Apartment hunting

Every morning the friendly man at Bela Star asks if I wan’t to stay another night. ‘Sim’, I say. It’s too easy. Plus it’s only 10€ to get all my laundry done. Washed, dired, pressed, folded and put at the end of my bed in neat piles.

However, the idea was to get a nice apartment. So I sat down today and started to peruse imovirtual.com. I spent a good few hours looking through and bookmarking ads. It seems like a bit of a lottery though as I don’t really know that much of the area after a week. The girl in the coffee shop didn’t fit the friendly Portuguese stereotype but I decided to ask her about places to live anyway. Turns out she was friendly. We spent a good half hour at the counter going through adverts and discussing places to live. I was re-assured that I was looking in the right areas. In fact she excitedly clicked on one add that I had saved. “Ah but it’s mine” I jested. I had my killer line ready, “…but come over for dinner!”. Just as I was about to deliver it she delivered the B-bomb. Oh well.

I’ve narrowed down a few options and sent off a few emails about viewings. Hopefully I’ll get some replies in the next few days.

Of course the van plan still looms in the background. On my walk home from the beach yesterday I saw plenty of people sitting outside their campers. In this kind of weather one  really could live out of a van. It’s really only for sleeping in. The rest of the time you can be outside (assuming decent 3G reception or some WiFi). I do still like the idea of being truly mobile but my van googling hasn’t turned up much yet.

Bought a beach towel today!

It’s not far from Porto to some beaches. The 500 bus or number 1 tram takes you along to Foz where there are a number of them. Foz has been recommended as a place to stay so I thought I’d check it out.

I bought my towel opposite this beach and went down to check out the water.

Looks pretty nice eh? It was.  If only the Atlantic could be a little warmer! Someone once told me the sea temperature lags the air by about a month. Maybe it just hasn’t had time to warm up yet. At least when you get out you get dry and warm pretty quickly.

I wandered up the coast and noticed some guys jumping off a pier into the sea. I can’t resist jumping off high things into water but when I got there they’d gone. Peering over the side it looked deep enough. I wanted to see someone do it first though. I decided to give it a go on my way back if there were people around.

After some ice cream and wandering I ended up back at the spot. Here is the view back to the beach from the end.

Two little kids were standing peering over the side this time. I signed ‘jump’ and the younger one replied ‘fria’.

I was pretty sure it was deep enough. Thankfully another kid turned up with his mates, stripped to his boxers and jumped in. It was deep enough! I guess my age is showing because I pulled my groin a bit on impact!

I have to say I was a little worried about my stuff. Phone, wallet and laptop in my rucksack. But it was fine. These were good kids and they pointed out their Dad. I decided to trust them with my phone. Here I am.

It was higher than it looked!

On my way away I ended up striking up a conversation with their Dad. He was French so it was an actual conversation as opposed to the usual gesticulating and guessing what the Portuguese might be for a word. I was quite chuffed that I wasn’t totally rubbish at French. He suggested I get a Portuguese girl as a good way to get better at the language. He gestured at the expanse of beach behind and pointed out that there were lots there. Can’t argue with the man’s logic.

I walked back down the line of beaches finally stopping at a cool looking bar for a  coke and some pudding.

A sunset panaorma

 

If Carling did nightclubs…

They’d do Eskada!

From the outside you can’t tell what it is. I had to Google the name to find out it’s a club.

Eskada’s garden

 

You know those clubs you see in movies with lots of beautiful people? Well Eskada is that club. Apparently last night was a more casual, dress-down student night! I don’t want to offend any female readership I have but…WOW! That’s all.

I got chatting to a chap at the bar that turned out to be the manager. I got a couple of rounds of shots and a beer or two on the house. As the place was quiet  at this time I took the chance to ask him and his staff about finding a place to live in Porto. As usual everyone was very helpful. I’ve got a list of areas to check out and the name of a good estate agent. Apparently Foz is the place to be. A loft apartment next to the beach with a terrace and a pool…less than 800€ probably!

For the rest of the night I got the VIP treatment. Apparently Ronaldo’s sister was in our group. And the ex-wife of some famous footballer. The winner of Portugal’s Big Brother was there too. I got into the roped-off area behind the DJ’s box so I could look down on the plebeian masses on the dancefloor!

The manager, Nunu, said I should call him when I’m coming back and he’ll put me on the guest list. Speedier entry and half the price too.

To top it all off one of the DJ’s spun some pretty decent tunes.

I never thought I’d last more than an hour but I got to bed around 5am.

Living life outdoors

It’s almost eleven o’ clock and it’s still about 20°C. Lots of cafes, restaurants and bars have full seating areas outside. You get the impression that people could be there for a while.

I sat outside a bar for a few hours and decided to have a look at apartments. Looks like you can get a decent, furnished flat with a balcony in a central location for around 350€ a month. Amazing! Probably a bit of admin involved. Not sure if I can just rock up to an estate agent. Also not sure how long I’ll be here for. I guess just take a 6 month tenancy and worry about moving when it happens. Spend a bit more and I might just get that loft with a panoramic view over the Douro river. Treat myself!

I had three bottled beers while perusing flats. All served by a very enthusiastic and multi-lingual waiter. The bill for that? 3.30€. Nice.

As much as I’m curious I don’t think I’ll make it to Eskada tonight. I’m not on holiday after all. Got some serious coding to do tomorrow!

A few foaties

Some holiday photos. It seems the scatter gun approach doesn’t really work! One still needs an eye for a good photograph I think. Nonetheless here they are.

Topping up my tan

The Capitolio Cafe has some seating outside that gets the Sun all morning. Even at 8.30, ok 9.00, it’s pretty hot but I decided to sweat it out for a while. It’s a thoroughly pleasant way to start the day. Breakfast options seem a little limited so it was a cheese omelette again. Not that I’m bored of that yet. Especially when served with a nice salad, bread and coffee.

The MacBook Air has a matt screen which means you can actually see what’s on it in bright daylight. I managed a few hours there before moving inside to cool down a bit.

I’ve begun to wonder vaguely about my budget. If you are canny you could eat three meals out for about 10€. Not quite the dollar-a-day of South East Asia but pretty good nonetheless. However temptations are everywhere. On the menu of the day today we had grilled king prawns. Five massive tasty prawns grilled and covered in butter and garlic for about four quid! That’s a proper lunch! It also blew my notional budget. I guess I could have skimped a bit on dinner but the chicken salad is very good and only three quid for a heaped plateful. If I’m still doing this in a month maybe I’ll have to rethink but for now it’s fine.

After work I took a tour around some streets I hadn’t been down before. There are some seriously cool bars in this place. If only I was responsible enough to drink unchaperoned! I guess not drinking is an option but sitting in a Champagne bar with a Coke doesn’t feel quite right.

I have a bit of a quandary about what to do tonight. There is a club opposite my guest house that has a night on with an interesting name. I’m very tempted to check it out. However things happen very late in Portugal. Doors open at 23.45 and close at 0600. On a school night! I imagine things won’t get going until 1/2am. I’m not sure I have that kind of stamina anymore. Perhaps a strategic nap with my alarm set for midnight? I could man up and go straight from club to cafe and see if I make it through a day’s work. 

New home, new office

Home for the next few days is this budget guest house. Not bad for 20€ a night!

The room is basic but it’s clean with a private bathroom and a comfortable (double) bed. It’s only really for getting my head down at then end of the day. Given that it’s hot all day and warm all night you can spend most of your day outside.

For two days now I’ve been working out of the Pax cafe just a few minutes walk from the Bela Star. Bela’s WiFi is a bit flaky so I’ve needed to find something more reliable.

Today I arrived before the place was even properly open but the owner was happy for me to sit down and crack on.

I set myself up at the bar.

I feel a little guilty plonking myself there all day but I buy breakfast, coffees and…

Lunch!

I’ve no idea what that fish is or if it’s even a fish. An eel perhaps? It was pretty tasty though and a bargain at €5.50.

My work plan was slightly scuppered when I was politely asked to leave at quarter past three as the boss was closing up for the day.

However there is more free, and fast, WiFi to be had in a bar right next to the guest house. The smoking ban hasn’t reached Portugal yet and everyone in this bar smokes. I managed a couple of hours of work before I had to leave and get fresh air. I’ve adopted this bar as my new local. It’s frequented by a whole range of folks from hot chicas to well-dressed old gents. It has a certain charm. But for the smoke I’d probably spend more time in there.

Tonight’s conundrum is where to work tomorrow? I could change hotel and hope their WiFi is good enough to use from their rooms. Seems a bit late in the day to change place though. I’m currently sat at the Capitolio Cafe which has good WiFi. I think I’ll risk sitting in it all day tomorrow and do my usual of buying breakfast, coffees and lunch to keep the patrão happy. Hopefully!

Really I should be looking for a room or apartment but haven’t quite got started on that yet (no surprise I guess). Don’t think Gumtree is big here. Maybe Craigslist or something else? Don’t feel too hurried yet but moving from cafe to cafe will probably get old pretty soon!

UPDATE: Spoke to the man at the Capitolio. He’s very happy for me to sit and work away all day. That’s great. I can sit outside until it gets too hot. Then move inside and plug in. The food is cheaper there too as Pax was a little upmarket.

Ubiquitous WiFi

The theory is ‘have internet, will travel’. Can it work in practice? It seems it just might.

WiFi seems to be everywhere these days. It’s mostly a given when you trott into a cafe that they’ll have it.

Today was the first day of attempting to work remotely without the security of being at home with BT’s reliable broadband. Just before 10am I arrived at Pax Cafe, Porto, for some breakfast. The owner spoke no English but ‘internet’ is ‘internet’ right? After some mutual misunderstanding it was decided he did have the internet. I had to go round and look at the router and show him the number I needed to connect! Speedtest.net showed 30Mbps! Must be fibre. Much quicker than my broadband at home.

The staff were super friendly and didn’t seem to mind me sitting there all day. I bought breakfast and lunch and coffees in between. A (nearly) full day’s work was done. The place did get a bit noisy in the afternoon but foreign language chatter is more akin to white-noise I think so my brain filtered it out quite well.

One day down. Many more to go. I’ll go back to that same cafe tomorrow.