Carolyn's Various Travels: Random things in Portugal

One of my favorite posts when I blog my trips is to record random things that catch my eye. Here is the collection I put together for this trip.

This sign did not sound very tasty to me - ha! We think they resemble churros and are probably delicious, but I'm not sure what they are.

The instructions for our apartment said to deposit the trash and recycling in the side bins next to the apartment. We took our recycling out several times and were surprised that these smallish bins did not fill up quickly (there was always room when we did the drop. The lids had the small catch bin that tilts into the larger bin when you close the lid.

Then one morning we saw a trash truck collecting from the bin and were startled to discover that under each apparently small bin sits a very deep, larger repository. The workers flip open the street-based collection bins and a crane picks up the larger bin and holds it over the truck, then it releases a catch and all the trash comes out the bottom into the trash truck. I had no idea these little cans were so big underneath!

The World Cup hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada has been underway throughout the trip. Each town we have visited has had a jumbo screen on one of the squares with games playing all day. This one was in Porto, and Spain happened to be playing. The square was pretty packed and people were glued to the game. People would stop mid stroll on the sidewalk and be completely oblivious to others trying to walk around them.

At one point I asked an Uber driver who they were cheering for in the World Cup and he looked at me like I was crazy - Portugal of course! I asked about Brazil and again got the 'you must be crazy' look. He was clearly only supporting Portugal. However, there were a lot of Brazilian flags flying from balconies (along with Portuguese flags).

The streets were full of residents and tourists walking around, but these two guys were rolling a washing machine down a steep cobble street on a dolly! The guy on the downside had his work cut out for him not to let it roll all the way down to the river!

All of Portugal that we saw was very hilly, including the cities. The street cafes had to figure out how to make the tables and chair level. We saw several different mechanisms in use.

A very non-branded McD's in Porto.

Navigating was not too difficult, but there were a few instances where the guidance provided by google maps was hard to follow, especially when some of the roads went over or under others.

Thank goodness we had "Beep" Braga - our navigating sardine - to help us!

He earned his name from all of the automated "beeps" from our rental car (and many other transportation vehicles). We turned off most of them in the car, but every time we drove past a change in speed limit (which was often), the car would Beep at us. When we took an Uber, if any did not immediately get their seatbelts fastened, the car would beep furiously to get us buckled up. Getting on or off the metro - doors closing... Beep, beep, beep! Our hecklers in the backseat (aka Charlene and David) would randomly add their own beeps if it was too quiet in the car. lol.

A picnic table in a square in Aveiro with hammock swings around it. I didn't try them out, but it seemed they might be hard to eat from.

This apparent 'tissue box' was actually a wooden box with a ribbon on the lid to deliver your dinner check so it wouldn't blow away in the breeze.

I'm happy to say I found a geocache on this trip. This one was right on the square where the Cathedral was and there was a lot of foot traffic. Once I guessed where to look, I had to sit down and pretend to be looking at my phone while reaching under the location to pull it out. Managed it without letting the muggles see me. David and I looked for one a few days ago, but it was in a park (likely hidden in a tree) where a whole group of young people were hanging out, so there was no way to look for it discreetly.

We wanted to make alfredo sauce for dinner but all we had found in the stores were soft cheeses, so I located a queijaria (cheese shop) nearby and asked for "Parmseano" - the elderly shop keeper didn't speak English but understood my request. She handed some cheese to me and said something about 'but this is Portugese' - meaning it wasn't made in Parma Italy. That was perfectly ok of course, our parmeasan at home isn't make it in Italy either.

I suppose my blog would not be complete with at least one bathroom observation, lol. This was in Guimaraes in the palace. Each bathroom stall had double doors. I've never seen this arrangement before and found it funny. I would not normally take out my camera for this, but no one else was in the bathroom, so I took a quick picture because it was funny. Right at the moment I took it, the cleaning lady came in. I could see from her look that she was like "What the * is this lady taking a picture of the toilet for?" I exited quickly.