So I was looking back on some of my previous posts and it seems that I come across as not having a good time on our crazy, year-long adventure (and it was also pointed out by a good friend of mine). It’s true I do tend to accentuate the negative, but in reality I am having a very excellent time. I try to turn the bad experiences into something hilarious. Hilarious! Portugal is lovely and it’s really hard to complain about what we are doing and experiencing. I’m just a jerk.

So instead of bitching about how weird and damp our apartment is (apparently it used to be underwater) and about the bizarre bug that I smooshed (Gus’ word) that looked like it came straight out of the Cretaceous period or about the large bite I got sleeping in my dank bed the other night – at least I hope it was a bite and not a bunch of eggs that had been laid under my skin – I am going to focus on the positive and the great little town that we’re staying in. I hope all of my mirth isn’t too boring for you.

After an uneventful train ride (this sentence is just an excuse to show this photo I really like), and some terrible wonder bread and one thin slice of ham sandwiches, we arrived in the lovely town of Porto.

 Sandwiches courtesy of my Grade 7 home economics class.

The very nice lady who rented us the apartment, who also had the strangest painted on eyebrows that I have ever seen, recommended to us a restaurant. It was great. It is over 100 years old and in a great location down on the water. As soon as we sat down, a huge torrential rain storm drove us inside. The room was in a cave it seemed and was adorned with all sorts of odd paraphernalia.

This was hanging over our table.

This is my “Dangler” shot for Porto.

I guess it’s some sort of fertility symbol or something to “make you strong”. It seemed to work as after our tasty meal of some succulent chicken and seafood, as i found myself sporting a massive erection for the rest of the day. There was even a point when a couple birds came and perched on it. It was almost embarrassing.

We also had a great meal the next day. That’s two in a row after so many sub-par meals. We enjoyed some great charcuterie and a dish with fava beans and blood sausage.

Eat your heart out, Hannibal Lector!

A few other highlights in and around the fine town of Porto included climbing this quite high clock tower. I’m a little sketchy when it comes to heights and this thing made me feel a little queasy. It was so windy at the top that I couldn’t take a photo with my phone as it seemed to want to leap out of my hands and plummet it to the earth.

This is the tower (from the ground)…

And this is the view from the top (from my perspective)…

Gus and I managed to find a cool “infinity mirror” as I told him it was. We spent quite a long time here hamming it up, much to the chagrin of Tami, who was waiting for us outside.

Trippy.

There was this cool, creepy old church (really are there any other kind – what’s with it with churches being places of terror and dread?) with some neat catacombs. Scared the bejesus out of Gus.

Hello, Prince of Darkness!

If I can’t be buried here, I want my remains to be scattered over 3rd beach in Vancouver. But I don’t want to be  cremated.

Dem bones.

We moving on again to another town, Sintra, tomorrow before sliding into Spain. But not before some excellent port tasting!

I could spend all day here. Sorry, Gus.

Oh did I mention that the city is filled with wizards? Cause it is. Rumour has it that a fairly famous a author who wrote a series of books about a boy wizard and his friends, I think it was called “Larry Spotter and the Wizard School of Hard Knocks” or something like that, was inspired by this part of the world.

Dem Wizards.

Here’s a few more random images of this beautiful town. Get here if you can some day.