All posts by bashack

Until next time….

Four months, 3 countries (plus 2 days in Italy), 11 cities, 7 flights, several train rides, and too many bus and subway rides to count.

I’m having a little trouble wrapping up this blog!  I think it’s because it  signals the official end of this adventure, and who wants a good time to end!  And a good time it was.  No incidents or accidents, and both of us noted that the world just got a little smaller.    First time blogger, and not knowing how this would pan out, it made me more attentive, looking for that daily tidbit that would hopefully be of interest to you.  So, it’s been my pleasure to share these last 4 months with you.  There is surely another adventure in our near future.  If we’ve never met and you’d like a heads up when we start a new blog, please drop us a comment.   And any feedback on content, format, etc is welcome.

’til next time, follow your dreams.

Laura & Dave

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Between our 9 hour flight from Milan and our 5 hour flight to Seattle.

 

Airbnb.com

Thought I’d give a little review of our experience  with Airbnb, which has hosts in 190 countries.

We used the Airbnb website to book 9 of our 11 lodgings.  The shortest one was 2 nights, the longest was 30.  The site allows you to filter exactly what type of place you’re looking for:  entire apartment/home or  just a room.  You can filter by price, location and a whole host of amenities.  The homes are marked on a map, so you can easily pick a specific street or neighborhood.  Typically weekly and monthly rates are significantly lower than those of less than a week.

We didn’t find any discrepancies between the listing’s photos and descriptions, and what we actually experienced.  It’s a self-policing application.  At the end of each stay, Airbnb encourages you to review aspects of your stay, such as the host’s responsiveness, cleanliness, actual-to-advertised items, and overall experience.  These reviews are attached to the listing where owners can respond to them publically, and where other potential renters can read them.  Hosts of course take this serious.  Even though you’re in contact with them throughout your stay, you can also leave a private message for them.  Though not required, many will help you with arrival logistics.  We were picked up at several airports, train stations and bus stops.

On the flip side, the host can review YOU.  Since we always left the home as we found it, we have quite the string of positive feedback comments.  These aren’t public, but I suspect that all hosts have access to them, which can help them screen out troublesome renters.

Airbnb personnel are readily available to act as a go-between, via email or phone, if any issues or communication problems arise between the two parties.  We used this once when we called an owner (after she didn’t reply to emails) with arrival details, but she spoke no English.

So there ya go.  I’d definitely recommend the company.  No cost to sign up, but they tack on a small daily fee.

Oh yea – a photo:-)  Our laundry wasn’t drying quick enough for Dave’s liking, so he rigged a ‘dryer’, which worked quite well. – Laura

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Fountains

With fountains in even the smallest of European towns, making a collection of their images was a no-brainer.   The ones below made the cut for the most beautiful or unique.  Enjoy!  My next post will be a wrap-up, as we’re back on U.S. soil. – Laura

In Fuengirola, Spain
In Fuengirola, Spain

 

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Dave snapped me in a downpour in Valletta, Malta. The dancing water spouts behind me were timed to some beautiful classical music broadcast from the pillared building in the background. It was very moving – and wet.

 

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Popular photo background – in Oporto.

 

In Lisbon.  Note the Monument to Discoverers in the background right.
In Lisbon. Note the Monument to Discoverers in the background right.

 

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Pectorals in Seville, Spain.

 

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In sunny Malaga, Spain.

 

In Granada
In the Alhambra, Granada, Spain

 

In Evora, Portugal.
In Evora, Portugal.

 

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In Lisbon.
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Also in Lisbon.

 

The prize for the simplest fountain - a single stream into the basin. In Lagos, Portugal.
The prize for the simplest fountain – a single stream into the basin. In Lagos, Portugal.

 

Street art

Yikes! Tardy posts!  My last images of Porto are of the street art.

The first four grace the art district, where there is a cluster of galleries and such.  One of the galleries had local children’s books and their original art work – these characters included.

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This heart looks similar to the popular silver filigree design.

IMG_3506Awwww.

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– Laura

Hilly Oporto!

There are few level streets in Oporto, which makes a simple walk a mini-workout.   An added challenge is the wavy cobblestone surface.

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Love the distance caught in the photo – down the river & out to the ocean.

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Looking east along the north bank.  Note the funicular track on the left.

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I didn’t catch the funicular in action, so borrowed this internet image.  CRAZY accordion bottom!

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Well, there might have been a café here at one time.  IMG_3606There are a fair amount of homes in disrepair and unoccupied.  A discussion with a local couple revealed this is changing with the recent implementation of a property tax.  This is making it more ‘painful’ for owners to leave homes vacant,  and a renovation boom is happening.

 

City art

Surprises around every corner.  Shaggy blue.

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Creative way to ‘pretty up’ an otherwise pretty ugly sight.

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Tile work is every where, but usually just as an accent.  This is an unusual over-all design.

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Mid-century art work at the entrance of the café where we had our Little Frenchie.

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Sad story here. This sculpture commemorates a 1947 tragedy when 3 returning fishing boats were caught in a change of weather. Within sight of the shore, families watched as 152 perished, resulting in 72 widows and 152 orphans.  There were men and women on the boats.  The story was relayed to us by our waitress in a café just up the street.  Her Grandfather was one of the fatalities.  – Laura

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More people

Truly, our experience has been that the people of Oporto are delightful.

This jeweler made a sale of a souvineer for Laura.  It was originally his grandfather’s shop, his name overhead on the plaque.  Unique to Portugal is silver filigree jewelry.  It is very popular and reasonably priced (I think), considering it’s handmade.

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Close up examples of silver filigree. This particular earring design is by far the most popular.

This mother-to-be gave up a career in banking (stints in London and Hong Kong) for the slower life of her hometown.  She owns this vintage shop with some rare 60’s and 70’s items, among other things.  One will find unique little shops on many smaller back  streets.  Odd for us were the number of shops that have only Portuguese-made items, clothing stores included.

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This is a typical produce market.  The sign suggests it’s been there a while.

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Sold!  Dave bought a small hand-made souvenir.

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A game of giant checkers in the park.   Or many just a place to sit while I finish my ice cream cone 🙂 Laura

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People of Oporto

Peaceful, but noisy, the Portuguese don’t shy from protests.  No photos, but walking home Sunday evening we ran into an arena emptying out from a political rally.

The older crowd below was protesting in front of a bank.

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Couldn’t identify the cause of this young group banging on make-shift drums and blowing air-horns.  Maybe they’re just in training.

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Oporto is a city of college students, and a tradition of the University of Porto is the wearing of black every day.  The uniform is called traje, and while it is not mandatory, there are some academic activities that require it.  Originally women wore a pink dress but currently the men’s and women’s uniforms are similar, except that women wear a skirt.  We’ve had some warm days, but they’re still covered head to toe in black, with a large cape-like blanket over their shoulder.  They were the inspiration for  J. K. Rowling’s design of the Hogwarts students clothes, as she lived in Portugal when she started to write the first book.  Below is a group in pep-rally mode, with an example of the traje being worn by the 3 on the far left.

IMG_3753You KNOW these ladies know what’s going on in the neighborhood – they have the perfect perch to keep an eye out, and catch up.  You can just feel the ‘community”.

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Yes, there is a lot of public making out.  And yes, it was weird to take their photo! – Laura

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Monumental

A short walk north of our place is an enormous 45 acre roundabout park.  In it’s center is this memorial – the Praça de Mousinho de Albuquerque.  The park roughly separates the new and old parts of town and  is the largest in Porto.   It is dedicated to the heroes of the Peninsular War (1808-1814), with the following symbolism:   the Lion, representing the  alliance of Portuguese and British forces,  smashes the Eagle, symbolic of the invading French troops.

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You can kind of make out the Lion and eagle wings. TALL monument.
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OK – now you get the scale.. Laura

 

Sunday at the beach

Beautiful day to get out.  We took the subway to the NW corner of town, and walked all the way home along the coast and river.   Some snippets of what we saw. – Laura

Surfboard & stand up paddle rentals. A perfect day for the windsurfers also.
Surfboard & stand up paddle rentals. A perfect day for the windsurfers also.

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It's good to coordinate colors with your when you take your little girl for a walk.
It’s good to coordinate colors when you take your little girl for a walk.
Soccer in the sand.
Soccer in the sand.
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Always stuff for sale!

About 6 ‘tables’ of cards were going on.  Stones holding the  cards from blowing away. IMG_3699IMG_3698

The boardwalk.
The boardwalk.
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Does it get any better?