A tale of two cities... in Portugal

Well well, I am becoming a huge fan of traveling alone, but I would also like to put out there, a guide (mixed with a few friends) can make all the difference.

Rewind to one day in the States: I was checking my e-mail and received notice about a new Rock-n-Roll race in Portugal.
I knew at that time:
1. I was going to be living in Santiago
2. I knew Santiago was very close to Portugal (I later realized Santiago is not very close to Lisbon, nonetheless, I was able to go to another country right away!)
3.I loved my first half-marathon with Rock-n-Roll and I was excited to run again with them and enjoy the music they had available along the course!
4. If you were one of the first people to sign up the race was DIRT CHEAP!
*For all these reasons I signed up!

Oriente Estacion para todos trasportacion

Start for the race

The race weekend was upon me and I was advised taking a straight shot on the bus to Lisbon was easier than changing trains, possibly cheaper too. I'm sure the bus was easier, but it was a looooooooooooonnnnnnnnngg 10.5 hour bus ride that only takes 6.5 hours by car. It felt even longer once the bus driver (married, older man from Portugal) decided he fancied me and wanted to have coffee with me at every stop we made (I did not have coffee with him at every stop). Upon arriving in Portugal the first taxi driver wouldn't take me to my hotel because he didn't want my bag in the car. The taxi driver failed to tell me he could get a ticket for having luggage inside the car and it needed to go in the trunk. The hotel staff was fine, not overwhelmingly pleasant but they were able to assist me with my room (reserved ahead of time). After a long, tiring day and accidentally wiping out all my minutes on my cell phone, I went to sleep!


Saturday, the day before the race, was spent at the Sports Expo and trying to find a proper running belt. I spent most of the day in the mall and walking along the Lisbon coastline and finishing the day in the historic old town for dinner. Typical pre-race dinner: Pasta and no alcohol. The typical pre-race dinner is not a typical Portuguese meal!! All the while, I knew I had to check out of the hotel the following morning, before the race, meaning no post race shower.

Ready, set, GO!!

The race came and went: I met some nice people from Chicago on the metro who shared their suncreen with me. I ran the second half with a wonderful woman from Portland and we encouraged eachother to keep running in the heat. The racemakers ran out of GU at the GU Station, they ran out of bananas at the banana station and I was surprised they still offered us Powerade. Pui (from Portland) and I thought this race would be a great way to see Portugal, afterall 21 km is pretty far along the coast of Lisbon. As it turns out the race was behind warehouses and a little too far from the water. All the bands started packing up as we approached the finish line. If it hadn't been for the ice cream at the finish line, the race might have been a complete disappointment. 

The End

The saving grace of the day was the woman I met at the hotel a few days earlier, celebrating her 60th birthday by running the half marathon! We waved on the racecourse and somehow bumped into each other after the race. In all of our excitement from finishing, she (and her bestie!) graciously offered to me the ability to freshen up in their hotel room before catching the bus back to Santiago. (I know God had a hand in that one!)

As my first experience in Portugal, the race weekend was not an extremely favorable one for the Portuguese. However a few weeks later I was able to join in a trip to Porto, Portugal with some of the other girls in my program, being lead by Germán Cacheda De Paz, who is launching a tour company based in Santiago de Compostela.

Main bridge to Portugal

Germán knows and loves Porto and made all the difference for our group of girls! We stopped and walked across the bridge on the border from Spain to Portugal. Germán found a great little place for us to eat the typical Portuguese chicken and then continued along our trek to Porto. Upon arrival to Oporto and our "typical Portuguese hotel" we were warned "Not to make a big party tonight because tomorrow will be a long day!" Thank you Germán!!

The first night was very chill at a great little spot, Plano B. The upstairs reminded me of a trendy hipster bar I might find in Nashville and then downstairs were two rooms for hosting different kinds of music (for example rock in one and house in the other). Germán also showed us the main square where you can find many young friends sharing in a little bottelon and a great little place that sold Estrella Galicia for 1 euro!

Germán, Hannah, Emily, Emily, Hannah, Amanda, Olivier (yes that's Emily x2 and Hannah x2)

Shopping in the Oporto market

Hannah and Olivier

Saturday was filled with visiting the elaboratly decorated train station, perusing the outside market and buying fresh fruit, sampling the traditional meal of Bacalhau (salted codfish) with patas, walking along the enchanting river side and the double-decker bridge, exploring the steep cobblestone streets in search of the perfect bodega (wine cellar), enjoying a tour of  the Croft bodega and sampling some of their port wine and a then ending the afternoon with a little Spanish-style siesta.

Ponte D. Luís I (D. Luís I Bridge) designed by the same architect as the Eiffel Tower

Croft bodega

The main attraction of the day being the "Francesinha" In Portuguese it means little french girl. It's said this is an invention of a returned emigrant from France and it is a few slices of bread a few different kinds of meat, an egg on top and covered in the *secret sauce*! Does that sound big? It was!! Between our group of six people we shared shared three sandwiches and it was plenty!

Francesinha

Saturday night, Germán continued to show us around to great nooks-n-crannys that most tourists never find out about, including my favorite spot of the night, Contagiarte!! It's a normal house on a normal street but inside is wonderful surprise. This night club is a three story house with a huge patio out back to accommodate all kinds of music and dancing in all the rooms on every floor. The night we were there was samba night! I loved watching the couples really dance and I was finally asked to dance by a couple of regulars and it felt great to get my samba on again! Sadly, once back on the main strip of bars and clubs my friend Hannah had her jacket stolen! Don't worry about your purse or your cell phone but jackets are apparently a hot commodity.

The trip ended with a leisurely stop at the beach of Porto. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! 

The beach of Oporto!!

Emily, Amanda, Emily

Emily playing in the water!

 








































Thanks to Germán and my chicas! I am now very pleased with Portugal and would love to go back and explore more. 
 

German's chicas!