A few days ago, I actually don't know how, I injured my foot; felt like a minor strain on the ball of my right big toe. After copious kilometers of walking since then it has progressively got worse, swollen now so I can hardly walk. The only relief I get from the pain is elevating it.
So, on our last day, Maria is out exploring, backpack and camera in hand, and I'm stuck here in the hotel. Bummer.
On a brighter note, the weather is yet again unbelievably perfect. Absolutely clear skies, sunny and 27 or 28. We have had such a treat with the conditions.
We had a 'fail' last night. The web application Trip Advisor, is a constant source of information while we travel. Maria used it extensively in the planning for our accommodation, and while here we use it daily to seek out good eating places, based on the recommendations of other travelers. So last night, wanting to avoid the conventional Portuguese tourist food, we spiraled in on a gourmet hamburger place with rave reviews.
Being too far to walk, especially with yours truly hobbling along in pain, we caught a cab, which wasn't as straight forward as we imagined. Having walked the length of the section of the street in which this place was supposed to be ( we had no number) we decided the reviews must have been old and the place had closed down. We wandered kind of aimlessly looking for either another place to eat or a cab back home. Wandering around the streets of a strange city after dark is probably not the smartest thing to do, especially when one of you is increasingly feeling lost.
We managed to find our back to a familiar place we had walked through earlier in the day, and hailed a cab back to the hotel. We somewhat reluctantly ended up eating at the same place as the night before, good food but disappointed not to have tried somewhere different.
As it turned out, the reviews were not old, Trip Advisor simply had the location of the place incorrect. Another block of walking would have found it.
It has been our first real failure in using Trip Advisor, and we were disappointed that our attempt to venture beyond the comfort zone of walking somewhere close by was unsuccessful.
View of Porto from the river..
