Porto, Portugal

So far I have enjoyed the antiqued feel of Porto, although it's actually a sad place. It feels like a city that has loooooong passed its prime. All the buildings are a dingy greyish brown with age, weather and pollution, and once remarkable buildings now just look unutilized and empty.

However, there have been a few interesting little things that have brightened up an otherwise grey landscape.

First of all, I witnessed something I had heard other backpackers talking about. The tradition for initiaion into frats and sororities. Packs of students roam around the streets, and have certain chants they need to shout in response to the organizers. Here's what it was like.

Something else interesting was a traditional Porto food, called Francesinha. Essentially its just a sandwich with sauce on it. The sandwich is layered with sausage, ham, cheese, and more sausage. It is then toasted, and slathered with sauce... which is a mix of wine, chili sauce and tomato. The guy warned me that this was "picante" so I tried it gingerly, only to find barely any hint of heat at all! SOOO funny. They mostly just season with salt here (a lot of it) so any peppery quality is probably "spicy" to them. I am a huge fan of toasted sandwiches, but I have to admit this was a bit much for me. I could only eat half. It was just lots and lots of meat.

Lastly, one of the most unusual things I have seen to date was a market.... just for birds! All different kinds of birds. I even saw a couple chickens! They love having pet birds here (and often keep the bird cages attached to the OUTSIDE of the house)! The fair was full of all different kinds of birds, with occasional fish and tiny turltes. They had just taken over a square for the event! So funny to hear canaries singing en masse, in the middle of a city!