The Portuguese Undertow: Back to Portugal

Chilling in Pardilho

PreScript: I want to apologize for the evident delays in my posts, which are always at least 1 week behind. I'm trying my best to write about all the different stages in my travel, but either my trip goes faster than my writing, or my resources are very limited, or both... but I'm trying to catch up. What I'm writing now is a small fraction of what I would like to say, but at least is something.
Here is a fraction of what I wanted to say 2 weeks ago.

As said in my last post, this was the perfect break after a few fast-paced weeks.

Going by bike for 40 mins to the nearest internet connection center, because it's not only far, but there is also no public transportation to speak of; smelling the aroma left by the farm animals; watching the cornfields between houses; hearing the overwhelming silence and slowing down the time until it's no more. A new and interesting experience for my city-self. Pardilho is definitely a little town; and rural in a small, self-sufficient, scale.

I broke my break a couple of days during the week to visit Aveiro and Coimbra, which are very different from each other but have their own unique character.

Aveiro is a very nice and relaxed city which has all the feeling of summer city, with the beach next to it and all. It's apparently the city with the best quality of life in Portugal, and it shows.

Coimbra is a city defined by its University, which literally takes a major part of the urban area and merges with it in a very natural way. It's almost like the University is the city. I went in the middle of the summer holidays so I'm sure I missed a lot of the life that the academical year brings.

In the weekend we went camping to Torreira, which has a very nice beach, at least for European standards, but with a completely different experience from a Venezuelan beach. People here go just to relax, not in the Caribbean sense of the word, but in a more calm way. It's interesting to see so many people on the beach, and still be very quiet and peaceful. I think the beach is the place where the difference between our cultures is more evident.

Specially memorable was the saturday night when Cristiano and friends came to Torreira to have dinner with Natercia and me. We ate and drink in obscene quantities in a great sea-food restaurant with delicious food and payed a miserable amount of money. After that we went to party to one of the places on the coast and it was perfect. One of those moments when you confirm that is not about the place where you are but about the people you are with.

Anyway, I had a great week staying with Natercia. I want to thank her and her family for everything they did to make me feel at home. Muito obrigado!

Back in Portugal

Since I left Porto 3 weeks ago everything has been very intense. That's why I didn't write here until now. For the last 2 weeks I've been sleeping almost every single night in a different bed, and every couple days in a different city, not to mention different countries. Before that I was staying in a hostel with more than 15 people, many of which are good friends of mine, from Istanbul times.

Right now I'm staying with another of my good friends from Istanbul, Natercia, in a little town near Aveiro and 45 minutes from Porto (everything seems to be very close here as this is not a big country; more so after been traveling Turkey where 12 hours bus rides is just something common). Natercia told me it was a village but for me it's more like a suburban country club with beautiful houses. I'll post photos of the town in the next few days

What's clear is that this is a very quiet and peaceful place, just perfect for me right now after one hectic month. I need now to rest, think, plan and write. I have to plan when, how and where I'm going in the next couple of months before Geza's wedding in Hungary. I have to write more in this blog also.

I'll write about the last 3 weeks and post it with its related dates for archive purposes. This might start to look more like my 'memoirs' than a diary, but I also was never sure what and how I would write this, and still don't. Work in perpetual progress.

First week: Porto

It's the end of my first week in Europe and couldn't be more happy how this journey it's starting. I'm staying at Cristiano's house, my very good friend from Istanbul times, and with his family. It's hard to explain in English, but they are all very friendly, easy-going and have a very close family relationship. There seems to be a great mix of Portuguese and Brazilian culture in the family, since his mother and grandmother are Brazilians.

I love Porto. It's such a beautiful and interesting city. It caught me completely by surprise since I didn't expect so much. Cris tells me that this is very common for foreigners who come here because Porto is not an specially touristic city, although it could perfectly be. Definitely it's great as it is. It adds to the spirit of the city.

Portugal it's so much more close to the romantic idea I had from Europe when I was younger. People like to enjoy the good life. Delicious food, fine wine, great company. In Porto this shows also through their 'cafe culture'. Lots of cafes everywhere, all full with people who meet there regularly. Many students meet in cafes to study and it's part of the daily life. I was impressed that even in the Museum of Modern Art, students met there to study at the cafe downstairs.

Portuguese people seem to be very relaxed, calm and easy-going. Very 'latin', maybe too much for the rest Europe. From what I've talked with Cris, it looks like Portugal might be the closest country in Europe to Latin America, although still far in many ways.

As I said, I couldn't be more pleased on how this is starting, and I have to specially thank Cristiano and his family for that. Tomorrow I'll be in Istanbul for the long-awaited reunion. Two years have passed since we all left. Still seems unreal it's actually happening.