Day37 – Tuesday – 09-03-10

We caught the train to São Bento at Oporto that morning, even though we only had slept for a few hours... After 1 hour we were finally there to start our sightseeing. People have told us a lot of positive things about this place, and I can fully understand why. It is a very beautiful place, especially if you go down to the river and look up at the many bridges. The bridges themselves are very beautiful, because of the simplicity and the design you see from the old days.
According to Google Earth and the user uploaded information most of the attractions where close to the river, and why is that? As far as I remember Portugal had a trade relation with England, this might be the harbor where they traded Port wine. The wine is named after the city.
The historic centre of Porto was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996, and you can really see how well preserved the town is itself. You can really feel the past if you have an insane fantasy. I was told that the Knights Templar was once expelled from France because they had gained more wealth that the French king. They conquered some earth at Spain at the beginning, and kept conquering from what is now called the north Portugal to the south Portugal. That is why you see so much old history in the north part of the country, and in Oporto, but even though Lisbon is in the south part of the country they also have a lot of old monuments. Lisbon and Oporto are the biggest cities in Portugal.
Even though you see all the old stuff here in Oporto, they also have some new buildings etc. We visited the Casa da Música “House of Music”, which is a concert hall build like a giant spaceship from Star Wars…
Oh yea, I almost forgot, the metro system is a bit weird at the beginning. We asked a guy to explain it to us, and he basically took advance of us that son of a bitch. He tried to explain the system, and we thought we wanted to help us. He gave us some cards, which you can buy for 50 cent. He had so many in his pocket, so we thought he would give it for free. He explained the zone and tile system, and how much money we should put into the machine, and soon he started to explain that he needed 1 euro for each card (we knew it wasn’t that expensive), and that he had reloaded money in one of the cards, he also showed us that he had. He required some money, and I thought it was okay, maybe we lose 1 or so, but he took his time to explain the system for us. I did not have the exact amount of money, so I asked him if he could change. Of course he could, but he forgot to take my 5note, and I did not say anything, because as soon as he thought he had note on his hand, he started to explain that we had to pay for the cards and the money inside.
We went away, still with the 5 note in my hand, we knew he cheated us, but he forgot to receive the 5euroes. So all in all we have received the cards for a small amount, but then the motherfucker found us in the metro, and claimed the money… I did not know what to do, and I saw no other option than paying him the 5 note which he did not deserve. It really feels like shit when people takes advance of you, and you can do nothing about it!