Steve Fountain aged 58. Took semi retirement when made redundant at 51. Back from THASSOS loved it....
Steve Fountain aged 58. Took semi retirement when made redundant at 51. Back from THASSOS loved it. Back to whistling at Trains.
Member since:15.07.2007
Reviews:109
Members who trust:10
We flew into Porto from Birmingham so it was just getting dusk as we were on our final approach, but even so we were treated to a lovely view of Porto, the river and bridges. My brother and sister in law flew in from Stansted so arrived in the early afternoon sun light and said it looked brilliant.
The landing was smooth . taxied up to the terminal building, always a bonus rather than a bus transfer.
First impressions are of a modern building, and this was to be confirmed in all aspects.
First Passport control, plenty of booths manned so was quick and friendly, the friendly aspect to be repeated by all we met, Hotel Staff, Restaurants, shops etc etc.
We had only hand luggage, so can not comment on speed of luggage arrival on carrousels.
Thru to the main arrival hall, toilets to the right, used by my better half, clean report. The row of Car Hire Desks also at this end of the arrivals.
There are also a few shops and cafe.
Went to Tourist Information Booth as we had been told this the place to get Metro Tickets. As it turned out there are ticket vending machines at the Metro stop which do have an english language button, so you can be instructed thru the process.
But this time we purchased them at the Info Desk. You buy a card called an ANDANTE (About 50 cents) this is then charged with the amount for the trip, in this case we were going 4 zones to city centre, but even so total for the two cards and two journies 3 euro 70 cents, very good for a transfer.
I would think the Andante card is similar to the Oyster card in that you can then put more credits on it at the Ticket machines. You need to validate the ticket before boarding the Metro, there are small machines at the entrance for this, you just "SHOW" the card to the machine.
You access the metro by taking the Lift in arrivals down one floor. You turn right or left out of lift then round the corner then keep going straight and you arrive at the Metro. You can not get the wrong direction as the Airport is the terminus of the Purple Line. Nice modern system with nice modern units.
Journey to Centre about 24 mins, no change required. Screens on Train display next stop and spoken message in Portugese and English. Where there are interchange with the other Metro Lines didplay shows this as an INTERFACE>
Return experience.
Arrived by above Metro back at Airport. Departures is on 3rd floor from Metro Level. We had checked in online so can not comment on check in desks, but there did not seem any problems.
There are cafe's and normal shops in checkin hall. Through Security checks, very through but still friendly. You are then in departure lounge, I would recommend noy going thru to final gate if you have plenty of time to kill as once in that area there are only toilet facilities and a few vending machines for refreshments. Do not leave it to tight for time though as you have to go thru Passport control and there were only two desks we took about 10 mins. In the Departure Hall thare are the Normal Duty free shops, also a Cafe/restaurant which looked a little bit pricey, but then are not all airport eateries. The Bar though did have reasonable and fresh Rolls/Sandwiches cakes etc.
So to the final gate. Ryanair have there two queue system, Priority (Those who have paid extra to arrive on the same plane at the same time) queue and the queue for us who pay less and still get a seat. It is well monitored so do not try to be clever you only end up at the back of our queue being cheered by those who not try it on.
The Plane again was just a short walk from the gate, giving those who did not try it on a chance to pass some of those Priority people on the way to the plane, as they had had to wait just outside the gate as the disembarkers were a bit slow clearing the plane.
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