We went for a walk around the city today to discover the sights. It didn’t start too well, a few meters down the road, whist watching my feet my head collided with the traffic lights. This caused amusement for the passersby, and a reminder of how everything here is built for those of a shorter statue. Even Justine feels decidedly tall, which she rather enjoys.
It is still extremely hot here and not a cloud in the sky. On the basis of that we decided to catch a tram to the beach. After waiting quite some time we connected the dots and realized that it was probably them that we had seen earlier taking some sort of strike/protest action. So in the time that it would have taken to walk to the beach we finally managed to find a bus heading that direction.
The bus ride was well worth the 1.40 euro that it cost us just for the entertainment. It must have been shopping day for the oldies, and they were crammed on there with their bags of shopping, and trolley bags. Having high volume conversations from one end of the bus to the other, and arguments with anyone and everyone in between. One old lady got on with a trolley bag so loaded up that she had broken a wheel trying to get it on the bus. She got into a huge banter with an older guy that was trying to help her, when he asked her ‘what on earth she had in there?’ The poor guy just about put his back out trying to help her get off the bus at the other end too.
Once at the beach we started walking back towards the city centre, along the Atlantic and then into the river mouth. All along the beach there were little groups of men huddled under beach umbrellas playing cards. What we don’t understand is how they can stand to wear long dress trousers, dress shirts, and leather shoes and socks in this heat. The brave ones do take their shirts off.
After drinking way too much at breakfast, we spent some time trying to find a WC that was relatively savoury. We did find one of the ones that Justine refers to as ‘evil’. The automatic ones that self clean etc. On the list of rules outside the door it says, ‘Maximum time 20 minutes’. It makes you wonder what happens then? Do the doors open without warning? Does it start its cleaning process, giving you a free shower as well? Or does it lock you in there? It’s tempting to go in there and overstay your welcome just to see.
It took longer to walk back from the beach than we thought and so we were too late for the Port tasting that we had in mind. After looking around the streets for dinner, we decided after last nights offal we would go for the safe option and went for fast food. Perhaps the offal has lowered our standards somewhat, but it wasn’t too bad.
It is still extremely hot here and not a cloud in the sky. On the basis of that we decided to catch a tram to the beach. After waiting quite some time we connected the dots and realized that it was probably them that we had seen earlier taking some sort of strike/protest action. So in the time that it would have taken to walk to the beach we finally managed to find a bus heading that direction.
The bus ride was well worth the 1.40 euro that it cost us just for the entertainment. It must have been shopping day for the oldies, and they were crammed on there with their bags of shopping, and trolley bags. Having high volume conversations from one end of the bus to the other, and arguments with anyone and everyone in between. One old lady got on with a trolley bag so loaded up that she had broken a wheel trying to get it on the bus. She got into a huge banter with an older guy that was trying to help her, when he asked her ‘what on earth she had in there?’ The poor guy just about put his back out trying to help her get off the bus at the other end too.
Once at the beach we started walking back towards the city centre, along the Atlantic and then into the river mouth. All along the beach there were little groups of men huddled under beach umbrellas playing cards. What we don’t understand is how they can stand to wear long dress trousers, dress shirts, and leather shoes and socks in this heat. The brave ones do take their shirts off.
After drinking way too much at breakfast, we spent some time trying to find a WC that was relatively savoury. We did find one of the ones that Justine refers to as ‘evil’. The automatic ones that self clean etc. On the list of rules outside the door it says, ‘Maximum time 20 minutes’. It makes you wonder what happens then? Do the doors open without warning? Does it start its cleaning process, giving you a free shower as well? Or does it lock you in there? It’s tempting to go in there and overstay your welcome just to see.
It took longer to walk back from the beach than we thought and so we were too late for the Port tasting that we had in mind. After looking around the streets for dinner, we decided after last nights offal we would go for the safe option and went for fast food. Perhaps the offal has lowered our standards somewhat, but it wasn’t too bad.
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