Sunday, April 20, 2008
8:00 AM

Portugal & Publin

Portugal

9-12 Apr

Here goes! I know it’s going to be a very long entry ahead because the recent Portugal & Dublin trip was such an, erm, interesting one. After a 2-week break of not blogging, I managed to overcome enough inertia to write again. The schedule seemed almost blank after the Bratislava and Vienna trip as we hoped to spend more time during the last month of exchange in our flat, in our little kampung and with our flatmates. Yinghao was keen on catching the Liverpool match in Liverpool. Though I’m not a big fan of football, it does sound exciting to me as I imagined a whole stadium filled with a red sea of excited fans, deafened by all the shoutings. An experience at the stadium watching a football match is definitely something I want to do in the football-crazy Europe. But the prices found online of 200eur or something totally scared the daylights out of me, and as much as I wanted to experience a European match, I wasn’t willing to pay this much or risk not being able to catch it after traveling all the way to UK.

So Yinghao and Xinyu went ahead with their plans to explore Liverpool and Scotland, while I went on to plan a visit to Portugal, which I was very sure I could not cover during the 1.5-month Eurotrip at the end of the exchange, as well as Dublin, where I could visit Vik.

One. Porto. We managed to book flights to London and Porto respectively scheduled at about the same time, so we could head to the airport together that morning. That marked the beginning of my solo trip, fortunately with some company at Lisbon and Dublin. Visiting Porto solo was not a difficult thing to do. The metro was idiot-proof and the town was so small you could walk almost the whole length of it, though the streets were narrow and complicated. There were too many small alleys; they were not labeled and many were not shown in the map. After half an hour of navigating with the map with much trouble, I folded the map, chucked it into my bag and continued wandering around the town aimlessly, stopping to check the location only when I see a place of interest.

Tap the card here.

The metro was built rather recently for the last EuroCup.

Usually I would bear some expectations about the places I was to go, but Porto was a such pleasant surprise. I did not have much preconceived impressions about the place, except the stock exchange, river and Port wine. So as I walked upslope along the street, I looked up and the sight stopped me in my tracks when I saw what was beyond the slope. Atop the slope was a breathtaking view of the overcrowded architecture, narrow and winding lanes, more slopes, church towers and the river. As I wandered further, I came to the century-old D. Luiz I bridge that I read about. There are 2 decks – the one below for vehicles and the one above for the train. And my! The view smelled good and sounds looked delicious…

Just look at the incline of the slopes!

I hate pigeons, but this lady looked so happy feeding the pigeons!

View of the valley from the bridge.

Couldn't stop snapping pics from the bridge till my batt died.

The bird was posing for a picture.

Houses on the terraces on the hills.

The train was creeping on the bridge to give passengers a scenic view.

As I wandered further, I came to the stock exchange, Palacio da Bolsa. It’s very unlike the typical stock exchange skyscraper buildings I imagine it to be. In fact it was built in the 19th century, and boast of elegant and grand rooms. The Sala Arabe (Arabian Room) saw Portuguese designers coming up with Arabian designs, writing ‘Glory to Allah’ and ‘Glory to Dona Maria II’ though they were obviously Catholics, all to show that they have the wealth and ability to build a luxurious Arabian room. The visit made me realize that Portugal is an agri country, so justice and fairness to the commoners was a highlight during the development of the commercial courts during that period.

The lady told me that Estacao Sao Bento was very beautiful, and I thought, how beautiful can a train station be. Well, the painted tiles were rather special I have to say, depicting war and commoners with their agri activities.

Estacao Sao Bento

All these were just the usual places of interest. What Porto really is about is the beautiful Douro river, with slopes on both sides congested with old, weather-beaten houses, and instead of restaurants, cafes and shops along the river, you see clothes hung out to dry, children playing outside their houses and elderly walking out of their houses to get groceries. On the other side, wine cellars and storehouses line the terraces of the hills. This is how real Porto is, and how well-kept a secret it is.

Haven't seen this in a long time.

This is part of the Porto charm.

Why I love Porto - clothes hanging out to dry right beside a place of attraction.

Thus I decided to spend a good 10eur on a river cruise trip despite the impending rain. So much for thinking there’s good weather in Portugal. With my camera battery dead by then, I just sat by the window of the boat and enjoyed what Porto had to offer without any other distractions.

The 10eur included Port wine tasting at a wine cellar, which unfortunately was deep inside the town on the other side of the bridge. After some holland-ing in the drizzle, I managed to get myself on the right lane, only to get drenched from the heavier rain right before I reached the wine cellar. The first wine I tasted was white Port used mainly as appetizer. Always thought Port was red and used for dessert. That was also the first time I tried Port wine, and I totally fell in love with it – the sweetness and the richness. Port Red Tawny tasted great too, and made me feel like buying a bottle back to savour with cheese or chocolate. mmmm... I could only say that, despite the getting drenched and walking in the drizzles, I still loved Porto. So I must have really liked the place very much.

Dinner was Francesinha, a heavy sandwich containing beef, sausage, ham, cheese, with sunny-side-up on top, fries and a spicy sauce beside. I always try not to leave my food unfinished, but I ended up having to leave the fries and some of the beef patty untouched as the food was stuffed all the way up to my pharynx. One not so nice thing about traveling solo is having to eat alone. I guess eating is quite a social thing to me, not just the chatting bit, but also the sharing and trying bit. After overcoming the aloneness of dinner, I still had to tackle a Nigerian guy who claimed to be a Portuguese national football player and keen on “hanging out” with me for the night. I just dismissed him with, “Oh my friends are waiting for me at the train station and we’re not sure where we’re heading.” *smiles, waves goodbye and walks off

There's a reason why there is a "sin" in Francesinha.

The worst thing is walking back to my hostel alone, opening the gate, closing it, feeling my way to the second gate and stumbling up the stairs, all in the dark, and having to leave the place at dawn alone.

Two. Sintra & Lisbon. The solo bus trip was quite comfortable with plenty of space for me to sleep on, and having Terry to pick me up at the train station upon reaching Lisbon. Lisbon had a rather different air about it. People dressed more modernly, walked faster, knew more English, and had wider roads and higher, modern buildings. What appeared similar were the sloping roads and old houses in Baixa with the river in sight at the end of the main street.

That was the first day I met Zhiying, Lea and Fangting, and I immediately felt their friendliness and sampatness. I was so glad they were fun people to travel with, making Palacio de Pena a rather fun place despite the strong and cold wind. Having stayed in Barcelona for the past few months, they were rather unused to the cold, while I felt rather comfortable with a double-digit temperature.

Castle with Moorish influence.

Portugal!

A scary sea monster at the entrance.

Portuguese Azulejos tiles - hand-painted

Wished the weather was better.

The wind was so strong we had reluctance to stay outdoors.

Though we would love to visit the Quinta da Regaleira and the garden too, it was too cold for us to enjoy anything in the cold. So we decided to nuah in the Piriquita café with the famous almond pastry and Bica (expresso shot, a favourite in the Portuguese cafés) and later in a restaurant beside with a Portuguese national dish made from potato and codfish – Bacalhau. Yums!

Some egg cake and cheese tarts.

The famous almond pastry.

Bica, very potent and aromatic espresso shot, tho i'm no big coffee fan.

It was like an eating trip as we went on to enjoy Fado performance at a restaurant in Baixa, savouring another Bacalhau (I figured out I could eat more fish since I don’t eat so much in Germany). Fado (fate) was like singing and narrative poetry that expresses saudade (nostalgia), with 2-3 people playing string instruments in the background, and an old man/ woman singing with an emotional tone to it. I guess the singers had to be old enough to sing such nostalgic songs. Why they liked nostalgic songs made me really curious about the culture in Portugal. I used to think that Portugal is a place filled with really warm, passionate poeple (like Spanish and Latin Americans), wealthy too, having Vasco da Gama being the first to discover a sea route to India, and being among the first to set foot on SEA. But Portugal kind of had a tough time after being conquered by the Moors, Spanish and French, and finally having to suffer under the dictatorship of Salazar. Call me ignorant, but I really expected a very European, first-world Portugal, and was surprised by the second/third-class of what I saw, and how Moorish-influenced the architecture were. How much they must have wished they could go back to the glorious past.

Bacalhau, while enjoying Fado.

More narrow lanes and slopes in Lisbon.

Praca do Commercio

Was so worried it would rain on the second day.

Three. Belem & Lisbon. Though the girls went to Belem the day before I arrived at Lisbon, they decided to go back to Belem again. The weather was perfect! So after a sumptuous tunch at the cafe most famous in Portugal for its Portuguese custard tarts, we did our jumps and stupid pictures under the sky-blue sky and sunny sun, and lay on the concrete beside the Padrao dos Descrobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries)!

Famous for its custard tarts! yums!

Heavenly! The crust was so crispy, the custard was soft, sweet and so fragrant. Never had such good Portuguese egg tarts. mmm

Padrao dos Descrobrimentos; clean and white monument.

Perfect weather to nuah and lay on the concrete.

My trusty pair of shoes from HK that walked with me in Portugal and Dublin.

Torre de Belem, used to be on the shore, but no longer, due to the receding shoreline.

Memorial for those that died for Portugal in various wars.

This was to be one of the most interesting day among my trips. On our way to take the tram back to the main city area, we met a guy whom we randomly met and spoke to at the café. He claimed to be a Peruvian working in the embassy in Lisbon, and had been to many places, including Singapore. He appeared to be a nice and friendly man who really appreciated company from international and passionate people, as he described us. So he invited us onto his car for a lift back to the city, and we kind of just thought, why not, only to regret halfway, for fear he harboured ill intentions. He offered to treat us to dinner at his place, but we insisted on somewhere near our hostel, so we would not be at a disadvantage. But guess what, he was the driver and he eventually said he wanted to get changed at his place. By then, we were like “oh shit”, while I at the same time still had much faith that there’re truly nice and friendly and crazy people like him. Of all things that could happen, he happened not to bring his keys and as we freaked out, wondering if he was waiting for some big burly men to come kidnap us. Our hearts skipped another beat as he suggested we head to a nearby Chinese restaurant to eat. So we did and spoke to the waitress who spoke fluent Portuguese, Mandarin and Spanish, and found out from her that he frequents the restaurant with his daughter and wife, was very friendly and works at the embassy. But somehow the girls were not used to the hospitality and were only assured when the wife and daughter arrived at the restaurant. Both of them spoke very good English and it was really interesting to meet such nice people randomly on the streets and to receive their hospitality. This is fado.

4 Singaporeans, 4 Peruvians and 1 Chinese Portuguese.

This lady appeared on a Portuguese Business magazine.

Four. Lagos. Ryanair flew out only from Faro and Porto in Portugal to Ireland, and so I thought, might as well take a trip to the Algarve, spend some time in the warm Lagos by the sea, before heading to Dublin. For Lagos, pictures do the job better than words.

Haven't seen palm trees in a long while.

Just makes you want sail out into the open sea, doesn't it?

Meia Praia, a vast, white, soft, lovely beach

Nice environment to lie down, eat cookies and write postcards.

Fortaleza da Ponta da Bandeira, a 17th-century fortress.

Sneak peek.

This pic is deceiving. The wind was still rather cold.

I had the whole room to myself.

Publin
13-15 Apr

Five, Six, Seven. Dublin. There’s a reason why people call it Publin. Irish people love drinking. Ireland is famous for Guinness, their warmth and friendliness, and perhaps their route to independence as opposed to Northern Ireland. One main reason why I visited was also Vik. Having someone in the foreign land to receive you always makes the place more special, just like Marseille and Paris would be later on in our Eurotrip.

Tried Chartreuse, 55%, made in a monastery in Grenoble.

The Irish dancers. The speed of their tapping was just amazing!

Irish pubbbb

Bottoms up!

Vik's uni is quite SMU-ish.

There's a fountain in his sch!

By Oscar Wilde. You'll know his sort of humour if you've read The Importance of Being Earnest.

That's his sculpture.

Molly Malone, some Irish heroine.

Trinity College was packed with tourists that I pity the students. They are basically studying in a tourist attraction. Besides the Long Room and Book of Kells that I found interesting, I found something rather fascinating in the female toilet. The toilets are filled with posters saying “If you forgot your condom, please call this number for emergency contraception” or “Having unplanned pregnancy is not the end of the world” or “Find out how wonderful it can be as a mum”. Well, condoms have become common in modern times in Ireland despite its conservative Catholic practices in the past, yet abortion still remains illegal, thus this.