With our clean and shiny caravan that we had just washed, we continued our road heading to Porto where Ivan's sister and a friend would join us to travel with us to Lisbon.
It was a great and relaxed driving that I enjoyed very much because the roads were in great condition and nearly empty! By the way, in these cases, it is my turn to take over the driving, I would say that I'm the expert in going straight on the right lane in a constant speed of 100km/h. Each of us has its qualities and Ivan's qualities are in some other fields of the caravan- driving- science...: serpentine roads, tiny alleys in city center, parking between two cars and turning around the whole caravan in a dead end.
I think that it's fair enough that we devide the work like that and that each of us has the chance to prove their skills. Of course, a few kilometers before arriving in Portugal's second biggest city Porto, we changed places and when we entered the city in the early evening - means rush hour - I suddenly realized where were all these Portuguese people that we hadn't seen until now! The small and hilly streets were stuffed with cars, moving slowly and without any stress. Although, it seemed highly chaotical, people didn't seem to be in a hurry and waited patiently, didn't even push the horn to show their rights. The streets were in bad conditions and full of bad wholes that needed to be avoided not to destroy our tires! Up and down, up and down and waiting inbetween... In one redlight, we waited 30(!) minutes!! Finally arrived, we spent a great evening with Olga and Marija, discovering Porto nightlife and its famous fish dishes at Taberna St. Antonio in the heart of Porto.
Porto is a very charming city with an incredible coulisse on the old town! It has the huge river deviding both city parts connected with an incredible bridge of two etages, built by the famous Eiffel (that had also built something in Paris...:-). Either of Porto's city sides is nice: on one side you have the historical center, built on one of the hills, with old houses, churches, tavernas and the typical portuguese architecture. Walking in the little alleys, you can feel the Portuguese life style, pure and original and not yet destroyed by too much tourism...! Everything is very colorful and creative and my eyes couldn't get enough of it! The house fassades were decorated with typical tilings and my first thought was that they have the kitchen outside:-) People were sitting in front of their doors having a chat with their neighbours or drinking espresso and eating natas. From the other side of the bridge which is more modern and not as nice, you have the most beautiful view on the old Porto coulisse, very photogenic and shining in the sun, just behind the blinking river and the wooden boats slowly moving on it. With this first impression of Porto, we had to go on to Lisbon the next day. But we had already in mind some great spots to film when we would come back here in 10 days on our way to Spain...