Crissy in Portugal: Airports and more Birthday

On the day before my birthday my lovely boyfriend came to see me too, which was great. Missed him a bunch and waiting at the airport for him to come through arrivals was like something from a cheesy 90's film!

Anywho for those ERASMUS students flying into Porto airport and travelling to Coimbra here is a quick rundown of the public transport out here. There are always more buses/trains in the morning so book an early flight if you can. The Metro in Porto is very straightforward and you can travel to Porto Campanhã (Main station in Porto) in about 40 minutes for under 2€. You have to pay 50 cent for the Metro card 'Andante' so hold on to it and you can top it up when you fly back home. When you arrive at the station you have 2 choices. Regional or ALFA. If you decide the cheaper regional option you have to take 2 trains and change over in Aveiro for about 10€. The other option is ALFA which with a name like that needs some dramatic background music. Da da daaaa! It is the quicker more expensive option and you will pay 16,50€ to board the Da da daaaa ALFA PENDULAR. The regional trains aren't as comfortable as the ALFA ones and you have more leg room and a TV stuck to the ceiling. But I guess your decision is based on whether it's worth it. I think it is for the lack of faffing about between stations. Also the colour scheme on the regional trains (baby blue and orange) was surely picked out by a nutter. Another thing about the trains is keep ahold of your ticket because of the ticketman. I think he takes a certain pleasure out of stamping those things. I'll let you judge for yourself. When you finally arrive at Coimbra B you can either wait for the connecting train to Coimbra A which is free or pay 5 Euros to be taken to your doorstep in the taxi outside. If you decide on walking for the love of God take a bag with WHEELS. It'll save you a back load of aching.

Back to the boyfriend who spent my 21st with me and bought me a kindle! I'm an addict and I love my kindle so much. I already have 6 books downloaded and the one I'm reading now is 'The Help.' I'm determined to read the book before I see the film and I might even do a side blog of book reviews. One thing at a time though since this blog takes priority.

We spent the weekend with my family in Benavente. One of the cats has been given away leaving one who is twice the trouble and cuteness. She's a right scamp. Dad invited 14 family members over for a sit down meal for my birthday and was so busy on the food that he didn't eat with us which was a bit of a shame. The food was absolutely amazing and I'm going to write it all down here so I don't forget!

I enjoyed the food so much I didn't even take a picture of it but I didn't take some of the desserts before they were served up. They're the best part of the meal anyway.