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Thread: My trip on Portugal (Oporto): Thoughts

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    Default My trip on Portugal (Oporto): Thoughts

    Well, dudes of Apricity, I just have arrived today of my travel to Oporto (four days) and I would want to share my experience with you.

    We went to Oporto from Madrid, and passed by some Portuguese cities (Guarda, Viseu and Aveiro) but we just stopped some minutes to buy water and food, so I can not say anything about these places. Even so I will make some comments about this part of the journey:

    Nature and landscapes: Portugal is very green. At least that area that we went. It has been surprising to check the landscapes of that part of ​​Portugal.



    Forests and forests and forests and forests. And mountains/sierras. In contrast to the typical Castilian landscape, where we have immense agricultural fields, the Portuguese one has not it, due its complex orography, and the lack of farmlands is the reason (I guess) why they have so many forests.



    Architecture: FANTASTIC. Being quite similar to that of Spain, the architecture of the villages (and even the mentioned cities: Guarda, Viseu and Aveiro), it is not identical. Of course the houses in the villages are single-family houses. Something so:





    As I say, this happens even in the cities, where high buildings are rare.
    Guarda:


    Now I will go with Oporto:

    FANTASTIC AND PINTORESQUE CITY. It is a mix between old and modern buildings. BEAUTIFUL. AMAZING. COLORFUL. WITH TONS OF TOURISTS. WITH A LOT OF HISTORY.

    Its historical buildings are 10/10. The historical centre. The Cathedral. The Clérigos Church and Tower. The San Francisco Church. The Ribeira district along the Duero river. Its trams. The Aliados Avenue. The Lello bookstore. Etc etc etc


    The Cathedral. It is attached with the historical walls of the city. The statue of the Galician Vimara Pérez, the first ruler of the County of Portugal, is found along the cathedral. I enjoyed a lot when I saw it


    Clérigos Tower, emblem of the city. The views since its higher point are amazing


    San Francisco Church. I never had seen a comparable church. Its interior is gilded. JUST WONDERFUL. Of course it is a World Heritage Site



    The Ribeira district along the Duero river. Super-touristic place, and of course, World Heritage site too. We took a cruise in a typical Portuguese ship (rabelo) crossing the Six Bridges watching the two riversides. The Luis I bridge is just majestic




    The Aliados Avenue, with all its beatiful buildings




    The Lello bookstore, one of the most famous and pretty in the world



    And one of the reasons why we chose Oporto: the river mouth of the Duero in the Atlantic


    Portuguese people: super friendly. Unfortunately Oporto is a super multiethnic city (I was going to say it is a multicultural city, but it is not true: the culture is super Portuguese). A disgrace that Pakis or Bangladeshians or whatever they are (brown people) have taken the 90% of the souvenir stores

    Tons of blacks and mulatos. They seem super-integrated in the Oporto society. It is hard to find a restaurant, bar, hotel (in our hotel 90% of the staff was black or mulato), etc where you dont see one of them
    Among the ethnic Portuguese (I dont dare to say how many of them make the total population of Oporto, since there are a lot of mulatos and exotic people), those who look like Spaniards perhaps are a 70-80% being benevolent. The rest look ambiguous.

    Gastronomy: I tried the famous Francesinha and the famous Cachorrinho, the pasteis de nata, plus the typical Bacalhau of course. Just wonderful.

    The Portuguese infraestructures (motorways, buildings, etc) and all kind of servicies: Fantastic, such as I hoped. Nothing to do with for example Romania, where I was some years ago. Definitely I will return some day. I am proud of our little brothers.

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    Glad you enjoyed it. Portugal is indeed very green, especially in the Center and the North. Similar to Galiza I would say.

    If you ever come to Lisbon don't forget to ring a bell, lets have some copas.
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    ^ do you live in Oporto??

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    Strange i didn't think Porto was very multi-ethnic when i went there. At least when compared with Lisbon...

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    By the way, did you find Portugal to be cheaper than Spain, on pair or more expensive?
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    Quote Originally Posted by Endovélico View Post
    Strange i didn't think Porto was very multi-ethnic when i went there. At least when compared with Lisbon...
    How is that? I saw dozens and dozens of interracial couples (80% formed by a Portuguese + a mulato-a/black and 20% North European + mulato-a/black), and directly hundreds and hundreds of blacks and mulatos.

    Quote Originally Posted by Viriato View Post
    Glad you enjoyed it. Portugal is indeed very green, especially in the Center and the North. Similar to Galiza I would say.
    Yes, we were saying exactly that in the car. Very pretty.

    Quote Originally Posted by Viriato View Post
    If you ever come to Lisbon don't forget to ring a bell, lets have some copas.
    Lisboa (and look what endovélico says) sounds super-maxi-ultra-hiper multicultural, but I thank you your idea and who knows...

    Quote Originally Posted by Viriato View Post
    By the way, did you find Portugal to be cheaper than Spain, on pair or more expensive?
    Well, I have a lot of things more to comment. One of them is the prices topic.

    I expected the things were cheaper then they were. For example we drank a cocktails in the Sandeman terrace, in Vila Nova de Gaia... and we paid 8 euros for each one

    Every ticket in the tram: 3 euros.
    Every ticket in the San Francisco Church: 6 euros
    Every ticket in Lello: 5 euros just for entering!!!!!!!

    We went to the Hard Rock Cafe near the Avenida de los Aliados and bufff, better I dont say how many money we spend there
    The same in a Pizza Hut in Foz do Douro

    Every ticket in the aquarium Sea of Life 13 euros iirc...

    But for example in traditional restaurants (Café Santiago or Gazela) the prices were normal or even cheap.

    I like to buy souvenirs and I denied myself to that we were to these stores regented by Pakis/Bangladeshians/the hell they were, and we had the luck to see an old lady Portuguese woman in the riverside of Vila Nova. Four magnetic souvenirs = five euros. Very cheap.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cristiano viejo View Post
    How is that? I saw dozens and dozens of interracial couples (80% formed by a Portuguese + a mulato-a/black and 20% North European + mulato-a/black), and directly hundreds and hundreds of blacks and mulatos.
    Well i went there in 2010 or 11. It's possible things have changed since then. But lack of blacks was one of my first impressions

    Maybe the 2012-13 crisis drove local people away and blacks and indians came in. Maybe Águia could add some info about this, perhaps my 2010 impression was not correct.

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    And on your trip you never saw drug dealers, I have an acquaintance who traveled by car from Faro to Oporto and on the way through an area that seemed very strange and in that area there were drug dealers. The rest seemed very nice. He visited the Lello library.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Endovélico View Post
    Well i went there in 2010 or 11. It's possible things have changed since then. But lack of blacks was one of my first impressions

    Maybe the 2012-13 crisis drove local people away and blacks and indians came in. Maybe Águia could add some info about this, perhaps my 2010 impression was not correct.
    I wanted to believe that the multiethnic issue was only in the most touristic zone of Oporto: the historical centre, with all what this means: restaurants, hotels, cafes, bars, stores, etc... but when I saw a mulata girl or boy walking alone in let say near the San Bento station (aka the centre of the city) I thought "damn, that girl or man seems super integrated...". They dressed well and such. I dont know if I am expressing myself correctly with what I want to mean...

    Also we saw a lot of beggars. This just sucks.

    For last, I want to talk about Portuguese woman. They have fame of being ugly here in Spain... but being honest I have to say this is a bullshit and they look pretty This being said, the most beautiful girl I have seen in Oporto was... a Spaniard girl from Barcelona we met her in the cableway of Vila Nova de Gaia along his boyfriend, they asked us from where we were and then she said "we are from Barcelona... but hey!! we are not independentists!!!. Haha, it was funny.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ruggery View Post
    And on your trip you never saw drug dealers, I have an acquaintance who traveled by car from Faro to Oporto and on the way through an area that seemed very strange and in that area there were drug dealers.
    No, we had our own drugs it is joke

    No, we did not see drug dealers. We saw many beggars, such as I have commented above.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ruggery View Post
    The rest seemed very nice. He visited the Lello library.
    The Lello library is super pretty, but it is massified as fuck. We waited 10 or 15 minutes to enter, and then in the interior there is no a simple corner where there are not people It is a bit oppresive.

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