ZOE Adventures- Post #3
Olá,
As you know from our last update, we spent our looooong Shabbat (it ended at 10:30) in Seville. After a late wake up and a late lunch, we walked to some of the main tourist areas, including the old city. We stumbled upon a Jewish museum, and they thankfully let us in without paying when we explained that we didn’t have money because of Shabbat (they were then very surprised but thankful when we showed up Sunday morning to pay them). We then walked around the Alcazar, a big palace and garden that kept us walking around in the heat for so long, that we had to return to our airbnb for a ~siesta~ to fight off the heat and exhaustion. By the evening, we had regained our strength and visited the “Metropol Parasol”, a structure that is colloquially called “the mushrooms” because of its weird fungus-like shape, that gave us a pretty view of the city as the sun was setting. The best part was the free postcard, which made up for the lack of photos (cuz it was still Shabbat). We ended our Saturday with a much needed flamenco show at the world’s best (and only) flamenco museum. The noise and absurdity of the dance moves surely took us by surprise, so much so that one of us (not the same one as last time!!) could not stop laughing throughout. Elisheva is now considering wearing a Flamenco dress as a bridesmaid dress, and Zimi is vicariously reliving her ballet days.
The next morning, we felt that we were done SPAINding time in España, so we jetted out to Portugal. Even though we were flying the premier RyanAir, we had to wait on the tarmac in 90+ degree heat. We were separated before boarding an unmarked plane, making it unclear where we’d end up. We were relieved to hear the flight attendant announce “Welcome to Porto” (our intended destination).
Porto was truly not what we expected, and we will replay for you some of the red flags that foreshadowed what would later be an unusual experience for Porto— one that would have been very different had we gone to Porto on any other of the 364 days of the year.
Upon checking in to our hostel, Elisheva consulted the ~concierge~ (con-see-er-jjjjj) about what to spend our day doing. He replied “you mean where to go tonight?” Given that it was only 3pm, Elisheva was not yet on to our usual wild night plans. He then suggested some places to walk around, and told us the concerts (?) would be starting shortly. We assumed that he was directing us towards local street performers, and headed on our way.
We were immediately hit (literally) by loud squeaking noises. Everyone in the streets was carrying around plastic hammers, the cause of this noise, with which they hit you on the head as they passed (see photo). We were not a fan of these non-consensual head hammerings, and could not understand why no one warned us about this weird Porto feature.
While visiting the Porto train station (filled with cool murals), we saw a news reporter interviewing passers by. What is there to report on a Sunday afternoon in northern Portugal? We assumed someone famous was in town.
At some point, after being hit in the head numerous times, we decided to Google “what is happening in Porto right now?”. Everyone had told us this would be a quaint, quiet city, yet we couldn’t walk on the street without being hit by loud noises and hammers. The answer? Porto’s Festivus for the Restofus- Sao João.
São João (Saint John) is the special saint of Porto, and once a year they celebrate his birth by making bonfires in the streets, hitting people with hammers and garlic plants, releasing lanterns into the sky, and watching fireworks. It is THE biggest festival, only celebrated in Porto, and it’s known to be the craziest day in the city. Some people (not us) especially travel to Porto for the chag, and so they stay up all night celebrating and partying. It has some Pagan roots too, so they do things like jumping over fires, but we did not attend that cuz #avodazarah. We did go out to the night festivities, though. The already narrow streets were completely covered with humans, thousands of people lining every balcony and road. All the while, people kept hitting each other with hammers and releasing those lanterns, until the midnight fireworks went off and we ended our night. This day/night was inexplicable, and we are truly confused a) how we coincidentally ended up in this city on the biggest festival of the year and b) what the heck we saw. So if you are confused reading this narrative, don’t worry; we are too.
After recuperating from the festival, we spent the day exploring Porto. As we read before our trip, you can’t spend more than 10 minutes in Porto without seeing a view, unless you’re not looking. We found this to be true as we climbed up and down stairs and hills, before ending our day with a visit to Port Wine cellars.
João gave us lots of great tips for Lisbon, which we heavily utilized on our last day. As we set out, sad that it was our last day all together, the gloomy skies reflected our emotions. Despite the cold temps and misty breeze, we visited the Belem neighborhood, where we saw the Belem Tower (a fortress in the water) and ate Pasteis de Nata (the famous Lisbon custard pastry). Those pastries brightened our moods, and the weather followed suit. Suddenly, the skies shifted to blue and we spent much of the day walking around the city, visiting the old quarter, an ancient palace, a monestary, a cathedral, just as we have in every city. We ended our grand trip with live Fado (no relation to Fauda) music, which is the Portuguese melancholy version of flamenco music. Luckily, we made it through the show with no laughing outbursts.
Elisheva leaves tomorrow morning and Olivia & Zimi are heading to Albufeira for their honeymoon weekend. Obrigado for reading along, and we hope to have many more travel blogs in the near future.
Much love,
Zimi
Olivia
Elisheva
Comments
Post a Comment