Vigo. Not the sunniest, or prettiest, city in Spain!
Got up at 5:00am. We were very close to the station, but Ian wanted to have a shave, and we generally got up at least one hour before we got on trains during the trip, just to be on the safe side. We got that train to Vigo, and it stopped everywhere. Half the journey was in the dark, so it wasn't that thrilling, although it is nice to see the landscape appear little by little. Ian wrote a letter, Laure slept a bit and also walked around in the coach because her leg hurt. Most of the journey was made along the river Sil, the border between Spain and Portugal. There were a lot of vineyards, quite different from the ones in France. These have grown a lot. They are tall and their branches are stretched on some wires so that they take as much sun as possible. That day, it was however raining.
We arrived in Vigo at 10:45am. and our first impression was that it's quite an industrial area. We looked for a cafeteria, wandering through the rain. The town reminded Ian of Liverpool, or at least how Liverpool used to be. It was a little naff, not the sort of town that you would recommend, but there was a certain charm about it. We found a café, and had a toasted sandwich with cheese and smoked sausage. They didn't have a San Miguel (note - Spanish beer!) so Ian had a Carlsberg (!) instead. They also served a bit of Spanish omelette and strange mini fish pastries on sticks as appetisers.
After lunch we took a walk, got a panoramic view of the harbour and went up some stairs to some sort of fortification. It was still raining really badly, and by the time we got back to the station we were soaking wet; Laure even changed her clothes. The train to Porto was at 14:00. Before getting on it we had to buy stamps and find a post-box. On this trip, almost all the postcards that we wrote were sent from the town we visited after the one where they were bought.
In the station we also asked if we had to pay a supplement because it was going to be an international train, but a man told us no. We thought it was so strange that we asked again a woman, and she said no too. The train was not as big or crowded as Ian thought it would be, although it filled up in Valenca do Minho - the first town in Portugal. No one checked our passports.
The difference between the two countries was noticeable especially in the architecture. The facades seemed more ornate in Portugal, because they have this habit of tiling the outside of their houses. Laure thought it was a smashing idea, so you can have a house as clean outside as it is inside! As for the landscape there were nice pine tree forests.
Arrived in Porto at the Campanha station, took another train to Sao Bento, five minutes away. The station was very ornate which gave a good impression of the city straight away. While a couple of nice girls smiled at Ian, some old bloke came to Laure offering us to stay in his hotel; we had one sorted but the guy was really insistent and it was hard to make him get off our back. Our room was at the "Pensao Monumental" but we didn't have the address. So, after booking the train from Barreiro to Faro, we asked the woman at the help desk, who had a really good French and English, were the nearest tourist office was. We found the hotel before we got there, it was on av. des Aliados, like the town hall and the tourist office. The Pensao had a very good standard with a manager who once again spoke very good French.
We relaxed a little bit in the very big room (two double beds, TV, bathroom). Went out from 19:00 until 22:40 to find somewhere to eat by the waterfront, where there were a lot of narrow streets that go up and down in all directions, and have funny-shaped front doors under stairs. We decided to eat at one of the few restaurants that were open, the "Peza Arroz". Firstly they gave us menus in English and in French. They brought appetisers, sort of potato and fish balls, cheese and olives. We had "caldo verdi", vegetable soup with a slice of smoked sausage. Then we both had salad, Ian had octopus (with tentacles 10" long!) with chips and huge slice of lemon. Laure had roasted lamb a la Portuguese, ie strong tasting with square chips and rice and cauliflower marinated in vinegar. The portions were huge. Not the cheapest meal ever, but best value for money. Laure was brave enough to go for a dessert, a chocolate mousse that was like 80% cocoa chocolate syrup. For wine we had a bottle Portuguese sparkling rosé, which at 300esc was cheaper than the salad.
We went back to the hotel but we got lost for a good half an hour. One of the streets was really steep, going down, and wet, which Ian didn't like! We could just imagine people driving there – hell! We noticed that there were a lot of dogs and cats. It still looked nice in the dark and the rain though. We finally got back with the help of Ian's sense of direction. Watched a bit of strange Portuguese TV show, where two women sang the results of a sort of lottery, following which some guy dialled the number drawn. Went to sleep.