Last morning in Porto and back to Lisbon

Sadly, this was my last morning in Porto before heading back to Lisbon. It is definitely hitting me that my trip is coming to an end. It is extra hard since Porto has probably become my favorite city in Portugal. There are so many things about this city that I enjoyed. The port wine is incredible and the buildings seem to be in that classic style that one would think of when you imagine European cities.

Adding onto this classic European city a beautiful river and many bridges, what you are left with is a fantastic city to visit. I only wish I could've spent more time. It also would've been nice to go down the Douro Valley to the vineyards. 

I spent my last few hours looking around the north part of town near my hostel. There's a large square not too far from the Sao Bento train station that also has classic European buildings. These ones remind me of Vienna, Austria:

To finish my north Porto tour, I found a cute cafe and got a latte.

I hadn't had much time to really sit an relax during my short time here, so this was definitely a treat. Sadly, it couldn't last and I had to make my way back to the hostel and then to the train station. I arrived early at Sao Bento to get a really good look at this popular station with wonderful architectural style. When you first walk inside the station, you are greeted by beautifully tiled walls covering the entire room. 

This was on all four walls. I can't even begin to imagine what a project that was for the painter(s) and then the construction workers getting it all on the wall. After I got a good view of this, I walked out to the tracks and noticed that the station was completely surrounded by hills and buildings.

I eventually made my way onto the train to Lisbon. I caught the high speed Alfa train from the main station that was a 5 minute train ride from Sao Bento. A few hours later, I arrived back in Lisbon. Now it was time to find my last hostel of the trip. Since I don't have regular internet or GPS, I had been taking screenshots of the hostel maps and directions from the metro or train stations. With this one, I just took a screenshot of the GPS map and another of the written directions. Well, when I arrived at the metro, I had forgotten that I had the written directions with the address. Needless to say, looking at the small map with a line didn't do much for me. I ended up on the right street, but after walking a few blocks and still not seeing it, I started to get very nervous. The hostel, Home Lisbon Hostel, is in English, so people wouldn't know what I was talking about. I asked a newspaper vendor and showed him the map. He insisted that I keep walking down the street, even though the map showed I had already passed the intersection. I walked a couple of blocks and started to get very nervous that I may never find this place. I started looking for a wifi signal immediately. As I walked, I noticed that one had popped up! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I looked up the hostel right away to get the address. I found out that I was only 2 blocks away and headed in the right direction. Whew! 

Finally, I made it to the hostel. This was, by far, my favorite hostel of the trip. Within an hour, I wished that I had stayed there on my first two nights. Home Lisbon hostel isn't just the nicest hostel, but also had something very unique - Mama's Dinners. The mother of the hostel owner, Mama, cooked dinner very night for anyone in the hostel who wanted to join. For only 10 Euros, you could get a home cooked 3-course dinner, wine and beer to drink and then finish up with a shot glass filled with Ginja, port or moscato. Of course, at the end, we all had a toast. By my count, about 40 or 50 people attended the dinner. I can't even begin to describe how wonderful it was to sit down and eat with the entire hostel and staff. This was an experience I won't soon forget and hope to have again at some point in the future. 

I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Before dinner, I explored Lisbon one more time before I fly out tomorrow. I made my way to Restauradores square to follow tradition and buy a Hard Rock Cafe shirt. I rarely eat there anymore, but I have been getting shirts from all over the world since I was a kid, so I still like to continue the tradition. My next stop was the waterfront. I did a little bit of wine tasting in the square and then sat by the water for a little bit. 

As I was looking out over the water, I was watching the ferries cross the bay. It occurred to me that I hadn't taken a ferry yet and I had read that you can get great views of the city from the other side. So, I got up and made my way to the ferry station. When I got there, I realized that I had no idea what is on the other side of the river or where I could go to. I ended up picking the cheapest ticket, still having no idea where in the bay it was actually taking me. I ended up in Almada, which is the closest city to Lisbon. It was immediately apparent to me that they don't get a lot of tourists. Almada has a cute city center:

I eventually made my way up the hill near this old castle (not for tourists). Not knowing what was around, I found a park that had a wonderful view on the other side. There's a Jesus statue that is nearly identical to the famous one in Rio de Janeiro. It overlooks the bay and a bridge that reminds me of the Golden Gate in San Francisco. 

Almada was good to go to, but the real highlight was seeing Lisbon from the bay. I could look at this view all day:

I made my way back to the hostel after the ferry docked in Lisbon. When I arrived, I met a very nice Australian girl in my room. We got to talking and decided to go to Mama's dinner together to chat more. She had just finished a nanny job in Spain and was making her way around Portugal. Once in the dining room, we met a couple girls from Texas and a sweet Chinese girl. We all had a great time chatting during our THREE hour dinner. Yes, it lasted 3 hours and I loved every single minute of it. What a better way to end my Portugal trip than this? I can't think of one.