Second day in Porto, Portugal was a blast! It started off exceedingly early for some people. Griffin, who went to bed at 3pm yesterday, woke up at 1:50am ready to meet the day. Gage then followed at around 3:30 but lucky for us he went back to sleep 30 minutes later after Griff made him some delicious toast. Next to get up was Mom who got up at around 7:40. Perfect timing for her and Griff who has been up since then (which would then kick him in the butt later) to go watch the amazing sunrise. After getting back everyone got up shortly after. The day had finally begun. After everyone got a delicious breakfast of eggs, left over pasta and Kayla, Connor and Griff finished the first bottle of wine (which was already open), we then headed out on our first, and very long, adventure of the day. It was a great excursion. We went across the Dom Louis bridge and down the board walk along the river, all the way to the ocean. (Parent note: the bride from old city Porto to the Gaia side was designed by the person who designed the Eiffel Tower. There is a lower crossing for cars and pedestrians, and another crossing about a hundred feet in the air for pedestrians and trams. We did the lower crossing for this morning's adventure, but the upper crossing several times for a fabulous view of Porto from the former monestery in Gaia.). Along the way we saw amazing views of the culture heavy city, learning new things every step of the way.
After the wonderful walk along the sea, we headed into town (parent note: this was the village of New Gaia, built up into the hill in the corner where the Douro River meets the ocean) to look at more of the architecture aspects of the Invicta (Porto’s nickname meaning the undefeated city). While walking along very vintage homes and buildings, we found a great place to get a snack because some people were getting hangry. Yep, hangry. With Griff and Kaylas well put in use of time on Duolingo, we were able to order a sandwich for everyone to share. Why we did not get more, who knows. But it was delicious. We then started adventuring throughout the city again, and ended up walking into a very stunning cemetery, demonstrating amazing art and architectural design. We then headed around the city looking for a wonderful place to stop for lunch. We settled on a place called Mundo Café. It was an amazing little restaurant with delicious food. However, not all was great. The First ever Bitch Mint was handed out. You can guess who was on the receiving end of this gift. Yup, you guessed it. Who else would it be than Griffin Price. The sleep schedule caught up with him. Dad gave it to Griff for giving him attitude… Griff disagreed with the call on the pitch, but VAR(Mom) took dads side with this one. But after a delicious meal, everyone had put on a big smile again. Mom and dad even had a bigger smile when Kayla decided to surprise them by paying for the meal as a way to say thanks for bringing her on the trip. It was very nice. We then headed back onto our journey.
Our next stop was the Mosteiro da Serra Do Pilar, a former monastery, where we had a breathtaking view of the whole city. (Parent note: this is the monestery on the Gaia side overlooking Porto.) Many pictures were taken and minds were blown as someone told us some very interesting facts about the city. (Parent note: they were interesting but apparently not interesting enough to be remembered and recorded in the blog. The most interesting was learning that the huge city walls - some of which are still visible throughout the old part of Porto - used to extend along the river, and were built as high along the river to match the height up on the hillside - so hundreds of feet high.). After taking in the wonderful view of the city, we headed across the Dom Louis bridge. However, this time we went over the top part of the bridge. It was amazing and there was a train that went across as you would walk on it. Everyone found it very cool, however some people (Griff and Kayla) almost had many heart attacks whilst struggling to walk with their legs shaking the whole time. Some may say they aren’t too fond of heights. They found it much cooler and laughed it off when they were safe back on the ground. We then headed home to enjoy a light siesta(nap) before heading off to the next journey. On the way we found a great little store in the middle of an alleyway that served wine in a small dark chocolate cup. Yes, we got one to try and yes, it was very delicious.
After our naps, we were ready to hit the roads again. We headed out to find the train station for tomorrow and a McDonalds that was fancier than many, many restaurants that Mom, Gage, Kayla, and Connor saw yesterday but Dad and Griff were too busy sleeping. We first stopped at the Sao Bento train station. It took a while to find, and we then headed to a help place so we could be told where it was. We were then instructed to go across the street because we were looking right at it the whole time. (Parent note: Jen took responsibility for finding this amazing train station, which was written up on many travel blogs due to the ornate tiles inside, but had only managed to find the Sao Bento subway station, which looked, well, like a subway station. So it was a little embarrassing to be told that the train station was the enormous building right in front of us!). When we got there our faces lit up. It was amazing, filled with murals on the walls and decorations on the ceilings. After, we went to find the McDonalds. And it really was a special place. Who would’ve thought that a McDonalds would’ve had chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, gorgeous decorations, and a downstairs seating area. Not something you would’ve expected to see. After that we headed to the market to buy some groceries, then we headed home to make dinner. We had pasta with red sauce and made some meat to go with the sauce. We then thanked Mom and dad for an excellent dinner and Connor, Kayla, and Griff went down to the boardwalk walk around to enjoy the nightlife with a bottle of wine, as well as listening to someone with a great voice sing wonderful songs with his guitar. We then headed back to the house and went to sleep so we could wake up the next morning and have another extraordinary day.
- Griffin Price
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