hour ride, we arrived in Porto late afternoon Monday and had a driver booked to haul us to our lodging. I used Expedia several months ago to narrow down options and settled for a ‘loft’ in the thick of the old part of town. I think we accidentally scored.
We managed to walk quite a bit to gawk and have some food the first night. Here are some pics from our stroll. (BTW, I did bring a Lumix LX3 with intentions of using a ‘real’ camera but found the iPhone less cumbersome)
Porto is, indeed, beautiful. The architecture and layout of the city is stunning. What surprised us was the number of tourists in October—an astonishing array of walking Duane Hansen sculptures about the city holding up their phones and bumping into each other, which includes us, I suppose. I’m also surprised how many cars are speeding through the cobblestone streets, mostly using diesel which hangs pervasively in the air. The locals are probably happy to take the tourist dollars/euros (had a coffee and two pastries this morning for under 4 euros) but the invasion of their habitat on this level would be seem difficult.
More soon…
Keep the travelogue going, we’re loving it!
O boy, this is fun. Truly!