MIKE AND JESS' TRAVEL DIARY
Slovenia and Portugal Trip
Day 14- May 17 2023
First thing this morning, we walked to the Sao Bento train station to head to Guimaraes, a small town an hour train ride away from Porto. We got tickets from the window and the worker said to go to track 4, but to not take the first train, take the second train. We assumed since we were there 25 minutes early, there was a train there now headed for somewhere else. However, we went to track 4 and there was not a train and the sign said the track was for Guimaraes – Front Train. She said second train, the sign says front train, but there’s no train.
As it got closer to departure time and we clearly misunderstood what she was saying, we split up to get answers- Mike to the information desk which had a line and I went back to the ticket line. I got the same ticket worker as before and tried to ask the sweet person trying to communicate through not-fluent English. I, of course, had no useful Portuguese to assist with except “thank you.” She said, not first train, second. I asked, two trains will come? Or two cars on a train? Two trains. OK. So, second going what direction? Is the first the one closest to the station or the one closest to the tunnel? “Far” was the answer. Bless her.
Mike’s answer was also confusing because the worker in information said get on Zone B. So, three sets of info. Second train, front train, and Zone B. Once the trains actually pulled up, it made total sense, but in the train travelling we have done in Europe and Mike in Japan, we had never seen two trains pull up on the same track at the same time!
Anyways, an hour later we were in Guimaraes. It was such a beautiful little town and had a much more relaxed feel, it was exactly what we wanted. All the same charm and beautiful, tiled buildings. The service workers we encountered spoke much less English than any we found in Lisbon and Porto. Some shop and cafe workers spoke none. It added to the charm and made it feel a bit more real to us. And everyone was so nice, even when we are trying to communicate through smiles and charades.
We had a small nibble and coffee at a cafe called Benedito before walking around town and exploring. While we have had a decent amount of Portuguese food, Mike hasn’t gotten much seafood, so that was the goal today. We had lunch at Historico by Papaboa, a restaurant in an old stone building with a beautiful patio courtyard. Mike got three appetizers instead of an entree so he could maximize the seafood quantity. I ordered the steak with mushroom sauce. The server was very perplexed by our strange ordering… You want 3 appetizers…To share? No? Only you? and you want an entree?
We wandered and shopped and grabbed coffee and pastries at a couple cafes. We walked up to the castle nearby before jumping back on the train for an evening in Porto.
We would have chosen another meal in Guimaraes, but all the restaurants closed between lunch and dinner, but dinner started at 7 or 7:30 and we did not want to get back that late. Instead, we immediately walked to A Boline, a tapas restaurant on the river. It’s tucked on the other side of the main bridge, so it’s quiet and has more of a local feel. We needed to get in early because it’s a small restaurant and they mostly book reservations, so we knew our chances were better early and we had no backup plan. Thankfully, they squeezed us in outside. Thank goodness they did. All in all, this ended up our best meal experience the whole trip. The view, the service, the food was all amazing. It was a really great way to end the trip.
After dinner, we packed up and got ready for the travel day ahead.