We opted to revisit the breakfast spot of Thursday. It was as good today as it was then. Major yum!

Today we decided to follow the advice of the man who owns the Casa de Casal de Loivos. He had recommended a few things to do outside the touristy center of Porto, and I’m all for seeing more than just tourist spots, so off we went.

One place he recommended was a market in Matosinhos. We plugged that destination into our map and off we went.

We had some walking to do … about 5 1/2 miles I think, and we did a number of stairs. (By the time we got back to the hotel my watch suggested it was 10 flights, but our watches are often giving incorrect information so I’m not sure what we really did.) It was a good walk, though, and it was somewhat warm today. I just love seeing all the houses, and the tiles can be pretty amazing. I am only sharing a few, but I find them beautiful. We went through some less interesting city spots — more of a typical city and not the historic part, but I enjoy seeing more than just the tourist bits. We also went through an area I suspect is where the more well off live, at the top of a hill.

We’ve seen political signs posted, and, while I didn’t take photos, we’ve seen some people walking with flags that have a hammer and sickle on them. One sign said something about 50 years of corruption. Then, on this walk, we saw a Porto city truck removing some of the posters attached to poles. I took a photo of that one, as wondered what PSD=PS means. Maybe a reader knows?

Here are a ton of photos of the walk up to our market destination:

Now to be honest, I only plugged in Matosinhos first, so it was taking us to the city (is it a city? I don’t know!) center, but when we neared the area Dan put in the market and we then were directed to the correct place. The Mercados Municipais de Matosinhos is a fascinating place: there are a number of stands with fresh fish. I noticed that all the sellers were women and Dan suggested the men did the fishing and the women the selling. Upstairs were a lot of flower and vegetable stands and they really looked great!

If we had chosen to we could have perused all the fish stands and chosen a fish or two and then the restaurant there would cook it for us. We, being a bit timid about all of the instructions we were given by the very gregarious man at the restaurant, opted instead to just choose off their menu. We ordered a meal for two that included monk fish, shrimp, and rice that I think they might have called tomato rice. It was really delicious and made up for our so-so fish and rice meal in Lisbon for sure! We also enjoyed bread and olives because … well … bread and olives!

When we were finished with lunch we decided to start back to our hotel on foot. We looked up more of what was suggested to visit and while the city park and the Museum of Modern Art were too far out of the way unless we grabbed a car we thought we could do the walk he suggested that took us by the ocean. It took a while to get there …

… but eventually there was the water. In some ways the area reminded me of the Southern California cities we’ve been in. But then we’d run across a place that was definitely not one we’d find in our state.

We walked a good amount, until we reached a spot where the trolley car runs. The line was long, though, and the cost for the two of us was equal to or even more than a car, so we walked to a park across the street, Dan ordered a car, and we sat on a bench and relaxed a bit.

Soon the car arrived and took us close to, but not exactly to our hotel. I think he wanted to avoid a bit of traffic. So be it. We could add a few more steps to our day and survive.

We were back in the hotel a bit before 6:00PM (or 18:00 … you choose!). Shoes off, we sat for a bit, and I began writing about our day. Then it was off to see a sunset and, prior to that, finding a bit of dinner.

We headed up toward the upper bridge again, knowing our destination was the high spot on the other side of the river. As we walked we looked for a place that would serve food, but didn’t find anything — at this point they were serving drinks only from what we could tell. But of course that is what it would be: it wasn’t even 7:00, after all! So over the bridge we went.

There were some food trucks right after we got to the other side. The first had burgers, including chicken, which would have been fine, but there was a line so I walked over to another and it had hot dogs. Now I’m normally not a huge hot dog fan (although I do like a turkey dog now and then), but there was no line and the price was only 7€ and in a very touristy spot we could deal. Little funny aside: I saw the charge card reader so I pulled out a card at first. The person making our dogs said, “The card reader doesn’t work.” That’s the second time I’ve gotten that line, and I am not sure it’s really true, but we had cash so that’s what she got. The dogs were gigantic and messy, but they sufficed for dinner.

Then we took the little climb up the hill to where a lot of people we waiting for the sunset. Down below us was another crowd. It was pretty wild, really. I think we had to wait about an hour, but it was pretty, and we had a nice chat with a couple from Quebec while we all waited. The noise down below got pretty loud. I don’t know what was happening down there, but there was applause so I’m assuming someone was performing something. Who knows?!

I’ve neglected to mention the hen and stag parties earlier (I don’t know that that’s what they call them here) that we’ve seen. With the men, the groom is sometimes dressed in some crazy way. One we saw in Lisbon was dressed in baby clothes or some such crazy thing. The bride is usually wearing a veil of some sort. The guys with the groom are often in t shirts that match, some having their names on them. The young women with the bride are often in matching shirts as well, or at least wearing similar colors. The group we saw tonight were all in jeans, the bride had a pink shirt, and the others wore white. They were playing some sort of game, and later she threw a bouquet and they did a bit of dancing. We’ve seen this in both Lisbon and Porto (I don’t remember it in Coimbra) and it’s very fun to watch.

When we were finished up top we went back over the bridge and down a few narrow streets to make our way back to the hotel.

Then I did a bit more packing, so tomorrow all I have to worry about are toiletries. We’ll have a bit of early rising, but once we get on the train we can relax a bit. Well, trains actually. I’ll explain about that tomorrow!

Meanwhile we are hearing a lot of cheering and horns … I think a game must have been played and I’m guessing maybe Portugal won, but I don’t know for sure.

Now off to bed with me.

Ciao!