HaveBeen: Porto (Portugal)

Mid-September I went to Porto with my sister. We choose this destination a bit at random. We only had four free days and wanted to make the most of those with convenient flights. Since we live in different countries, we wanted to leave from an airport in the middle. So after some searching we found Porto as our best option (well, first I found Vilnius, but my sister did not want to go there because she "did not want to go to Israel". Yes she is indeed in need of some geography classes. I should get her an atlas for Christmas).

And a good choice it was. With a perfect timing of the time of the year. The weather was still great, but the high season had finished, so it was not crazy crowded.

When we arrived we just dropped our suitcases off at the place we rented the apartment. There we also got a bunch of tips and directions about things to do in Porto. Really useful. We had to wait for a while before we could get into our apartment, so we started with some sight seeing already.

It has to be said that the city is ah-ma-zing. Especially the part by the water is super pretty. Many post card photo opportunities. We had a small breakfast and a coffee by the water so we could ask where exactly on our map we were. Unfortunately the river wind blew my croissant right of my plate onto the street so I was still hungry after (that was one of those funny but not-so-funny-when-it-happens-to-you moments). But luckily lunch was not far away.

After some more sign seeing and a nice lunch right next to the big bridge, we went to take the keys of our apartment. It was great! The location was very near to the water, so that was perfect as well. And the person who decorated this really had a very good taste. All the furniture was wonderful. Not that we spent a lot of time here, but still, I always appreciate some original designs.  

After a taste of the port we were gifted, we continued our sign seeing through some other parts of the city. No late night for us this day, since we both had been traveling all night long the day before.

So after a good sleep we were ready for the next sunny day. My long deserved sunny beach day (my last two trips had pretty bad weather). After some asking around we found out we could take a cute little tram to go directly to the beach side. This ride was so hilarious. On our way back a car had partly blocked the trail. So what happened? Four passengers got out of the tram, lifted up the car a bit and moved it so the tram could pass. Problem solved.

This made me so happy! It was the perfect day to swim and to chill out on the beach.

  

We had lunch and a sangria made with white wine (yumm!) on a beach terrace and then went back to go into the water a bit again.

After some more tanning and chilling we took a walk back to the tramline to go home and get ready for a night out. There happened to be some kind of festival going on in Port that night so there were live performances in the streets, really nice!

On Sunday there was a marathon in Porto (I wish I had known, I totally would have signed up). It was nice to see a running event from the side line for once instead of being a runner myself.

After watching the marathon runners pass by from our position at one of the terraces next to the water, it was time to get a bit more active ourselves. It was possible to cross the bridge over the river in two ways; a low path and a high one. Of course we wanted to get the best view, so we had to climb quite a bit to get to the higher part of the city. Wow. I bet the people that live in Porto don't even need to train for events like the marathon. Just walking these streets each day will do the trick.

But it was worth the climb! The view was beautiful and from higher up you could see parts of the city that were not visible on street level. It gave a whole new view of Porto. And of course the river view was as lovely as expected.

Taking photos was all that safe though. The tram tracks lie in the middle of the bridge and the sidewalks are just narrow. You have to watch out not being hit by a tram when you are taking a picture of your friend in front of the wonderful scenery (I am saying this out of experience).

Next to the view, an advantage of taking the high bridge was that you could take the funicular back down at the other side of the river. The ride is just short, but the view great and a port tasting is included. The port tasting place was very nice. You could order some food to go with your port and even have the bottles you wanted to order delivered at home world wide.

Of course, a lunch at the other side of the river had to follow. It was funny to sit at one of the places that had been our view for the past days and to watch the places we had been sitting before.

We spent most afternoon strolling around this side of Porto. We also discovered the business area of the city. Much less beautiful and full of bigger and fancier buildings. I definitely prefer the river area! In the evening we went looking for an ice cream place I ad seen the day before. But of course, with my extremely bad sense of direction, we could not find it. So we ended up just drinking something somewhere to end our last evening in Porto.

There was supposed to be a viewing tower somewhere in the city, which we wanted to climb on our next day. But since both of us forgot which tower exactly that was, we were a bit clueless So we decided to try the first tower we found (see below). Well, this was not that tower. This was a building we were not even allowed to enter. Luckily I managed to snap some quick pictures before we were sent outside by an angry lady. And that view tower? We never found it.

But we also saw some good sights without this mysteriously hidden view tower. We looked around some more at the city centre and enjoyed the last bits of sunny weather.

And we got to see the view of this man unwillingly share his lunch with a pigeon, who literally ate the food of his plate (the man was less amused than we were).

 Just when we were waiting for our bus to the airport, it started raining out of nowhere. Not just raining, really pouring like crazy. There was no place to shelter from the rain and we could not go inside because when we might miss the bus. So we just stood there, getting soaked completely. My raincoat was very much not water proof as it turned out. The bus driver thought my soaked bus ticket was hilarious though, so at least someone was having fun.

After a very cold ride to the airport we got changed in the baby changing room (you’re as old as you feel right?) and we had to run a bit to make it to our gate on time. Not that that was necessary because they all took it very easy there. Pfiew. So that was it then. Another good trip! 

Cheap tricks for low cost airlines

I secretly kind of like low cost airlines. They offer you the chance to really travel on a budget. But you do need to know what you are getting into.

 

 

 

You pay for what you get

If you pay 20 euro for your flight from Brussels to Madrid you can't expect a five star treatment. You paid a basic price to you will get the most basic service possible. No complementary meals and news papers. No on-flight entertainment. Basically you should have very low expectations matching the low costs of the flights. However, I find that the flights are not often delayed a lot and the staff is often just as friendly as in other airlines. The last thing is quite impressive because all these low cost rules makes their job more difficult sometimes (for example a huge amount of cabin luggage that doesn't fit in the over-head storage).

 

 

 

Carry on only

 To generate some costs out of these super low prices that barely cover the costs the company makes, any luggage is being charged extra for. So if you are not going on a long holiday, it would be clever to travel with just a small suitcase. You can fit in enough things to go for about one week and it forces you to leave home the things you don't need (if you are spending all day on the beach, you really do not need much) . Just make sure not to have any liquids in packaging that exceeds 100ml. Usually you can use the towels (and even shampoo) from your hostel or hotel so no need to bring those.

 

 I feel like I am the master in making the most of this one 10 kg bag. In many smaller airports they don't weigh carry on luggage so you can bring more than 10 kg if you want. Else you can just take out as much as possible (coat, cardigan, etc.) and carry it on your arm while their weigh. I even had several books in my arms once and they didn't say anything. Also, one time I put the excess weight in a separate bag and told the desk employee I would throw it away. Of course I put it back in my suitcase as soon as I was out of her sight.

 

 

 

No meals on board

 On some of the nicer flights you get meals, but not with the low cost airlines. They sell food, but I would not recommend it. The average ready made supermarket meal even tastes better than the food on board (it probably comes from the same factory). Instead you can better eat something at the airport or take something with you.

 

 

Everything's an add-on

 As mentioned before, the low cost airlines need to make their money somehow. So they do that by making you pay for everything extra you want. Choosing your seat? Pay extra. Priority boarding? Pay extra. Name change on a ticket? Pay extra. Luckily the toilet is still for free. At the moment.

 

 

Not so precise

I booked a ticket with my gender as "male" accidentally once. I did not notice until I was about to check in so there was nothing that could be done anymore. So when it was my turn to go through the check I just handed in my ticket and.. "Have a nice flight madam." (although the ticket said Mr.). Turns out they are not discriminating on gender (or just not really paying attention). Actually I read several cases on the internet where people had similar situations. One was even told by the airport staff that the gender on the ticket is not really looked at.

 

 

Help! I made a mistake

Last time I booked a ticket, I made a typo in my middle name. When I tried to change it online, I was charged 110 euros. I read on the website that if I would change it at the airport, it would even be 160. So I started googeling to see if there was anything I could do. I came across several useful online discussions about the topic of mistakes on boarding tickets. I found out the following things:

- You are allowed to use a short version of your passport name (i.e. John /Jonathan.)

- As a married woman, you have to use the name as it is in your passport

- Tickets without middle names are allowed 

- For Ryanair: When you see your mistake immediately, you can call a special helpline and have it changed for free

- And the golden tip that helped me (at least for Ryanair); if you call the "rest of the world" helpline for post-booking issues, they will usually correct small mistakes free of charge. I tried and it worked. Within five minutes I had my new and correct ticket in my mailbox. Some people mentioned they had to pay a 10 euro administration fee for this, but still, that is a lot better than paying 110, or even 160, euro.

 

 

Have a good flight!