A View of Porto

My husband is working on the Douro river on one of the boutique river cruiseships and we have visited him a couple of times.  I admit I havent seen much of Porto but I think the riverside (all I have seen) is beautiful and so interesting.  I look at it and its like you can see the past, like looking at history alive.



The Bishop's Palace with Se behind it.




Oporto Riverside




One of the old Port boats




More port boats, now mostly used for tours




Dom Luis I bridge




Typical buildings on the Riverside

Next time I go to Porto, I will actually see some more of it.

Please note, the date on the photos is incorrect, these are recent photos!

A road trip with not much road!

Last weekend, we went to visit my husband who is working in Porto on the Douro River.  From where we live, that is an almost 350 mile drive each way.  So on Saturday morning, me and the girls set off for our 'road trip', with a couple of stops it was supposed to take five and a half to six hours.  I was looking forward to it, to see my husband of course, and to do the drive was a challenge for me and gave me a change of scenery.  But travelling so long with two young children made me a little nervous. 

The drive up was fine, mostly motorway, was easy until we reached the city of Porto, where I proceeded to get lost, frustratingly I could see where I needed to be, but couldnt get there.  After driving up and down and round and round, crossing the river and back again, I got there.  After that we had to go to the hotel, which was about 3 miles away, this again took half an hour of being lost.  All this with directions, that apparently I was incapable to follow!!  We stayed for the weekend and on Monday heading back towards the south, getting out was easy. 

We decided to stop in Lisbon on the way to visit my inlaws for a night and continue onto home the next day, this was not to be.  As I was nearing the city, the car broke, would not go.  Here I was stuck on a very busy part of motorway about 15 miles from my inlaws, with two tired children.  Very lucky for me, with my brother and mother in law's help, we managed to get the car towed into the city.  So now what, what happened to the car, how would we get home, how long and how much would it cost?  I was very worried. And crazy to get home like never before, all I wanted was to go home.  No reflection on my inlaws, but I just wanted to be home.  

Luckily the work wasnt too major and was done in 48 hours, so we hit the road again and made it home, cautiously wondering if the car was going to make the 180 mile trip, but it did.  So our four day road trip turned into a six day road trip, but I have never been so happy to be home.

Standing at the crossroads, hoping lady luck is watching

As some of you know, the last couple of years have been very difficult for my family and I.  We decided to move to Portugal, as my husband had been offered a good job with better money, he had been looking for equivalent positions in England but had been unsuccesful, not sure why.  I had just been made redundant from my job and we were standstill.  So when this opportunity came along, we took it.  It was good to start with but unfortuantely after a year, my husband was made redundant and things became difficult.  We decided not to go back to England (right or wrong) as our house was rented (nowhere to live) and we still wanted to give it a go here. 

When we arrived in portugal, my plan was to learn the language and get a job but portuguese is a very, very difficult language and Im a little ashamed to say, after almost 3 years my portuguese is weak.  I have done an EFL teaching course but have been unable to find work.  But with family support we have managed to weather the storm and hold on, but there have been tears, sleepless nights and shouting and a lot of unhappiness and stress and we are not out yet.  My husband is working now, but the job is not good at all, there are no conditions to do his job and is not a situation which can be sustained.  So we are really no further along and in no way secure.

But out of nowhere came an interview this weekend, so we packed up and drove all the way (almost all the way) to the other end of the country to Porto.  Courtesy of a contact, we stayed in a beautiful 5star hotel, Hotel Infante Sagres, and he had a long interview, hopefully a good sign.  The job is good, but means he would need to be away for several months, which I can deal with if the conditions are right and will be in our benefit to do it.  So by wednesday we will know, or we have another option.  We are looking at the possibility of renting a bar in town, the bar is all fitted out ready to go, but its risky in this climate, but to stay as we are is not sustainable either.  So we are at the crossroads, trying to find the right path to a better life, keeping our fingers crossed for better times.