Tag Archives: bridges

Tuesday in Boston (9/23/25)

Posted on by
Reply

We had a typical lazy start to the day. I get rather antsy, but Dan has things he wants and probably needs to do on his iPad (photo things, maybe?) so I busy myself by playing a few games (Wordl, Sudoku, along with a few others) just to kill time) and starting today’s blog.

The weather outside looks lovely, despite the rain forecasts we’d seen earlier, and that forecast has, thankfully, changed. We can deal with rain, of course, but if we don’t have to were are just fine with that!

So here I am, at 9:12AM, dressed, things put away, and ready to go. Now I wait …

At 10:00 we did make our way to the very slow elevator. Of course the elevator that looks to be the one we should be using is out of order. I seem to recall a review criticized that which makes me think it will never be repaired. But what I assume might be the service elevator works: it’s just extremely slow.

We went to a different — and much better — place for coffee and food: Dan had a rather small muffin, and I had yogurt and fruit. I have missed our yogurt and while what I got was fine, our home made yogurt is much better and I look forward to making it when we get home!

We decided we should do the remainder of the Freedom Trail, which meant heading again past the park.

We continued to walk, and we passed a restaurant whose signs just crack me up. I thought they should at least have on item that is second best or maybe even third. But nope!


Then it was over the bridge.

And then we were in Charlestown.

With a short walk we made our way to the Bunker Hill Monument.

We could have taken the 429 stairs up to the top, but we both agreed we weren’t up for that, so we enjoyed the view from below. It’s been so interesting reading about the Revolutionary war: it’s been eons since I learned about it and I never did pay much attention to history back then.

From Bunker Hill we went to the USS Constitution. Sadly we couldn’t board the boat as it is being worked on. We’d rather counted on spending a good amount of time on that. Another more modern ship was there as well but it, too, was closed. So much for that! But we walked around and I took some record shots so I could put them up here.

Then it was lunch time. We had said it was to be a two meal day, but so much for that! I ordered a cup of corn and clam chowder so that was fairly small. Dan ordered a club sandwich and that was huge so I was a very helpful wife and ate a fourth of it.

We could have walked back over the bridge but instead we opted for taking a ferry. It took us a bit of time, along with some help from another ferry rider, to figure out how to buy tickets on my phone, and for some reason I couldn’t find the senior price there so we ended up paying full price, but I suppose we can afford the slightly over $7 it cost us.

Then it was a random ramble. We really had nothing more planned until dinner. I did tell Dan I think we could have done one less day here as we are running out of things we want to do. Maybe tomorrow we’ll investigate some museums, though.

After growing weary of walking we stopped in at a beer garden and had a beer. Mostly it was just to kill time, to be honest.

Getting near 5:00 we walked past a the City Hall (I think!).

And then over to La Famiglia Giorgio for dinner. I’m glad we went so early because by the time we left people were waiting to get in. The food was good, but oh my do they fill the plate. My dish could easily have fed a family of four and I think Dan’s could have as well. I could barely put a dent in the dish, and we both asked to have things boxed up.

We had originally thought we’d get a car home, having walked about eight miles so far, but with the food we decided we’d walk and hand the (very heavy) bag to someone who looked like they needed it. Sure enough, while on our walk, a couple who appeared to be living on the streets were sitting on the sidewalk and Dan asked if they were hungry and handed the bag to them. I do hope they enjoyed the feast.

It was a lovely evening walk!

We reached our hotel and I checked my watch: 10.18 miles today. Not bad! Of course, as I reminded Dan, if we were ever to do the Camino de Santiago we’d have about seven miles to go on some days. Hm. Can we really manage that walk? I wonder!

Oh, and about shoes: I am wearing some All Birds which I really do like, but clearly my Altra shoes are better for lengthy walks when my feet tend to swell a bit. I think I will save the All Birds for hanging out in and shorter than six mile neighborhood walks. I realize that is incredibly exciting information you couldn’t live without!

Tomorrow might be rainy. But then today was originally going to be rainy and it was a lovely, albeit somewhat humid, day. We shall see!

First Full Day in Porto

Posted on by
Reply

We began quite lazily since we have no bags to pack and we don’t have a walk scheduled. Of course that doesn’t mean we didn’t walk, and in Porto it does mean you will most likely have a climb! After showers we got ready and first had to go downstairs to tell them our room is quite cold (the heater doesn’t appear to be working) and the toilet won’t stop flushing! At home we just jiggle the handle, but here there is no handle to jiggle so I guess someone will have to come up and fix that.

Then it was nearing breakfast time. At home I’d never think of eating breakfast, but … wellllll … vacations are just different! We wanted somewhere close so I did a search on coffee and saw that Coaque – Artisan Chocolate was the closest place. Now you might wonder about the chocolate thing. I sure did! Honestly, I think they’d be smart to change the name: yes, there is a lot of chocolate, but they also serve breakfast, and I think lunch also. We ate very well.

After our meal we made our way to Gaia, via the Luis I Bridge. If you know me, you know heights give me the Willies, but I do manage to cross bridges without too much fear.

Photos are from our walk to the bridge and on the bridge:

We had a 1:30 date with Caves Ferreira to do a tour, so we went in that general direction. It brought back memories of our first visit to Porto, when Meghan and Jameson were also here. That time we didn’t do a tour but we did have an amazing time at Graham’s, as we had dinner reservations there. This time I did try for a Graham’s tour, but nothing was available. I guess those have to be scheduled well in advance. So we walked to Ferreira’s just to make sure we knew where we were going, and then went to have a snack and a beer. The zero alcohol kind … we’d get enough port anyway!

The tour was enjoyable and I did actually learn some things. I liked the tasting (you can see the photo of what we tried below), but I have to be honest and say I really don’t have a discerning palate like some do. You could buy me cheap stuff and I’m not sure I’d know the difference, sad but true.

After our tasting we walked through a place that reminded us of Lisbon’s Time Out Market but without the crowds (and not nearly as large), and then up to something called WOW, which we later learned meant “world of wine” and there were various “experiences”. Now call us sarcastic, or maybe skeptical, or perhaps both, but when we see that there’s a wine experience, and a chocolate experience, and a cheese experience, um, well, we just aren’t interested in experiencing any of them. Not there, anyway. Those seem more like big tourist traps to us. What we’d thought was there was some art … somewhere we’d read something that gave us that impression. But nope, just a modern looking place that I think is supposed to make money and appears to have very few people buying into it.

Photos here are after the tasting up until leaving WOW:

We quickly left and went back down the stairs and had to decide if we would take a ferry across the Douro, go uphill to the bridge, or take a gondola ride to the bridge. Again, yours truly is incredibly squeamish about heights, but there is something about being in an enclosed gondola that causes me not to be fearful. I can’t explain it, but there you go. So we opted for the gondola (yes, I know: tourist trap stuff!): the views were fun, but it sure went quickly.

We had planned on going right back to our hotel, although first we would grab a snack to bring with us, but then we looked up and decided to go up a small hill to see a building that was calling our name. It was windy at the top but, again, there were spectacular views. It was well worth the small climb.

Finally it was time to head back. Over the bridge we went, past the big church, and then down some of the wonderful narrow alleyways of Porto. (And saw the biggest Ficus elastica ever.) We bought our snack supplies as well.

Then we went up to our third floor room and shoes came off, chip bag was opened, and it was relaxation time.

I had made reservations for a nearby place that had good reviews and had an opening for 7:30. We are learning that reservations are a very good idea in a city that is so popular with tourists. When it was time we walked all of two minutes to Tá-Berna Wine & Tapas Bar. We really enjoyed the food, and our server was fun to watch as she was in charge of the entire upstairs (well, okay, it wasn’t a huge upstairs, but she sure moved quickly), and was just very friendly. After we ate our dessert of these little balls of yumminess I told her I loved mine and she smiled and said she makes them herself! Then, going downstairs to pay, she was there to take the payment and take a photo of us (on one of those instant cameras) to put on the wall. She had me put our names on it as well. What fun!

It hadn’t fully appeared but I quickly took a photo. And I think that being on that wall makes us famous. Or something. (Hmmm … maybe we should get a free drink?)

After paying we went back to our hotel and up to our room after I had a 20€ bill changed into some coins so we have tip money for housekeeping. Yes, tips are done in Porto, although one doesn’t leave nearly as much here as in the states, from all I’ve read.

Now I do believe it’s time to sleep. Last night I slept pretty well once I took a Benadryl. I had had a reaction to something and with itchy eyes, ears, and throat I decided a pill might help with that and perhaps I’d even sleep better. Sure enough, that worked! (Today I saw that there was some sort of stuff floating in the air, similar, if not the same, to the cottonwoods in the US. I suspect that’s what I was reacting to, but who knows?!

But you don’t really need to know all of that. I’m rambling. And I should say goodnight! So … GOODNIGHT!

December 17 in Zaragoza

Posted on by
Reply

Learning to take my time getting up and going isn’t easy, but since I knew dinner would probably be at 8:00 it made sense to be slow this morning. I didn’t bother with the coffee in the room: it is some sort of instant stuff and I’m just not interested in that. Dan, though, had his decaf.

Eventually we went out, with the intention of getting to the Palacio de la Aljafería.

Right outside our door is the Plaza de Justicia, which caused us to stop and take some photos. We saw several tour groups there as well.

Then we walked down the street and, well how ‘bout that?! … a market. Now we do love markets so we had no choice but to go inside. Tons of stands, with a lot of them selling fish, poultry, and meat. I took a few photos, but wasn’t sure how much they like people to do that after being told in Seville that I should stop.

From there we continued our walk. Seeing this area, the opposite direction of what we did yesterday, I wasn’t as disappointed and decided our two days here won’t be a total bust.

And then we reached our destination. For 1€ each we could enter. Turns out much of the place was so destroyed that it’s been modernized. I didn’t take photos of the clearly very new walls if I could avoid it. I was surprised they repaired it as they did, but perhaps they have no choice.

A Goya exhibit was also there. If I’m understanding what I read online, the Goya Museum might be closed, so I’m thinking this is at the castle for people who do want to see Goya now. (**I later learned this is quite incorrect: the Goya Museum is open!)

Just a small piece of a Goya picture. Just because.

More from the palace.

When we finished with the palace we simply walked across the street for our tapas and water. We were quite satisfied for a whopping price of about $11.50. Yes, that’s for two of us.

Next up was a slow ramble back to our hotel.

We did the obligatory rest time — not that we needed it, of course. Or, um, maybe we did. I slept for 20 minutes.

I had put together a map of five restaurants that might work, so when we went out again we decided to check those out. We went down a close alleyway and took some photos, and then I realized that maybe we first wanted to do the churro and chocolate thing, since the churro place that was the highest rated opened at 5:00 and it was getting close to that time. So off we went. When we reached it, at not quite 5:00, it was already hopping. I guess time is flexible here. We went in and watched what the people were doing to try and figure out how to go about it. Fortunately a woman asked us something in Spanish, we said we only spoke English, and she explained that she was asking if we were at the end of the line and that that is what we were to do. Then, when I said what we wanted to order, she helped me with that as well, so when the time came for us to place our order I almost got it right! “Dos chocolate.” And then something that meant half a dozen churros (don’t worry, they are skinny and small things.) They were quite yummy, and a great way to tide us over until our later dinner.

We started to look for the dinner places, got to one, and realized that we needed to find our way to the bridge that allows us to see the river and church to take some photos. So off we went. First we ended up in a plaza with a museum and church.

Then it was the bridge. And it was quite lovely.

Eventually lights on the bridge came on as well. Beautiful!

After spending time with cameras (Dan with his Fuji, me with the iPhone) we went back on our dinner surveying, first heading through the Christmas market.

Four restaurants and very cold hands later we settled on La Flor di Lis. I attempted to make a 7:00 reservation but the darn thing wasn’t working so we just walked back to see if we could get in. We were told we could be seated as long as we were done by 8:30. No problem! And dinner was lovely. At one point Dan looked two tables over and noticed the couple we met yesterday, Sharon and Bill. What a coincidence! We didn’t really chat, but it was fun to see them.

Just a few shots from the restaurant since I forgot, at first, to use the camera:

Then it was a quick walk to the hotel and, for me, a shower to be sure I can sleep. Or at least so I can hope to sleep.

The view from our room at night:

Tomorrow is our final full day here. I think it will be church visits and, most likely, at least one museum visit. Zaragoza has turned out to be a very fun city, and one that not as many tourists go to.