Wild bus rides and wonderful people

Last week we reached Porto on Tuesday after the long drive around midday.

Arrived at our campingsite after a small tour through the city. Already liked the city right after the few impressions we got, so we decided to take a one and a half hours ride by bus to get back.

The bus driver was racing like a wild boar on speed through the streets just like to scare away an enemy from his kids. I would not want to sit drunk in this bus, without heating on board and partly with open doors. A beautiful adrenaline experience for everyone.

In Porto we walked through the historic center. Simply stunning and beautiful. We walked through the narrow streets down to the river and the bridge Ponte Luís I. The construction of the bridge calls some losses for some residents of Porto. Thus, the upper line was built across a house. It’s pretty romantic when the tram goes through your living room.

Nevertheless, Porto is a wonderful city. With the vivid architecture by renowned Portuguese architects. The combination of old and modern architecture in a wonderful mix. 237,000 people live in the economic capital of Portugal which are very kind people.

In the city we met up with Daniel and his friends Luís, Rodry and Márcio to spent a wonderful day together. We walked through the streets, drinking coffee, photographing, having great conversation and lots of laughs.

After the others had to leave we drank a few beers with Rodry at his favourite bar just to get a great dinner afterwards. A must in Portugal is the typical dish Francesinha, which comes from Porto and tastes there the best. The little French consists of bread, Linguica, steak, sausage and served with melted cheese and a hot delicious secret sauce. Fantastic.

We didn’t dare to the Bacalao (Stockfish) already. Maybe later …or not…

2355 km…

We’re on the road since last Tuesday.

After the first 847 kilometers we were so tired that it even were hard to keep the eyes open while driving. So we spent the first night behind Orleans on a highway rest stop. Luckily our bed we’ve finished building in the morning proved well. You can definitely build a comfortable bed in a car that makes you sleep pretty well up to 10 o’clock. Well rested, there was a not so perfect coffee from the machine and we went towards Spain.

What we have not thought of, were the Pyrenees in northern Spain. We loved the mountains and the scenery there, but at night, heavy snow has shocked us in the mountains. An eternally long line of cars and trucks has fought there on only one freeway lane through snow drifts and ice on the road and we were right in the middle.

It felt like every 50 meters a truck or car crashed into the crash barrier. In the news announced more than 300 accidents that night. After 894 kilometers we had to stay once again at a motorway station because of the snow.

Abfahrt

Durch einige familiäre Schwierigkeiten hat sich unsere Abreise leider doch etwas mehr nach hinten verschoben als wir dachten. Aus diesen Gründen haben wir uns auch dafür entschieden mit Europa zu beginnen und das mit dem Auto.

Im Januar konnte endgültig nach dem Gefährt gesucht werden das uns begleiten sollte.

Bei heißem Kaffee saßen wir Tage lang in gefüllten Kaffeehäusern und suchten im Internet nach einem passenden Wagen in den wir einziehen und mit dem wir losziehen konnten. Bei kühlem Wetter hinter verregneten Fensterscheiben zog Mensch für Mensch an uns vorbei. Die von Gesprächen durchdrungenen Räume waren wie ausgeblendet.

Gefunden hat sich auch relativ schnell etwas passendes. Ein Van ist es. Hinten im Wagen haben wir alle Sitze ausgebaut und unseren Bedürfnissen angepasst. Morgen geht es dann los, auf unseren Weg durch Europa. Fortan wird es auch mehr von uns zu lesen und zu sehen geben.

Auf wiedersehen Deutschland.