We
didn't have to wait at the airport for long before we were able to
board our flight to Porto. And, thankfully, it was another short
flight on the cramped seats of the discount airline. Since it was a
late flight, we touched down in Porto around one in the morning. It
took about another hour and a half (at best) for us to find our way
through the airport to the metro system and through the metro system
to the stop for our hostel. Metro doesn't quite seem like the right
word for the trains—they were more like the trams prevalent across
Europe. But, the stop for our hostel was underground, so I
guess in some ways it was a true metro system.
When
we climbed the steps out of the metro stop, the first thing I saw was
this grand, castle-like structure on the horizon, with a full moon
high in the sky, providing an impressive amount of light, given that
it was so late at night (or early in the morning!). Our hostel wasn't
in the direction of the castle-like building, so we turned around to
go down the street and make our way there. The sight there wasn't
quite as impressive as the moonlit castle-like building, but even by
the dim light of nighttime, I was struck by the beauty of it.
The
five of us started making our way up the street, Katie using her iPad
to read directions as we tried to find our way through the city. We
passed a couple that had clearly been out drinking, and they looked
back at us a few times as we walked. When we made it to the top of
the street we were on (after struggling to pull rolling suitcases
over cobblestone streets), they were still at the sidewalk. The man
came up to us and (I'm just going based of hand-signals and context
clues here because he only spoke Portugese) asked where we were
trying to go. Katie showed him the map on her iPad and he motioned
for us to follow him and the woman he was with.
We
started walking and the woman told Katie (again, I'm making
assumptions about what was actually said) to put her iPad away
because it made her look like a tourist. So Katie put her iPad away
and we followed this Portugese couple up the street. I turned to
Miranda and said “I'm not sure if they're super helpful, or if this
is going to end badly for us.” Let me just defend myself here and
say that they did seem very helpful, but at two-three in the morning,
I was a little wary. But this couple led us straight to the hostel's
front door and bid farewell, waving cheerfully to us as we waited for
the hostel to unlock the door for us.
Once
we got up to the hostel's welcome desk, we were greeted by one of the
most chipper wlecome-desk workers I've ever seen. He joked with us as
we checked in and made ourselves comfortable, and then he showed us a
video that explained some of the history and fun facts about
Portugal. It was actually a video that was made to convince Finland
to loan Portugal some money during financial troubles. It's really
interesting, and it's funny too. And the guy who showed us the video
said that the Portugese ambassador showed this video at the council,
and the Finnish ambassador came back the next day to say that Finland
was going loan Portugal the money they needed. I guess Portugal won
that one. Here it is, if you're interested:
We
got our keys, towels, and room assignments. The keys were the coolest
keys I've ever gotten from a hostel—they were bracelets that used
the touch technology, meaning all I had to do to get into the room
was touch the bracelet to the pad underneath the doorknob. It was
definitely more high-tech than the key to my hostel in Milan that
looked like it was the key to a door in an ancient castle. Katie,
Sophie, Marissa and I were all in the same room, leaving Miranda on
her own for the night. The hostel was sponsoring walking tours in the
morning and afternoon, so we decided we'd get up for that (and the
free breakfast) so we could get a tour of the city from a local. But
since that was so early in the morning, it was time to go to bed—it
was already nearly three in the morning!
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