Bill, Gina, and i started with a redeye from Boston to Lisbon, after which we took an easy subway ride to the train station, and sat around over coffee and breakfast waiting for our train (delayed by approximately 1 hour).
Bill and Gina wait at the gate. Bill's vacation book, Hench, makes a cameo. |
Boston skyline as we take off in the fog |
above the clouds |
we were treated to a very nice (and extremely rapid) moonrise shortly after takeoff |
90 seconds later, the moon is well above the clouds |
approaching the Portugal coast |
Lisbon's interior coast, from the air |
Lisbon city lights, from the air |
Entering the subway station from LIS |
Gina and Bill, waiting for the subway |
the Lisbon subway |
late sunrise outside Oriente station; we made great time from the airport, so now we have awhile to wait for our train |
Gina, outside Jeronymo coffee shop |
a curvy building outside Oriente station |
Bill met up with a friend who was in Lisbon for the week |
Oriente was heavily advertising Poker Face |
gorgeous train platform at Oriente, but we spent much longer there than we would have liked |
aerial tram over the Tagus, seen from Oriente platform |
this is not our train (sadly, neither is the longer train it's about to connect to) |
curved building in Lisbon, seen from Oriente platform |
We took the high-speed Alfa Pendular train from Lisbon to Porto. It was crowded and somewhat motion-sickness-inducing, but neat to see the Portuguese countryside.
the train is finally underway! crossing under A12 on our way out of Lisbon |
Bill, on the train |
countryside, leaving Lisbon |
Not ten minutes after the train started moving, to our surprise, we saw this gathering in a dirt area near the tracks |
Yep, that's a bull. This photo was taken less than 1km from the Vila Franca da Xira Bullring, so presumably we lucked into seeing an exhibition of some sort as our train sped by |
blue tile art on the Vila Franca de Xira train station building |
miscellaneous buildings in front of the Miradouro do Monte Gordo, a mountaintop panoramic viewpoint near Vila Franca de Xira |
part of the the Ribatejo power plant |
buildings and fields, seen from the train |
fields, seen from the train |
trees in front of fields |
seems like grape season is maybe mostly over |
why do these plants have tags around them? unclear |
construction equipment seen from the train |
a building with neat windows, seen from the train |
crossing a river |
the Aveiro train station |
Aveiro city center, with an ad for Aveiro Tech Week |
our route turned out to be primarily inland, but in Espinho, we were right along the coast, next to a bike route |
waves on the coast next to a boardwalk |
heading inland in northern Portugal |
the outskirts of Porto |
graffiti ('SPAM!') |
trains at the edge of Porto |
Sogevinus wine shop on the south bank of the Duoro |
looking across the Duoro at a pedestrian area (if you squint, you can see the funicular we'll take a week from now) |
the Duoro in Porto, with buildings |
the Duoro in Porto, with stone walls |
Salesianos (a college) overlooking the Duoro |
I know you're not supposed to nap after changing timezones, but we'd been awake for over 24 hours at this point, so we took a nap at NH Porto Jardim, then walked around Porto a bit before meeting up with the rest of the group for a dinner at Mito, then back to the hotel and to bed.
tile buildings with metal detail, seen from our hotel window |
the towers of the Sé do Porto, visible behind some roofs from our hotel window |
no idea what shape the building is behind that scaffolding |
tiles at the Prometeu tile shop in Porto |
yellow building with cool roof, in Porto |
Igreja de Santo Ildefonso, in Porto |
church detail: stained glass and blue tile |
church detail: bell |
church detail: cat |
side view of church |
manhole cover in Porto |
art on a wall |
tiled street corner |
we neglected to measure the height of any buildings using this barometer |
tiled walls and shingled roofs in Porto |
a theatre in Porto |
nice mansard, though |
tiled walls in Porto |
walking down the street in Porto |
stationary store in Porto |
a building with many plants |
cartoon art outside a building |
a Fado club; sadly we didn't have time to check it out |
sunset in Porto |
a square in Porto |
Porto town hall with clock tower |
hey, these people look familiar |
our group heads to dinner at Mito |
orange hibiscus kombucha |
my first of many sours this week |
Tom and David, finally in Portugal after a long airplane adventure |
group photo: our intrepid party of 11, at Mito |
still intrepid, now being photographed from the other end of the table |
Bill, Gina, and i went to check out the exterior of Livraria Lello, a somewhat famous bookstore |
the exterior of Livraria Lello, a somewhat famous bookstore |
hilly streets of Porto, at night |
window display of cork boats |
we had to walk up this, and we didn't love it, but at least the full moon is nice |
graffiti on the streets of Porto admonishes us to fuck capitalism |