Be sure to read the 12.05 Porto Birthday Blog

12.06.07 Thursday

Wow what a birthday! Kikas and his wife Carla were awesome. We met up at a café down the street and met some of his other friends both of which ride bikes. Then it was off to dinner to get a taste of a Portugal treat, Francesinha. We dined at a wonderful restaurant actually the place that invented the Portuguese dish, with a great bottle of wine and even better company. Not only did I get the locals only dining spot, but Kikas and Carla, friends now for a day, paid for the entire meal what a birthday treat. What an amazing couple. The conversation was great. After dinner we strolled around town just chatting. I was sad to say goodbye to Carla who had an early day in the morning, but Kikas and another friend Hugo both BMW motorcycle owners took me to their motorcycle club for an after dinner cocktail.

The club was much like a yacht club, but instead of boats everyone loved to ride. The walls were littered with pictures of people riding all over the place. Hugo just last weekend came back from a big trip in Morocco on his GS1150. There was a calendar on the wall filled with riding events sponsored either by the club or other clubs all around. It was pretty wild to pull up on motorcycles to this club. Keep in mind this was not the Harley, leather jacket riding sort you get in the states, but true adventure riders.

Everyone there was thrilled to hear my tale and offered all sorts of advice. Hugo provided a couple of numbers for contacts along my path to get in touch with. What a great group of people. It is pretty amazing the people that you run into and how helpful everyone wants to be.

So I decided to stay an extra night since the hotel was so inexpensive and actually see the city a little today. Porto is famous for its Port wine so of course I made a stop at a couple of the big wine houses. I never really understood port just knew I really liked it especially with cheese and especially after dinner. I had a couple of tastings and the low down on the history. Since the wine houses where on the opposite side of the river from Porto, it was pretty cool to see the city perched atop a couple of hills from the river banks.

I have noticed about Portugal that it is poorer country than say France and Spain, but the people are far friendlier than anyone else I have met and almost everyone speaks English unlike everywhere else I have been. It has made getting around and getting food that I actually want a little easier. I am very impressed with the language skills the Portuguese have and the fact that they are so willing to speak with you. I could not imagine trying to learn yet another language!

I feel a bit rested today after a short tour of the city, a nap and some reading time and am ready for the road again. Hopefully my bike, parked in front of the police station will still be there in the morning so I can get an early start. Kikas has given me a list of cities to visit so my entire trip now through to Madrid is planned out thank goodness. Now I just need to get on the bike and get going.

Thanks to everyone in Porto for a warm welcome and a great birthday. I will certainly remember it for years to come. Thank you also to everyone that posted messages or sent emails to wish me a happy birthday. All your wishes paid off! It is great to know so many are following the blog and keeping up with a millions of pictures I have been taking.