Portugal - Day 1: Boston to Lisbon to Porto (by airplane and train)

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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

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