Funchal | New Year’s Fireworks | Porto | Caramulo | Lisbon
Last Dinner in Funchal
After dinner, we had dinner. Yes, I’m serious. We had two dinners in a row. Definitely great, but also quite filling. Then we were off to the airport to catch a 2:15 flight, in the morning!
Psh, I Was in Porto Last Year…
2 January 2012
Livin’ Like Tom Hanks for a Bit
We arrived so early, we had to wait for the shops to open in order to get a SIM card and locks for Syp’s bags to leave them at the airport while we wandered around the city.
We dropped off our bags at Tiago and Ana’s place and they were so kind to make us coffee and showed us some hot spots to check out. After some relaxing, we headed to the “big” city. We were really just wandering around as we made our way to lunch.
Francesinha for Lunch
Cafe Santiago had francesinha and even what looked like homemade piri-piri. It was amazing! It’s all the crazy delicious things all in one dish. When we’re on vacation, health isn’t on our minds.
What a Feast for Dinner
After saying farewell to Syp, Sarah, Ben, and Natalie all passed out. I couldn’t sleep, so I ended up watching some show about NASA. It was way too cold and their space heater didn’t work as well since there was a draft from the single pane windows. They did have a ton of blankets for us to layer though! We had dinner at Abadia and what a feast it was!
Late Start and We’re Off to Caramulo
3 January 2012
We didn’t wake up until 15:00, so we wandered to look for a rental car place. Maps here suck. After finally finding an Avis and getting a car, we headed back to Tiago and Ana’s place. One thing I noticed is that Santa uses a ladder to get in the house, not through the chimney, HILARIOUS! Graffiti there also abundant – some political, some for art’s sake, and definitely funny ones.
Last Dinner in Porto
Since many restaurants don’t reopen for dinner until 19:30, we found a small cafe to rest at and grabbed some snacks. We were the first ones in the restaurant. It’s kind of weird and definitely shows how hard we Americans work – often seldom taking a break to relax, sigh.
Time for a Drive
Even though we had another night in Porto planned through AirBnB, we packed up and made our way over to Caramulo. Check out this comically small chair.
What a Night Sky
Since we were in the middle of nowhere, the sky was filled with visible stars! We had to stop through the narrow zig-zagging streets in order to take a look. We overlooked a valley filled with lights and definitely made plans to wake up early to catch the sunrise.
Funchal | New Year’s Fireworks | Porto | Caramulo | Lisbon