Oporto, Portugal
Our last full day on an incredible Odyssey through the multi-cultural Europe dawned fair and hazy, which lent a slightly magical air to the newest European country we reached: Portugal.
Having traveled just over 2000 miles in two weeks, it seemed once again like we had reached another world. How to describe the differences we have encountered between Holland and Portugal, Belgium and Spain, and again France? It really is impossible to pin it all down in a few sentences, when the differences within the countries themselves are so great. The nations that now form part of the modern European Union are a very recent invention, and encompass a wealth of ancient, rich and very distinct cultures. We have met the Dutch and the Belgians, forming part of the “Low Countries,” parts of which are united by a common language yet vastly separate. We subsequently moved on to France, where we encountered the Normans, Britons and the Basques – yet again completely different cultures and languages united by the same flag whilst all maintaining completely separate identities. Our contact with the Basques continued through our first day in Spain, after which we stayed in the country but immersed ourselves in the neighbouring culture of the Galicians, whose language roots are Portuguese but who claim close ties, through music and folklore, with the Celts that we had left behind several days before in Brittany! It is all very complicated, yet lectures and recap sessions by our staff on board helped us clear the confusion and order this wealth of cultural information in such a way as to assimilate it completely, and leaving us with a much deeper understanding of the ancient lands that in some way make up an important part of us all.
The beautiful city of Oporto, so different in flavour to anything we had so far encountered, was truly the cherry on the cake as the colourful, tile-covered facade of the buildings formed a character-full mosaic of urban life. As we lunched on board a river boat that took us under the tall bridges of the city, and sampled more of the port wine that has made the city famous, we had the chance to reflect on the variety of peoples and places we had encountered, and wonder at the miracle of the European Union!
Our last full day on an incredible Odyssey through the multi-cultural Europe dawned fair and hazy, which lent a slightly magical air to the newest European country we reached: Portugal.
Having traveled just over 2000 miles in two weeks, it seemed once again like we had reached another world. How to describe the differences we have encountered between Holland and Portugal, Belgium and Spain, and again France? It really is impossible to pin it all down in a few sentences, when the differences within the countries themselves are so great. The nations that now form part of the modern European Union are a very recent invention, and encompass a wealth of ancient, rich and very distinct cultures. We have met the Dutch and the Belgians, forming part of the “Low Countries,” parts of which are united by a common language yet vastly separate. We subsequently moved on to France, where we encountered the Normans, Britons and the Basques – yet again completely different cultures and languages united by the same flag whilst all maintaining completely separate identities. Our contact with the Basques continued through our first day in Spain, after which we stayed in the country but immersed ourselves in the neighbouring culture of the Galicians, whose language roots are Portuguese but who claim close ties, through music and folklore, with the Celts that we had left behind several days before in Brittany! It is all very complicated, yet lectures and recap sessions by our staff on board helped us clear the confusion and order this wealth of cultural information in such a way as to assimilate it completely, and leaving us with a much deeper understanding of the ancient lands that in some way make up an important part of us all.
The beautiful city of Oporto, so different in flavour to anything we had so far encountered, was truly the cherry on the cake as the colourful, tile-covered facade of the buildings formed a character-full mosaic of urban life. As we lunched on board a river boat that took us under the tall bridges of the city, and sampled more of the port wine that has made the city famous, we had the chance to reflect on the variety of peoples and places we had encountered, and wonder at the miracle of the European Union!
