Travel w ME & U will SEE #1 - PORTUGAL (see the world through the eyes of a traveling vocalist)

My last trip was to Portugal and I thought I might start with the latest musical jorney I made. I was over for a week and played 2 shows in Porto. Such an amazing city <3 I´ve been to Portugal before, to Lisbon (which is for me the less attractive city if you compare both) and to Ericeira which is a popular surf sport where I attended a wedding of a good friend and had a surf session too.

I arrived on Monday the 14th after my flight had 1,5 hours delay because of fog in Porto. The plane couldn´t land and so we didn´t even start in Basel, where I started from. I landed 0.45 pm in the end and made my way into town. After a great burger and handmade fries at a place called "Steak and Shake" I arrived at the club at 2.30 pm. You might think that´s late but it isn´t, not in Portugal lol. The event was running until 7 am and when I entered the club called "Breyner 85" the promoter told me that people are still coming in cause it´s still early haha. Well, so I ended up being on the mic from 3 - 7 singing to about 100 people. It was a fun night definitely and not bad for a Monday night :)

After a much needed hangover day on Tuesday I started to explore the town on Wednesday. Porto is super beautiful and Portugal all in all rather cheap compared to Germany and other European countries. The city can easily be explored by metro and bus. The actual inner city / downtown is around the river Douro which makes it super attractive. The promenades on both sides along the river are of course spotted with various bars and restraurants and mime artists, musicians or dancers are performing every few meters.

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The little alleys around town make the charme and the spirit of downtown special. In the evenings and nights you can sit there in various bars and restaurants and enjoy the great Portugese wine and of course the delicious food. I absolutely loved the thin alleys a bit further away from the centre, they have a mysterious magic in the nighttime.

Besonders die eiserne Bogenbrücke "Ponte Dom Luís" über den Fluss ist ein besonderer Besuchermagnet. Sie hat 2 Ebenen auf beiden man die Brücke zu Fuß überqueren kann. Auf der unteren Ebene können zusätzlich Autos fahren und auf der Oberen fährt die Tram über den Fluss. Besonders Nachts bietet die Brücke einen atemberaubenden Ausblick über die Innenstadt am Fluss.

Here are some other random pictures of sights and things I really enjoyed seeing in Porto:

I Wanted to have a hike on the "Fisherman´s Trail" once I am over in Portugal but had to admit that it´s too far away. It´s in the south of Portugal underneath Lisbon along the coast. It´s definitely super beautiful with its wild natural coastline but it was just too far away and too much time I would have lost with traveling down so I decided to walk on the famous pilgrims path to Santiago do Campostelo in Spain. It was a great experience and I managed about 40 Km in 2 days. Sadly I had to give up after 2 days - one reason for that is my knee that has had 3 operations already and the fact that I needed to be back in Porto on Saturday for another show. Here are some snaps from the way:

My way along the coast led me through various little villages and was rather beautiful. Sadly it also goes along few beaches which would have been lovely if those beaches were natural ones without people enjoying the sun lol. It was crazy, it must have been all locals though as it was only 23 degrees warm these days and quite foggy sometimes. I walked through mysterious waves of fog which was pretty cool. A deep and spiritual experience all in all. The most beautiful spot I hit on my way was the little fisherman´s village "Vila Cha". I had a rest there and actually slept in the pilgrims hostel for a donation. I had dinner with a fellow pilgrim (great fresh seafood for only 7 Euro btw!!) and enjoyed a beautiful sundown at the coast with a cold Super Bock (the most common local beer).

Since I had to give up after the 2nd day I decided to take a bus up north and visited the beautiful little city "Viana do Castelo" which lies on the river Lima and is rather close to the Spanish border. It´s a super beautiful town with a special attraction on the little mount Santa Luzia: "Santuario Santa Luzia". The basilika itself is not really that special but the view from the hill is absolutely priceless! Check this pretty amazing aerial view video of the Santuario and the breathtaking surrounding:

After this lovely day in Viana I made my way back by train to Porto. The train was supposed to take only 1 hour and was 7.10 Euro in total. The price is absolutely amazing! The ride was in the end 2 hours though lol, seems like the Portugese don´t see it that strict with the time ;-)

On Saturday I had an amazing beach day incoming as the temperature went up to 28 degrees. I took the train from one of the 2 train stations in Porto - the one more central called "Sao Bento". Jesus, the train to "Espinho", a lovely little town at the coast about 30 Min south from Porto was only 2 bloody Euros for both ways! It was such a beautiful place with a great beach and even few Surf Camps / Schools. These are more common in the South of Portugal as the waves are way better there. Actually it was my plan to have a surf session but I have to admit that I was pretty exhausted still from 3 hike days and my knee needed a rest. So I just enjoyed a lovely day at the beach. Pretty cool, for the sundown a lovely female house DJ started playing chilled Deep House at the beach <3

Saturday evening I had the 2nd show of my stay. I got on the Mic for my friends from "Counterpoint Records" in Porto and another resident DJ called "T Rex" and the headliner from Cardiff "Boston". We played in the biggest venue downtown called "Hard Club". A really amazing place - sad thing only, it was not really busy but still a very funny night!

Sunday was my last day as my flight left early monday morning. Hoppla, funny thing - it was the hottest day of the year so far in Porto haha - so I had a super chilled day on the beach with 36 degrees. This time I went to a really close beach near the city centre. It might have been too hot for the locals as it was not that busy at all. I enjoyed a good book, 2 slices of Pizza and 2 dark Super Bock and another breathtaking sundown. In the evening my friend prepared a traditional Portugese BBQ and invited about 15 people. What a wonderful way to end a really exciting, spiritual, friendly, sunny and heartwarming week in Portugal! I cannot wait to come back one day <3