Sanger Cruiser Travel Log: June 22, 2015 - Porto, Bus tickets to Santiago de Compostela & 6 Bridge River Cruise

The building is being supported by steel beems while it is being remodeled.

This morning was an adventure. I felt like I was on the Amazing Race and the road block was to purchase bus tickets to Santiago de Compostela. First I went to one of the travel agencies that had been listed as a point of sale for the bus line. They told me to go to the Sao Bento train station and that they sold them in front of McDonalds. Well I did not see a McDonalds so I asked someone else and they told me to go up and around the other side of the train station and that is where they sold the tickets. So I went up the street and went into a tourist information center and she told me to go a few doors back the way I came and ask. They then sent me to an actual bus terminal which I thought, YAY, I found it!...Of course it couldn't be that easy. They told me to go to the Casa de Musica Metro station. Well, I had left the rest of the group at a pastry shop down the hill so I went down and met back up with them. We then took the Yellow Bus to the closest stop to the metro and we made our way there. We went down into the metro station and they sent us up and across the street to the bus station which was hidden behind a cement wall. Hallelujah we found it. Now to purchase the tickets. He printed them out and we are on the 9:00 am bus. I give him my credit card and it doesn't work. Elaine gives him her card and it doesn't work. Roger doesn't have enough cash on him for the tickets so we head down into the metro station to pull some Euros out and the ATM machine is not working. Well he heads back upstairs and I go and ask about where another cash machine might be. They send me to the other side of the metro station that we had first gone into. Well it takes me a couple of tries but I figure out how to use it and thank you Jesus I am able to get it to work. So Euros in hand I head back towards the bus terminal and I see Fred, who then catches Roger's attention, who wasn't real happy that he didn't know where I was. In the meantime the person who was trying to run our cards called someone and it had started working so Elaine had already paid for the tickets with her credit card.

Now that we have our bus tickets we can go about our day and enjoy the sights of Porto.

Fred had seen McDonald's before the bus had dropped us off so we headed to McDonald's for lunch.

Another stage set up for the São João festivities.

We took the city bus back to the train station and then walked back to the Ribeira.

I thought the sign said San Francisco.

We then took the 6 Bridge cruise.

This guy has ridden his bike all over Europe. He had a board with a map showing where he has ridden along with news paper clippings. Viewing the pictures from some of the articles he has been doing this for a while. He is the one sitting on the bench in the blue tank top.

I don't think he could get much more on the bike.

Roger and I headed over to the other side of the River to do some Port tasting. When we checked in we found that we had an hour to kill until the English tour would begin so we headed out to explore the area.

We toured the Calem caves.

This cutie also was on our tour. We saw him at the end of the tour and he didn't want to get out of the backpack. Why walk when you can be carried.

The grapes in Duoro valley are still picked by hand which was primarily done by the women.

The men would then carry the grapes down the hills in baskets. They would fill them to 75 Kilos but now the limit is 45 Kilos. Because the hills are steep and terraced they can not do any of the work with machines.