Portugal - Die Sonne Scheint

In terms of weather, when compared with cold, rainy, grey, miserable Germany, Porto, Portugal is a veritable paradise. Of course, Porto has many more charms than merely it's schönes Wetter. The city itself lies directly at the meeting point of the Douro river and the Atlantic, and can be characterised by a charm that is distinctly Portugeuse. The Portugeuse language looks like Spanish when written, but to my ear it sounds more like Russian than Spanish... Can't really explain that one.

Some parts of the city definitely look like they've seen better days, but all in all, one can still see so many wonders in the city that at some times you just have to stop and shake your head in wonderment. The slopes of the riverside are very steep at times, and this results in some very interesting roads. Most Portugeuse speak English, and failing that, we were able to get by with body language (it really is amazing how much you can understand without any shared language).

Portugeuse cuisine is also extremely different from other areas that I've visited. The most famous dish out of Porto is Tripes Oporto, which was surprisingly good, albeit really chewy. Other dishes that are extremely common are yellow breads with meat cooked in, freshly squeezed orange juice (every café has a juicing machine) and soup. They have soup of a million varieties, and you can get it anywhere, and they are all simply delicieux.

We also made a visit to the Sandeman Port Wine "Factory" (their words, not mine). They offer an interesting tour of the site, including a basic description of how Port wine is produced. The tour cost 3,- €, unless you bought a bottle of wine. Then it was free. Brilliant marketing. I don't think it's possible to take that tour without leaving with a bottle of Port.

On a more personal note, I passed the German test, and am going into Deutschkurs II ("V" de la Victoire!)