Sunday in the Park with Balloons

We covered a lot of ground today, on what may be our last rain-free day of the trip, and ended up seeing a totally different and almost tourist-free side of Porto.  An early trolley ride put us all in good spirits and we started our trek through the suburbs to the Contemporary Art museum. We happened upon a bike path and followed it through park after park, winding our way past duck ponds, stopping to play at playgrounds, and staring for a long time at a brood of chickens which was complete with at least five roosters and about ten baby chicks! We practically had to drag the girls away from this spectacle.

We eventually made it to the Contemporary Art Museum which we figured would be hit or miss depending on the exhibits, and it was a miss. But we lucked out that it happened to be a national free museum day, so we didn’t care a lick when the exhibits were dull and we left after 5 minutes! We spent much more time in the kids section where the girls drew with cray pas and got to hang their artwork on the museum walls. Then we explored the surrounding gardens, which turned out to be spectacular. Rose gardens, eucalyptus groves, and even a koi pond with black swans! Very cool.

The final work of art at the museum was the buffet lunch. It even had these things called vegetables, which are apparently extremely rare in Portuguese restaurants and mini marts. We made up for our vitamin deficiencies and packed away plate after plate.

Diane amazed the waiters with her bottomless pit stomach for vegetable soup and fruit, and Melina chowed down on the bechamel-based squash lasagna and rich desserts.

We were all in high spirits for the long walk to the Central Park of Porto. At the entrance, the first thing we saw was a man selling gaudy helium balloons, and Melina decided to use her own money (we gave her 20 euros to spend on the trip) to buy one. I paid the 3 euros the man demanded and Zach nearly had a heart attack when he found out the price. Then of course sweet Melina wanted to use more of her money to buy a balloon for her sister. And bam, the price was up to 5 euros! That dude sure had us pegged as suckers. Zach talked him down to 4 but was nearly dizzy from the rip off. I shrugged it away, figuring that this was a tacky kind of park where every kid would have a balloon or glow stick or something. Not so. It was actually a beautiful green park where families picnicked and played soccer in the fields with no commercialization whatsoever. Instantly we were Those Parents. The kind we usually strive so hard not to be (it was years before Melina even realized that toys could be purchased at a toy stores, and even then she would never dream of asking us for one). So for the rest of our day the giant princess and Minnie Mouse balloons were like huge neon signs above our heads reading “MARK.”

We took in the park and followed it to the ocean. Here is where we discovered that Porto is also a beach town, something not mentioned in the guidebooks. We walked at least a mile on a pathway next the ocean, where sandy beaches met rocky tide pools and local families swam, sunbathed, and played on this gorgeous day.

Everywhere we went our balloons branded us as idiot tourists, especially once the kids tired of them and Zach was stuck pushing a sleeping Diane in the stroller while the Princess and Minnie Mouse kept thumping him and every passer-by in the head. They also made it into nearly every picture we took at the serene fortresses and gorgeous seaside overlooks.

Despite our embarrassment, we had a wonderful day in the suburbs of Porto. In fact, in all of the 5+ miles of walking I don’t think Melina complained even once. It was all kind of magical, and we plan to show her the pictures for years to come telling her, “See? We already took you to Disney World!”

Oh yeah, Minnie Mouse bit it somewhere between the ocean and the trolley ride back to the apartment. Oh, darn.