Povoa and Porto
I took the train to Porto - big fan of trains - and then a metro-rail/subway kind of thing for another hour north, to Povoa de Varzim. I’m staying in an old building, which was originally built in the 1840’s, but has since been updated, its kinda awesome. The town itself is quite distinct from Porto - there is a big harbor and it has a strong fishing legacy. However the original fishermen in Povoa were celtic, so many of the boats have runic titles. Its a pretty beach town, there are lots of pensioners and families and it is decidedly less english-speaking than the other parts of portugal that I visited. I got the chance to do a flat (really flat) run for the first time since I left Atlanta.
I’m only here for a few days, so I have been splitting my days between figuring out what is happening next and taking in the world around me. Once of the big things that I am struck with is the density of housing. Even in areas that do not have that large of populations, it feels like most people would not need to get in a car everyday unless they really wanted to - which is a departure from suburbia.
The second day that I was there, I ran north for a few miles to clear my head in the midst of more emails. There is a boardwalk over the dunes and it was quite nice. It reminded me, on a much smaller scale, of the fields driving through Winters, CA. There are lots of small fields right next to the beach and big blocks of seaweed right next to it. Also saw some old windmills. By the time I got back, it seemed like perhaps one of my emails may have found a receptive audience - I may be heading to Rwanda at some point.
When in, or at least near, Porto, I figured that I should go in and see the city. So the following day, I took the train into the city and wandered around for a few hours. There were lots of little shops - including a cool gallery that I got some postcards from. I walked down to the river, but by far the highlight was a 3 euro loaf of really good bread that I got - it must’ve weighted about two kilos and was delicious. There are, unsuprisingly, a lot of port houses in Porto. They climb all the way up the south bank of the Douro river and its pretty impressive nonetheless.
I’m heading to Nepal next, I booked a ticket the day before I am to leave.I think that I will go to Rwanda following that but am not sure exactly when. Nepal is a place that I have always wanted to go and I’m going to try to connect with a few people there for about two weeks before going into the mountains.