Selfies with a DSLR Camera in Portugal

So I haven't been posting at all this week because of the fact that we traveled for what felt like hours upon hours to Galicia, a province of Spain known for being the place from which Zara originated as well as for its beaches. Since we did a lot of touristy visiting, I'll divide the week into three posts, one for each of the next days. So first came... PORTUGAL.

We woke up extra early so to get to Portugal at a decent time. I made sure that I grabbed my passport, assuming there would be a border, and even checked a few times if I certainly had it. About two hours into the car ride, we passed a small sign that read Portugal in the center of the sign of the European Union (circle of stars), and yeah, we were in Portugal. No border. Nothing. Just, passed a sign and we were in a completely different country. 

So after crossing this non existent border, passport still hidden away in my bag, we drove on to a city called Porto. There, we parked underground and began our exploration, first visiting a market and then traveling on to some churches, the "Harry Potter House," the ports, and much much more. I'll elaborate more at a later point in this post, but for now, some pictures.

The Market

 So this market was full of old ladies selling vegetables, and this, plus the way it was arranged, reminded me incredibly of the bazaars in Warsaw. I'm pretty sure this market is open every day, but the day we went (a Tuesday), it was definitely not busy, and not all of the shops/stands were open.

Salivating in front of every pastry shop I passed. 

 So essentially, Porto has a bunch of amazing looking pastry shops (or maybe I was just blind to everything else), and also a lot of shoe shops. I swear. Any part of the city we were in, I'd glance to my side to look at the stores we were walking by, it was consistently like this : bar, shoe shop, shoe shop, towel shop, shoe shop, bar, shoe shop, shoe shop...

Tram going up the hills that Porto is built on. 

The central train station in Porto

 Above is a photo of the central train station in Portugal. The inside is incredibly pretty (definitely worth a visit), but what I loved the most was the fact that the platform was outside. Because of this, when you walk out, you see a multitude of colorful condos surrounding you. In the picture, if you look up, past the bars, you can catch a glimpse of what I'm talking about.

So, selfies with a DSLR Camera are incredibly difficult..

Porto, Portugal from a church tower

Outside of the Harry Potter House

A small glimpse of the inside of the Harry Potter House

 So unless for some odd reason you have an obsession with Porto and have read about this house, you're probably wondering what it's all about and why it carries the name of the Harry Potter House. Well, from my very poor two minute research, the house, which actually is a bookstore, is named so because it looks like something from the Harry Potter movies, and there are rumors that some scenes were filmed in the bookstore. However, if you haven't noticed already, I only took pictures from the outside because pictures inside were prohibited, and as cool as it was, I get incredibly self conscious when a stranger yells at me, so I did not even try to sneak a picture or two. Through my photos, you can see the outside and the bottom of the stair case that gives the bookstore the Harry Potter look. Here's a link to a photo from the inside, which I did not take, but I want you to see how intricate the staircase is: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3390/4615821539_22ac778dd5_z.jpg

Down to the port we go

Boat rides for tourists that have money (not me)

Port in Porto

I love old European apartments for how eclectic they tend to be

 And so that's Porto from the point of view I saw it in. If you're looking for a comparison of Spain and Portugal, Portugal, specifically Porto, appeared a bit more dirty on the street, but otherwise, everything else is very similar. Well, except the language. And no matter what people tell you, knowing Spanish does not help you whatsoever when you're trying to speak with a quickly talking sales day. What so ever.