DISASTER & PORTUGAL A-LE
The France Croatia match was well worth the effort of getting the ticket. The atmosphere in the stadium was great, and the Crotian fans had the French outnumbered by about 50%. France took a 1-0 lead off a own goal on a free kick by Zidane, and controlled the first half, which was sloppy and not too exciting. The Crotians came out on fire in the second, putting away 2 goals in the first 15 minutes. The French were struggling to regroup, and had nothing going for them until an errenant back pass was incercepted and put in for the equalizer. Croatia should have won it in the final minutes but their striker put it over the top after a tremendous effort to get in position to shoot. Good luck for myself overall, as in the two games, 6 of 7 goals were scored on my end of the pitch.
Into Aveiro the next day, to find no accomodations available under €50 for that night. Made a reservation for the following night, and left my luggage in the tourist office and set off for the night. The town was becoming more orange by the hour as the dutch fans rolled in for their game with the Czech´s the following night. After watching Italy-Sweden in the town, went off for a concert and fireworks show on the other side. Concert was less than stellar, but the fireworks stage right in front of an old factory and set to music was impressive. Spent the next few hours hanging out in the town square where the crowds congregated then off to a disco for the wee hours. Made it to the park for a few hours of sleep by half 5 or so.
Woke up at nine to realize the worst of fears - my camera was no longer with me. Along with an extra battery, 3 memory cards, and my usb storage drive. Devastating. Only thing I can figure out is that it was stolen from the disco, where I checked my day pack in the coat check. Other than that, nothing makes sense. So thats three cameras down in less than three years - Honduras, Korea, and now Portugal. Seems I might lose one camera in every continent. Nice work.
The whole town was filled with about 15,000 dutch fans by early afternoon, they must have had a good 8 hours of drinking and partying in by match time. The unlucky thousands without tickets gathered round the big tele in the fan zone to watch the match, and I was drowning in the a sea of orange in the midst of it. Seemed the perfect script was playing out as holland took a 2-0 lead in 20 minutes, but the czech´s had other plans, as they fought back and took a 3-2 lead, and held on for the victory. At which point the hangover seemed to set in on the dutch, a very distraught group they were at this point. The Czech-skees were making up for it, singing and dancing into the night.
Sunday set off to Porto were I got over the pain of the lost camera, and brought myself to buy another one. Some way to blow a few weeks worth of the budget. So to balance that out, I also bought a tent so I could sleep for €5 per night instead of €25. So should only take a month of camping to make myself even again.
After blowing the bank it was on to Braga. A enjoyable 45 minute walk with all my gear through crowded streets brought me to the campsite, where, once again, I find myself surrounded by dutch, who are quite experienced campers by the looks of it. Their set up certainly beats my one man tent with no accessories. Watched the crucial Portugal-Spain match that night at the outdoor bar/restaurant in the campground with my neighbors, go figure, a few dutch guys. A rather uneventful match was changed with a brilliant goal by the second half sub Nuno Gomes, and the Portuguese held on to beat Spain 1-0, which was made even sweater for them in that it sent the Spanish out of the tourny.
The party in the streets of Braga after that was ridiculous. The main street was filled with cars, waving flags, honking horns, and whatever else for hours. Those that werent driving were lining the streets and celebrating all the same. Took us a good 2 hours to wander up the street, usually in the middle of it, having a laugh with all those driving by. Made it up to the main square by about 1230, and the party there even bigger. Hung out there talking to the locals and hearing them declare Portugal ´´the best team in the world, ever!´´ If they manage to beat England, who knows what will happen, but I plan to be in Porto for that one.
Plan is to stay here in Braga til Friday, hopefully scoring a ticket to the Holland-Latvia match tomorrow. Tomorrow is also the biggest festival of the year here in Braga, so regardless it will be off the hook.