Lisbon to Porto - 221kms an hour

I will explain soon what the 221kms mean, I did my first run since the marathon friday morning, the one thing where I was staying in Lisbon, it was all uphill or downhill, there weren't many flat roads to run on, unless you were down by the water, even then the flat didn't last long, I did about 6kms down to the main city area and back, it was a bit of a struggle, there was still soreness in my legs.


I checked out of the hotel at 12, a more civilised checkout time than Australia's 10, I went and sent off a few postcards, then I went and bought a train ticket to Porto, which is about 320kms north of Lisbon, the train left about 2pm, it was very impressive, it has a digital display inside the train, it go to 221kms an hour, most of the time it was sitting 140-180, but it slowed down thru stations and seem to stop for no reason a couple of times, this sort of train would be great in Australia in the SE corridor between Sydney, Southern highlands, Canberra, Snowy Mountains, Melbourne etc.


I got to Porto around 5pm, got the Metro train to the Hotel, Porto seems a lot older than Lisbon, the Hotel was the top 4 floors of this 7 storey building with the reception on the Ground (or 0 here), the cicrcular staircase seems to come from the Art deco style. At nigh I went across the road and had Portugese chicken, rice & chips with bread and white wine in a jug (about 3 glasses) for 7.5 euros. Unbelievable cheap for the quality, the place was nothing flah, but I was eating with the locals, that is where to go to eat, as I was leaving I eyed off the cook doing a steak on the grill, I think I know what I am eating saturday night.