Day 24: Porto

Gonçalo suggested taking a bus to Porto instead of taking a train since it's much cheaper. Furthermore, the bus will pass through numerous Portuguese villages, which will be insightful.

After bidding Gonçalo farewell, we boarded the bus without delay. By the time we reached Porto, it was around 3pm. Basic tourist instincts prioritised the tourist information as our first stop. Asking for directions to the tourist information wasn't helpful since the locals spoke limited English. That was a great contrast from our experience in Funchal.

I approached a hotel for directions since one would expect them to command a reasonable level of English. However, when we reached the tourist information, to our dismay, it was closed!

Never mind, we thought. We can always get a map from the hostel.

Since we didn't book the hostel in advance, we had to hunt around the city for the best deals. Being the low season, booking in advance was unnecessary. Yee-Chen, our undisputed bargain queen, was appointed the task of searching for the best deals.

After checking around at a few hostels, we managed to get a room for 10 euors per person per night in a hotel. It was the cheapest hotel I had ever stayed in. Considering the fact that the price included a breakfast buffet, it was too cheap to be true.

Ok, but I have to admit that the breakfast buffet was nothing more than bread and croissant. The meal was sweetened up by some diluted fruit juices.

Being the low season, I guessed the hotel won't think twice before letting out a room for such a dirt-cheap price. It's better to earn something than to earn nothing at all!

As night slowly engulfed the wintry night, we left the hotel, eager to explore Porto before it got too dark. Being a Sunday night, the streets were deafening silent. A few people loitered around, reminding us that the city was still alive. Lamps were dimly lit, casting ghostly shadows.


Porto Cathedral

The Porto Cathedral is situated on a high point in the city's oldest district. It dates all the way back to the 12th century. The old faded exterior made the whole place looked neglected. The only thing that made it tingled with life were the orange lights that emanated from within the cathedral. WIth the absence of a single soul around, one would be led to believe that Porto is simply a dead abandoned city. Kinda eerie.


Part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Everything looks pretty run-down.

Walking down the steps that led to the Douro River, many houses looked dilapidated. Broken windows, fallen tiles and even a collapsed roof, all made up part of the old district streets. One would have guessed that these houses were abandoned, judging from the state of disrepair. In fact, this part of the city is listed under the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its long and rich history justified its inclusion but I thought the authorities could do a better job in maintaining the houses.


In one of these lanes, lurked 2 drug addicts whom we were unlucky, or rather, lucky to meet.

It was in one of the back lanes of Porto where we met 2 drug addicts. Relying on the map for directions, we headed in the direction of the river by following the steps which lead us through a labyrinth of streets and back alleys. The girls were already feeling jittery, having to negotiate through the dimly lit streets. However, stated on the map is the tourist route. So I thought it should be pretty safe.

Soon, we were kinda lost. Having the map didn't really help since the whole place was gloomly. We couldn't make out what was on the map.

As we descended on a flight of cobble-stoned stairs, we saw 2 lanky guys bent over in a corner. They were trying to roll some white powder into small strips of paper.

Sensing something amiss, my first instinct was to turn back and take a detour.

"我们走另一条路！" I told the girls.

As soon as we turned back, one of the drug addicts called out, "It's ok. You can take this route. If you want to go to the river, it's faster this way."

We were shocked. The streets might look menacingly unfriendly, the drug addicts were alarmingly friendly.

On a lighter note, without them, we might have been lost. In a sense, we owed them much gratitude.

Upon reaching the river front, the sky was already dark. Turning back to the hotel was a wise option since we didn't wish to land ourselves into serious trouble. The whole city already looked spooky enough.