The bus to Porto was a nice 1-night ride, hostels there seem to have much better reviews and are much cheaper than Valencia. So I went to Porto for a long weekend.
My bus arrived early in the morning, earlier than it should, even. And because the tram wasn’t running yet, I walked to the hostel. I had a code to get in, had a break there, left my bag, asked google for breakfast places that open early, and walked about 10 minutes to the center. I found a cafe, the door was unlocked, and I opened it – just to be told it’s not open yet.. Portugal is in a different time zone than Spain! So I walked around the empty city a bit more.. then finally got my Pastel de Nata for breakfast, charged my phone, and went to join the free walking tour.
When I got back to the hostel and tried to open the dorm room with my actual key… the key didn’t work haha. Luckily a couple with a working key just came back, and they let me in. As there is no real reception, I wrote to the hostel people on whatsapp and after telling me a few times that I’m just too stupid to use the key… someone showed up to give me a different key. And finally believed me that there really is a problem with the key.
People speak English here! Everyone! 😉 And the city is incredibly full of tourists! It feels so much more crowded than Madrid, or Lucerne!
I did a Port Wine tour as Conny told me.. got to unexpectedly swim in the river 😉 had Francesinha, Bacalhao and, because I walked past a Brazilian restaurant, also finally ate Fejoada. And a Brigadeiro. And then I found a cup of Acai in the supermarket! 🙂
I joined a tile painting workshop. That ended up being surprisingly easy and at the same time complicated 😉 I may need to practise a bit more..
There were quite a few craft beer places, and a market at every corner. Most of them selling exactly the same stuff. And a lot of people with dreadlocks! Interesting 😉