Sunday, July 1, 2018

Trip to Portugal 2018-LisbonBragaPortoCoimbraLagosLisbon-Transit London (Part 4)



My next stop after Braga as mentioned earlier, is Porto, and I think almost everyone heard of Porto.
Sometimes, it could be more popular than Lisbon as a touristy destination.


from Braga to Porto, it takes also about 2 hours to arrive to Porto, and the train, in my memory looks more like a MRT, new and spacious. Had fruits lunch in the train, where we ate some cherries bought the morning before departure from Braga together with some bread. I am taking painkiller at this stage of time, cause it was getting worse. And only painkiller helps (suppose to be functional for 8 hours, but by end of 6th hour, the pain came back). And to Porto, we have two choices, either to stop at Porto final station or Porto Campana station and we chose the latter. And there are around 6 lines for you to move around. When we arrived, we then move to the other part of Porto Campanha station (specially for metroline) what is 4 stations away from Campanha station, called Trinsdade. From this station, we walked about 600m to Cristiana;s Air BnB apartment which looks very gypsy. And we stayed here for 3 nites, and again, the local mini Mercado and Pingo Doce helped our every dinner and breakfast which we are very thankful,  not only that we ate well and full, it also helps our budget (not that we are tight, but you know sometime eating out is not worth the money spent, this is the key problem).




Very famous good red wine

The bag I like but did not manage to buy, saw this on the first day when I arrived to porto




Porto-Day 1
After arrival, after checked in, after resting for a while, after taking my painkiller, we were out from the apartment, walking towards the river direction. There we walked along the river, then crossed over the bridge to the other side where you can a lot of Wine warehouse selling their wines. We went to Calem and bought one bottle of Red and white wine accordingly. Then on the way back, bought some ingredients to make dinner for ourselves. It was partially sunny and cloudy by late evening and that was the time we went back to the apartment to prepare our dinner.






Dinner with our wine bought in Lisbon


Porto-Day 2
It was sunny day, which was good for us. We went to the square, took some photos, then walked around and saw a lady who carried a nice leather bag and asked her whereabout of the bag, and she mentioned Pavoa, and hence we then use our Porto metro day pass and went to this small city immediately, searching high and low for the bag, but sorry, we could not find it. But one thing good is that we enjoyed this city, a smaller one but less crowded and also went to a seaside with Atlantic ocean next to it. And before we also took our tea break here at a local café which sells good coffee, with local delicacies. And once done, we again took the metro back to Trinsdade which takes about an hour, but in between on the way back we stopped at an outlet store, but then find anything. One thing to mention here is that the pain cause from the gum area was at its worst, painful until I was about shedding tears. And I began to get worried as I need to take more painkiller.










Behind is the Atlantic Ocean


Very nice tea time

At Pavao Station


Porto-Day 3
It was a cloudy day here. Waking around and exploring another end of the city, and it rained intermittently in between. Walked halfday, and saw a few places and then bought some bread and ate at the apartment. Then In the afternoon, weather got worse, as it rained, but then we again explored the other parts of the city with more shops with the intention to look for bags, esp for sis Nancy but could not find any. And for this whole day, I fighting my gum pain without any painkiller, and it was tough but I knew I have to make it happen, and only pray at the same time to Dorje Shugden, and thank god by late evening, it is getting less painful. Only time I think I am enjoying my trip again, behaving normal again, haha. Prepared dinner at the apartment, and after dinner, came out for a while again to take a look at the bags and shoes.












Porto-Day 4
After homemade breakfast, went for an outside trip again, to the riverside, reexploring the city, before our train departure ride to Coimbro.
The ride was in the afternoon, around 3, and we expect to arrive around 4Pm.




Breakfast in Porto before leaving for Coimbra














Choong
Porto
Portugal

Friday, June 22, 2018

Trip to Portugal 2018-LisbonBragaPortoCoimbraLagosLisbon-Transit London (Part 3)


Day 4- Lisbon moving to Braga
We took a regional train, and I think it takes about 3 plus to reach the destination. The train ride was smooth, and the train comes with super-efficient WIFI which makes the ride very fast and smooth. We had our breakfast at Jeorg’s apartment, and ate some remaining stuff from the previous nite in the train. I didn’t each much as my gum problem is persist and was painful. Still taking paracetamol and some fruits.




                                          Upon arrival at Braga, after checked-in, came out for a walk towards                                                      the town direction.
                                                   Train ticket to Braga from Lisbon
Taking number when you take turn (queue) to order or buy things in Pingo Doce Supermarket

On the second day to Braga, sunny day


Bus to Bom Jesus

Buying daily bus pass

When we arrived to Braga station, we moved out and took a Bus ride (actually intended to take Taxi, but the amount the driver wanted was Euro 6 and what was informed by the Air BnB host was about Euro 4), hence we took the bus to “Bom Jesus” which Euro 1.65 (to Rua Abril road). And since we do not know the actual bus stop to “unboard”, we got the driver to help out but he missed it out, and then we stopped at the wrong place, in the end we need to make a big circle of walk before we reached our apartment. And during that time, my gum problem was getting worse, and luckily the Air BNB host offered facet of Paracetamol (I initially asked for his help on where to buy if from, and he offered me free of charge). I took one, and then we moved out to the city to have a walk, but it started to rain, After walking for a short while, we were thinking about dinner, and we asked the local (passer by on where to find a super market-actually it is Pingo Doce, as recommended by the Air BnB host) and finding this place is just a blessing, as for the next 2 dinners, 3 breakfasts, we were well taken care off by what we can get at Pingo Doce, this is another thankful event that I will always remember.

Braga, the old city is just full of histories, and mesmerising in its own way. And following a local 2 hour tour helps us to understand more about Brage old historical city. Another highlight is out visit to Bom Jesus, and taking the bus ride to there from our apartment is also very convenient. We did not buy the local bus passes as we walked most of the time, and the only time we need to take bus was to and from Bom Jesus and the final time as back to the Braga train station again for our departure to Porto. Bought a small bottle of red wine and white wine from Pingo Doce which was very cheap and taste good too. Didn’t buy anything except we have given a small token of tips for the day tour (Euro 5), and no other shopping was done except we bought each other a bottle of Olive Oil to be taken back to Malaysia. At least we know the oil purity is there and reliable. After the stay in Braga, the next destination was to Porto. And from Braga to Porto, it takes also about 2 hours to arrive to Porto, and the train, in my memory looks more like a MRT, new and spacious. Had fruits lunch in the train, where we ate some cherries bought the morning before departure from Braga together with some bread. I am taking painkiller at this stage of time, cause it was getting worse. And only painkiller helps (suppose to be functional for 8 hours, but by end of 6th hour, the pain came back). And to Porto, we have two choices, either to stop at Porto final station or Porto Campana station and we chose the latter. And there are around 6 lines for you to move around. When we arrived, we then move to the other part of Porto Campanha station (specially for metroline) what is 4 stations away from Campanha station, called Trinsdade. From this station, we walked about 600m to Cristiana;s Air BnB apartment which looks very gypsy. And we stayed here for 3 nites, and again, the local mini Mercado and Pingo Doce helped our every dinner and breakfast which we are very thankful,  not only that we ate well and full, it also helps our budget (not that we are tight, but you know sometime eating out is not worth the money spent, this is the key problem).











Choong
Braga city
Trip to Portugal 2018-LisbonBragaPortoCoimbraLagosLisbon-Transit London (Part 3)