More Willie

We spent our last day and a half in Porto doing the usual…exploring on foot. We spent so much time walking that it reached the point that we were suggesting different routes to the same spots and debating which way is actually faster. Without a doubt, I’ve spent more time walking on this trip than any other in recent memory – eight to ten hours a day on average. The amount of cafes that we’ve stopped at during this time is equally astounding…a pastry here, an espresso there…usually both…But in our defense, climbing up and down hills all day takes it out of you.

We’ve explored the river, the Crystal Palace, Casa da Musica, a few churches, countless narrow streets, the slums, the city center, the university…you name it. Almost of these places we’ve explored twice – once during the day and once at night. When the holiday lights come on at night, it’s a completely different city and also my favorite time to wander. Night adds even more of a sense of adventure when you decide to take one of the countless narrow stairways or alley paths up and down the city. It’s literally straight out of a horror movie. Let me paint you a picture – uneven, worn stone steps zigging and zagging between run down old buildings that rise about 30+ feet on either side of you; just wide enough for one person to walk; rising steeply (think San Francisco) a couple of hundred feet from the banks of the river; flickering yellow light, just enough for you to see where you’re going but with portions almost pitch black around corners; then there are the stray dogs and cats that roam certain parts of the city and add to the ambiance even more.These are probably portions of the city that aren’t frequented by normal travelers, but hey, neither Diego or myself are normal.

Actually we encountered one of these streets while searching for a meal on Christmas eve, before we felt comfortable going down them. In the video we decide to go down it, but what you don’t see is that as soon as we started walking the lights flickered and went out completely. We turned around and moved quite quickly at that point. The video is kind of dark, but you can get the point.

Dark Alleys, Bad Ideas from Willie Morris on Vimeo.

We had a nice Christmas in Porto. We trekked the city doing photography both day and night and I scrounged up enough ingredients in the hostel to cook a pretty delicious (if I do say so myself) Italian dinner that was accompanied by traditional Bolo do Rei (Portuguese Christmas Cake) thanks to two Korean girls also staying at the hostel. We gave them some garlic bread for thanks. That was actually dinner number one. Later on we got quite hungry again and wandered upon quite a posh Indian restaurant and had another delicious dinner there. Christmas dinner times two? Yes please. Afterwards, Diego miraculously gave birth to the baby Jesus. It was spectacular.