Portugal Day 2

Bom Dia

Bom Dia, as I’m sure you can fathom is "good morning" in Portuguese. This is what I said as I opened the doors to my balcony and greeted the morning in my pants. Nothing like the sun on the genitals to get you revved up for the days frolics.

Once I was done baking my bollox I head to a bakery across the road from my hotel. Luckily ,when looking at reviews for the hotel ,I was informed about a great bakery across the road. I walked into the bakery and confidently placed my order (in Portuguese, I have collection of ordering food stock phrases). I ordered “um café “ and “dois pastel de nata”. For you heathen english speakers that is 1 coffee and two Portuguese style custard tarts. She then motioned for outside or “aqui” . I guessed she meant to take away or eat in I knew that “aqui” meant "here" so said “sim, aqui” . I was very proud of myself. I then did the awkward english thing of waiting by the register to pay only to be shushed away to sit and they would bring my coffee and pastries . Such an English asshole.
My order then arrived.

Following this went back to the hotel ,showered and check out. My next mission was to go the FC Porto (Soccer) Football Stadium. I had a few hours to before I met up with the rest of the lads so I thought this would be the perfect time filler. Portugal like most countries in Europe is football (soccer, I'm going to stop doing this now you know what I mean) mad. In Porto obviously the local team F.C Poto reigns supreme. Here is a pic of an apartment with the flag of the team and not really pictured , two scarves hanging off the balcony.

Stix Travel Tip

Sometimes you just gotta be a tourist or you lose out on some awesome stuff by being to cool. Trekking around a city photographing endless boring statues can suck. However listen to your gut, if you get an inkling to do something slightly touristy go for it.Dont be cool go for it . For example when I was in Monterey in California I went to the Aquarium and it ruled !! Very touristy but who cares.... only bearded hipsters but they assholes anyway so who cares what they think.

Stadium Tour

The tour itself was awesome it cost 17 Euros and this got you a stadium tour complete with english speaking guide and access to the museum. While on the tour we got to go to the pitch , vip president's box and away dressing room . We could not go into the home dressing room due to a superstition that only the players and management are allowed in there. The museum itself was choc full of artifacts and interesting stories complete with audio and visual displays. If you're a football fan I would highly recommend the tour

The beautiful staduim

Tiled motif inside the staduim

The trophy room

After the stadium I headed to the train station to meet with the singer and bass player to catch a train to Coimbra. They said there were gonna be half an hour late. So I found a local cafe bar and ordered some fried type things (I don't know what you call them) and a Super Bock . One of the fried things had Salmon the other Chicken it was awesome.

I finally met up with the lads and we boarded our train to Coimbra. Coimbra is a university town in between Porto and Lisbon.

Coimbra on the river Mondego (and a floating ear)

It is home to a legendary garage punk scene mainly speared by bands such as “The Tedio Boys” in the 90’s and “The Parkinson's” in the 2000’s. Both bands contained the legendary Victor Torpedo who organised the gig for us tonight. “The Tedio Boys” contained as already mentioned Victor Torpedo , Carlo (another friend and currently fronts and drums for the band “The Twist Connection”) and The Legendary Tigerman (who is now a household name in Portugal. Heres some footage of The Tedio Boys to show you the rawness they brought to shake up a sleepy scene during the 90’s in Portugal

The run up to the gig didn't look to good. We were supposed to open for a Japanese band that was quite popular but they cancelled at the last minute (assholes). Therefore a new venue had to be found and it was the day before a big festival. Therefore the Facebook events page only registered 12 people going , 4 of which was us in the band.

Crowd before the gig

Nevertheless some of the legends from the Coimbra scene came out. Including Carlo (drummer of the The Tedio Boys) ,Pedro Xau (bass player for The Parkinsons) and “naked man” the legdrady fan for “The Parkinsons” who you guessed it always got naked. However for tonight he was clothed.The gig tonight was more intimate gig with friends then rock show. Nevertheless we played a great show and had a lot of fun. After the gig we went to a local bar and listened to records and drank til 4am.

Party Time

Happy time, with the legend "Victor Torpedo"

You can see when the weed kicked in on my face

We then went back to Victor Torpedo’s house where he made us a snack and played the other lads my first band in London called “Police and Thieves” . He helped produce the 45 and still had the copy we gave him.

Photo of the record Im the one with the "Sale " shirt on far right

All in all a good night

boa noite

To read the preface and part one click on the links below.

PREFACE
PART 1

Stay tuned for Part 3 where we travel to Barcelos a small town about an hour outside of Porto.