Porto, Old City, Day 1

Not totally sure what to expect, I headed off to Porto, Weather isn't the best, rain, sun, more rain...being Vegie here, is really hard, everything has some kind of meat in it, dosen't help when you can't speak to local language, Anyway, I'm not paranoid about being Vegie, I have hit my main goal of loosing weight, I just enjoy being vegie, plus it makes the decision making process easy, if you don't know me by now, I can never make up my mind...

Main railway station, in S. Bento Porto, there were more, but they were being cleaned or something (as you can see on the edges)

Am guessing it's the retaking of portugal from the moor's

 Bridge, I will be crossing this again today!! there will be Wine tasting on the other side!

View from on top of the bridge

Old city, alot of buildings are in decay, abandoned.

Metro! why can't Auckland have something like this, it's amazing.... isn't as confusing as Lisbon, am getting the hang of it..

Interesting  bits of street art

Loved the bling bling...

More old buildings, statues, they are everywhere.... I do find it hard to work out if its ok to go inside or not, so far I've only been into churches, and prisons, didn't feel right taking photos in a church.

Lasty, that night, we went to a friend of Rui's place to watch the football, FC Porto vs Lisbon,  Porto needed to win by 2 goals or something, it was the semi final, I have never seen anyone soo animated when there team scored, Porto won 3-1, after the match, you could hear people, yelling for joy outside, car horns etc..

They showed on TV Porto fans being escorted back to there buses by Riot police, I mean, WTF, I hope NZ never gets like this...

To aveiro portugal and Beyond!

After a nights drinking games, at the hostel in Lisbon, thunder and lightning was setting in, wasen't raining too bad

I had to make my way to the railway station to catch the 8am train to aveiro portugal, which is 80km south of portugal....

To start things off, my Cellphone was still running in Spanish time, so one hour fast, so I arrived at the train station 2 hours early, waited there for an hour or so, before asking if I was at the right station, "NO catch the metro... blue line" ok... go downstairs to the metro... ask someone else (showed him my ticket...)  he sends me to another station, make it there, with 10 mins to spare.... only to find out, im at the wrong station... @#@#, have to catch the metro BACK to another location, book another ticket for a later train....

this is the right train, lisbon to porto! damn

aveiro portugal, a little like venice

another image from the canel

nice wall 

Dinner with Rui & his girlfriend, Yep, he cooked up a vegie special just for me in the Wok! Thanks Again!

First Porto bottle of Wine :)

Shop, full of coffee machines... I checked on the net, Portugal is ment to have the best coffee in Europe, I had some that night with Rui, he brought some coffee back from east timor, it was amazing

Made it to the Altantic

Sintra Portugal

 Sintra, and it's Moorish Castles I didn't really know what to expect, my friend in portugal, Rui, said, 2 days in Lisbon, then 1 day in Sintra, ok I didn't realise Sintra was soo close to Lisbon, 30 min train ride away, It was pretty good, ALOT of walking, ok I'm too cheap to get the bus up, just dosen't feel right... so I walked it... I am actually surprising myself with how well I am going, Italy I was running around with a backpack on for 4 hours.... Exploring Rome, I've been running up and down the hills in Lisbon, without too much effort, Sintra, tho was walking heaven...
This friendly guy was above one of the doors at the entrance of the castle,This gives you some idea how far I had to walk to get to the first fort yes I surprised myself

on the walls of the fort views were amazing

looking down on another castle, I wasen't allowed to take any photos inside, even had to wear my backpack in front.... they seemed to use the same kind of 3d painting as in the Vatican, and DAMN they must be SHORT, hell, came close to hitting my head a few times.... going down one of the corridors

Lisbon Day 2...been offered drugs twice.. wtf...

Bakery items found in Lisbon, I really should take more pictures of bakery's in europe, they seem to be different everywhere...  I brought one of these, I was like WTF thats like a boiled egg, and yes it is...couldn't work out how to eat it.... I did try eating the shell but hmm I had to peel the egg first...

Today, I booked a Bus tour, same as I did in rome/barcelona, only this time, I've been horribly disappointed... I almost feel asleep in the middle of the tour... not a good sign, interesting facts, portugal has bull fighting, bad bit it's on Thursday, but unlike spain/mexico, bulls are not allowed to die, has been against the law for like the last 100 years +

Fort from some lookout I walked up too, I spend an hour, just sitting down, soaking up the views... it is breathtaking....

Everything is like a postcard

Streets in Lisbon, have the standard roman road style, but the footpaths have a unique stone design, not sure what kind of rock it is, but its very nice.

Really interesting building, was just like WOW when I came across it... was actually clean too.... ( not the norm for lisbon)

Harbour bridge, it is 3km long, I did attempt to see if I could walk across it... but nah... is impressive tho, think it's ment to be the biggest in Europe...

Small things make me homesick... yes they had croc's.... I did come across a bar in Barcelona too "Tiki" am guessing it was NZ themed.... Anyway... this is a Kiwi Stop ROFL

Barcelona Spain, Hostel Hop!

Spend 2 nights so far in Barcelona,  and in 2 hostels, now in my 3rd, damn,  Couchsurfing, has failed me, Planing on going to Lisbon next, (saturday) spend a couple of days there,  I may need to top up my credit card! flights are expensive.. supprised me a little... perhaps I miss calculated...

First beer/Meal in Spain, yes, still vegie... cost like 5euro

Couchsurfing, is alot more fun than hostels, they tend, from the last one, feels like a prison, damn things here are like a fortress, I should have taken a photo on one yesterday, honestly... Roller doors, are nothing, compared to the armour outside the one I went to yesterday... really makes you feel safe...

Goodbye Barcelona, Hello Lisbon/Portugal

Ok, I wasen't really sure what to expect, I honestly wasen't happy in Barcelona, it did pick up towards the end.... Final night I went on a ghost tour, was pretty cool, learn't about what happened in Barcelona, I didn't realise that St George and the slaying of the dragon, was based in Barcelona, found small parts in the city still showing what happened soo long ago... Anyway... It was a good evening... nothing spooky.. and only had 5 hookers, offer me there wears on the way back to the hostel... geeesh do I look that needy... if your keen, google the "barcelona vampire"

Photos were taken with my Cellphone, so I can't upload them here...

anyway, 4:30am I woke up, tried by best to make little or no noise for my room mates I probably failed... had a taxi booked for 5:40... he turned up at 5:30, got stung with 38 Euro Taxi fare to the airport, (cost me 25 euro to get in to start with)

Anyway, 5:00am I check my emails, to find my Couchsurfing host in lisbon, that was going to pick me up from the airport, and take me around the city etc etc... canceled on me.... geeesh thanks.... lucky I checked otherwise I would be been froked... Anyway have checked into an amazing hostel, feels like home, big old house, most of the people are mid to late 20's... so not many young punks...

Having issues again uploading images, All I can say, is Lisbon, takes your breath away, unlike any of the other citys I have visited so far, People are happy, you feel totally safe,(maybe different at night) weather is fantastic, well maybe a little too fantastic, everywhere it looks like a picture postcard.... amazing streets, very steep, with amazing cobble work, trams are running, buildings are old, and semi decayed, yet, not touristy...

Looks like a postcard?

Knight, gave 'em a Euro, Still semi Rich at the moment, even with the insane airfares I have been paying, still have overkill for the rest of my trip..

One of the main squares, Ok, it isn't Barcelona, but I love this place... I can't wait to explore more of Portugal

Tram lines going down the street, I really want to give this a good sprint up... but I am pretty sure my knee wouldn't like it... did a quick walk up... was good...

 

Looking up the hill, this is the bit I kinda quickly walked up :) wasen't even puffing at the top!! Thanks to all the Boxercise, and Training with Wykie!! Thanks again! :) 

Anyway, I have another 1-2 days in Lisbon, before I make it upto Sintra, spend a day there, then go off to Aveiro (which is ment to be different city like Venice). Then head towards Porto.

Barcelona, the redemption

Ok, my final day in Barcelona, walked past the friendly hookers.... now know them by sight, pretty sad I know.... I got to the "Barcelona Bus Turistic" queue was insane, about 100 metres + waited 45 mins..., to get to La Sagrada Familia,  I honestly wasen't expecting something to blow me away after Rome, But Damn... and it isn't finished yet.... am guessing another 30-40 years to go at it's going rate....

It is hard to discribe, alien? not of this world? It's pretty good...

Wooo, actually managed to upload something, one of the street preformers on La Rambla

Is pretty cool

ok, I know how it's done, but damn

Another amazing building, this is 100 odd years old... kinda feeling, I should spend longer in Barcelona, but I was a little mixed up on my first 1-2 days... with the fear of not knowing where I'm going to next..

Anyway, I don't want to push my luck with the uploads just yet.... still have a few hours in Barcelona tonight, gotta wake up at 5am, to catch my flight to Lisbon! I will actually couchsurf there for a couple of days

Well last night in Barcelona!! time for me to shower, and find a bar!! next stop Portugal!!