Yesterday, J.J. and I had a conversation with Luke and Léna over breakfast. This morning, we continued exchanging travel stories. They are from Ottawa and they love to travel. The couple spent a week in Finland, then Paris prior to arriving in Portugal. Luke is a civil engineer and he told us that because their retirements are still far in a distance, he and Léna are fulfilling their passion for traveling. Léna is French with family roots in Poland. After hearing wonderful stories about Poland from our dear friend Pat, we quickly agreed with Léna’s recommendation to include Poland as a future travel destination.
Today, we took a train from Santa Apolonia station in Lisbon to Porto. The nearly 3 hours train ride was an express and very comfortable.
Our hotel in Porto also belongs to the Accor Hotel chain. It is newer and the location is next to the Arrábida Shopping Mall.
For dinner, J.J. enjoyed a pita wrap. My choice of a Falafel wrap was amazing! International high fashion brand stores, a large food court, supermarket stocked with extensive goods from EU, the proximity of our hotel to the mall is welcomed.
The Vila Nova de Gaia location is in a suburb of Porto just across the river (Rio Darvo). During our one week stay in Porto, the two of us have plans to go on a river cruise, tour the historical part of the city and visit several port wineries.
Aloha -- Cathi
