We woke up early to have breakfast at the hotel and then walked over to the airport. Today involved a lot of time sitting, eating, and drinking, so it made sense to get as much exercise as we could. Once we were through security, we looked out the window at the green grass and warm weather, knowing we were going to find something very different at home.
Lisboa airport
We spotted a tray of Pastel de Nata and decided we needed to try one last taste before leaving Lisboa. Although airports aren’t exactly known for good food, these were delicious, and still warm.
Pastel de Nata
As we were walking into the airport we were notified that our flight was delayed, but fortunately it was only for 20 minutes. Once we were through security, I was tracking the incoming flight on FlightAware, so I knew when our plane was landing. I managed to get a picture as it was coming in.
Our ride home
The winds must have been favourable, because even though we left late we arrived early. Unfortunately that just means a longer wait in Montreal, but that isn’t all bad.
My drink as I write this blog
That’s all for this trip. I’m unlikely to post much, if anything, until our next trip in late January. That will be New Zealand. See you then.
Our trip is almost over – we fly home tomorrow morning. We didn’t want to worry about early morning traffic getting to the airport, so we booked an airport hotel for tonight, and as a result we had a quiet day with very little walking. On our way back from dinner last night (walking, of course) we stopped at a scenic lookout and admired the view out over Baixa, Lisboa.
Lisboa at night
We checked out of the apartment at noon, and by the time we arrived at the airport hotel our room was ready. After a limited unpacking we walked over to the airport to check out the route for tomorrow morning – we wanted to see if we should take the shuttle (usually very crowded) or walk. It’s only a seven minute walk and even with luggage in tow, you won’t be surprised to hear that we’re going to walk.
During our stay in Lisboa we saw more and more Christmas decorations being put up. Very few lights yet (thankfully) but still… it’s not even the middle of November. And when we checked into the hotel today we were greeted with this!
Seriously???
This is just wrong.
Tomorrow we’ll be flying all day, and then it’s back to our own bed. At least until our next trip.
We had a plan. It was a good plan, but you know what they say. Even the best of plans never survive first contact with reality. We got away from our apartment early, at least by our standards. If you’re wondering, our apartment is on the far left, second from the top, with the red walls. An all you can eat Pizza Hut is on the ground floor – we haven’t tried it.
Apartment hotel in Lisboa
But back to the plan. Over the past two weeks we’ve seen many references to the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, which destroyed the city. I have to admit I’d never heard of it, so when I learned there was a museum dedicated to the earthquake I wanted to know more. It turns out that the museum is close to the place where the Pastel de nata was created, and where you can still purchase them. This is also just across the street from the Belem tower, which we tried to see earlier in the week. When Jan figured out how to order tickets to the Belem tower online, we had a plan – Belem tower without the queues, pastel de nata at the original shop, and then the earthquake museum. It was a good plan. It really was.
We took an Uber to Belem tower with tickets on my phone, expecting to beat the crowds. That was when reality hit. Turns out that even when you have tickets, you still need to queue for the tower. When we arrived, the queue was already two hours long. We immediately lost interest, and decided that strolling along the river on a beautiful Sunday was a much better plan. So many unusual things to see, like this cart selling “wine to go” for your Sunday in the park. I love European liquor laws.
Wine with a view
And then this, which was so out of context that it left us with vertigo. On the other side of the van it was advertised as an “authentic Canadian experience”. We were almost tempted to try some, since we’ve never actually ordered it at home.
WTF
Our random walk brought us to the Monument to the Discoveries. It hadn’t been part of our plan, but it should have been.
Monument to the Discoveries
This monument was built when Portugal was still ruled by a military dictatorship and still maintained many of its colonies. It was intended to show pride in the conquests of empire. While some of that remains, there is now also a sense of the impact it had on other peoples, and to recognize this, there was a special exhibit of family photo albums from Africans living in Portugal. These were people whose ancestors came from former colonies. It was very moving, and I think, a fair attempt to try to balance perspectives.
As an added bonus, the queue for this exhibit was less than ten minutes. We decided to add it to our revised plan for the day and check it out. We were very glad we did. From the top of the monument (reached by an elevator, thankfully) we had a great view of Belem tower, where we could have been still waiting in the queue.
Belem tower, seen from the top of the Monument to the Discoveries
Here is another picture taken from the top of the monument, showing a convent (old religion?) and in the background, the football stadium (new religion?). I almost missed the juxtaposition, so thanks to Jan for spotting it.
Religion, old and new
After the monument, we walked to the Earthquake museum, through lovely parks, of course. Much of the damage from the quake of 1755 was because of the tsunami it caused. This sign was a reminder of the danger. The fact that the evacuation route led you to an underpass (going down to escape a tsunami doesn’t seem right) made sense when you realized that you had to get across the train tracks before you could get to higher ground. We both enjoyed the Earthquake museum and would recommend it.
Use an underpass to escape water???
Then it was time for the pastries. The original shop is called Pasteis de Belem, and the egg custard tart pastry is called by the same name if it is from this shop. The generic name is Pastel de Nata, or Pasteis de Nata. We wanted to try the original, until we saw the queue in front of the shop…
Pasteis de Belem
This picture really doesn’t do it justice – the line was far worse than this makes it look. We were ready to leave when we noticed there were actually three separate queues. One was for table service, but the other two were for take away. We picked the shorter queue and five minutes later we had our pasties which we ate on a shaded park bench. Unfortunately I have to tell you that the originals are annoyingly tasty, and better than the ones we have had elsewhere. Alas, it is worth queuing to get them.
We considered heading home at that point, but it was such a lovely day that I suggested we go back and check the queue at Belem tower. It was much better – half an hour, but only if you’d already purchased online tickets, which we had. So we decided to visit the tower after all.
We were glad we had the chance to see inside the tower, but to be completely honest, I’m not sure I’d recommend it. The best bit was the sunset from the tower, and if we had visited midday we wouldn’t have seen that. The next best was the view from outside, which anyone can see for free.
On our walk back we spotted this along the river – children taking sailing lessons, towed along behind a boat, looking like baby ducks learning to swim behind their mother. Very cute.
Learning to sail
Then it was time to take the tram back to the apartment. This time we made sure we caught the right one that took us back all the way to Baixa.
It was another lovely day in Lisboa. We’ve had a lot of those.
Hibiscus Flowers
Portugal has a rich history of tile making and because of that, Lisboa has a National Tile Museum. Jan has long been interested in tiles and tile art so we decided it would be a good place to begin our day. We could have just taken an Uber to the museum, but what’s the fun in that? We took the metro to Santa Apolonia and then walked. It was only a kilometer and a half, and reasonably flat – compared to the rest of Lisboa. We did have a moment when we realized we were going to have to cross the highway without a crosswalk, but … there was a stop light, just no crosswalk… so… easy peasy?
The museum was in an old convent, and one of the benefits of walking is that we approached from the rear and saw the back entrance.
Convent Rear Entrance
Walking along the side of the compound, we saw further evidence of its origins.
Convent Bell
As we approached the museum we saw an unusual piece of tile art without any explanation. When we got back to the apartment we looked it up – this year was the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April Revolution that marked the transition to democracy in Portugal. This also explains the picture I showed yesterday with hands and a carnation on the side of a building. Something well worth celebrating I’d say.
50th Anniversary of the 25th of April Revolution
Jan’s interest in tiles predates her interest in quilting, but there is a connection. Although she was admiring the tiles in their own right, many times she was also getting ideas for future quilts.
This could be a quilt…
The art of making tiles is over 500 years old in Portugal, but the first section of the museum was a special exhibit of modern Portuguese tile artists.
Tile ArtRita Hayworth
This next picture gives an example of tile art that uses textured tiles – these are not flat, they have raised ridges to enhance the effect. Note the shadows.
3D Tile Art
After the special exhibit we moved on to some of the older tiles in the museum. This tile art dates to the early 17th century.
17th Century Tile Art
The fascinating thing here (and I missed this) is that it is all created using a single tile design. Here is a closeup of one tile that is repeated throughout the piece.
Single tile
Today, when you want to select tiles for your house, you go to a showroom and look at a wall of samples. It was exactly the same 300 years ago. These are from 18th century sample boards.
Tile samples
Here is a more recent example of tile art. The first picture is a drawing of a proposal for a new metro station in Lisboa.
Metro Station proposal
And this is a life-size example of the tile work to illustrate.
Sample tile for proposed metro station
Unfortunately the proposal wasn’t accepted. Such a shame.
I mentioned earlier that the museum is in an old convent. In the museum we learned that one of the major sources of income for tile makers was the church. This was nicely illustrated by the spire visible from the museum window.
One of the more interesting things in the convent portion was a room with relics of various saints. Most relics were a small piece of bone, but this one stood out. It took me back to going through the catacombs in Paris – something I highly recommend by the way.
Holy relic
We had a lovely lunch in the museum – tasty and very reasonably prices – and then walked back to Santa Apolonia metro station. This time we made sure to avoid the route that involved jaywalking across the highway. Along the way we were on the lookout for tile art on residential buildings.
Wall art
After diving into wall art “then” we decided it was time to sample wall art “now”, so we took the metro up to the Museu Banksy. This museum has an extensive collection of replicas of Banksy art, often recreating the original street context, and providing a detailed explanation for each piece. It is well worth a visit, but I’m not going to show you a bunch of photos … of reproductions … of originals. But I can’t resist showing you these two because they kind of say it all.
BanksyGood point…
I came away with a much better appreciation of Banksy’s work. I highly recommend a visit. On the way back to the apartment we kept an eye out for more examples of Portuguese tile art. It wasn’t difficult. This was in the metro station.
Parquet metro station
And now I’m going to briefly delve into what may be dangerous territory. Today I read that Lisboa citizens are pushing for a referendum to ban tourist lets in residential buildings. Near as I can tell, this is aimed at Airbnb type rentals in buildings zoned residential, and not at apartment hotels (zoned commercial), but I fear the line is finer than I’d like. When I look around me through that lens, I see interesting things. First I’ll show you the view across the street from the apartment hotel we are currently staying in. The building on the right has obviously been completely restored and upgraded. The building on the left … not so much. I’m sure there is a nuanced story here, but alas that will have to wait. Still, it’s an interesting contrast.
Old and new
And finally this picture of a building with obvious character, that still appears to be in active use, but could definitely use a little TLC.
No answers here, only questions.
I think I know what we are going to do tomorrow, but I’ll leave it as a surprise for you. That way I can claim we stuck to the plan.
Our plan for today was to take the classic Tram 28 through Alfama and past the castle. We walked over to the starting point for the tram and discovered that even though in theory it runs every ten minutes, we had to wait 27 minutes for the next tram. It also dawned on us that it was a warm day and the tram was small, crowded, and not air conditioned. This is not a recipe for a good time. And that was when Jan said “let’s walk”. Sound familiar???
Stairs in Alfama, Lisboa
But this time there was something different. something lovely.
Outdoor escalator
Before you get too excited, the escalator was nice, but it wasn’t like this all the way. But it helped. We also decided it was another day for random exploration. We turned off the GPS (mostly) and just wandered. The basic strategy was “go uphill” since the castle was at the top of the hill. Not a perfect strategy, but when the primary goal is to experience the old city of Lisboa, you don’t need an airtight plan. After the escalators there was a lot of walking uphill along the streets, and they all had cobblestones. Lovely to look at, but hard on the feet of flatlanders.
Cobblestone streets in Alfama, Lisboa
This is why we were so pleased that we found a hidden route to our apartment, going through the Metro station, with four sets of escalators rather than stairs, stairs, and more stairs. But that was for later.
Escalators in the Baixa-Chiado Metro station
Back to our walk to the castle. At the beginning we largely had the streets to ourselves, and enjoyed the quiet and the art works. This wall had ceramic pieces embedded in the wall. I’m not sure what the point was (reading Portuguese probably would have helped) but it was still cool.
Ceramics in a wall
I loved this one too. An ugly antenna was turned into an unusual piece of art.
Palm tree???
And in many ways, even the cobblestone roads were beautiful. There was very little traffic up here, and plants were growing between the cobblestones, creating a lovely pattern.
Nature fights back
Eventually our wandering converged with the “correct” path to the castle, and suddenly we no longer had the road to ourselves. But even here, when you looked up the side streets you could see the locals going about their lives. Note the laundry hung out to dry.
Laundry day…
And as always, we are drawn to the tile art on the building walls.
Tile painting
Eventually we arrived at the entrance to the castle, where we discovered a long queue to buy tickets, and that is when we lost interest. Our goal was to wander, get exercise, and see a slice of Lisboa. Not wait in line for an hour with all the other tourists. I’m sure it would have been lovely, but… we decided it was time for lunch. But first, I’ll show you a picture that gives a sense of how far we climbed up … and then down. This is taken across the valley near our apartment, so it gives a sense of what we needed to climb on both sides. As the title suggests … sore feet … but loving it.
Lisbon
When we were in Lisboa two weeks ago, before our trip to Porto, we discovered a lovely little Portuguese restaurant near our hotel, and we decided to head there for lunch today. We ordered the lunch special with an appetizer, grilled fish, and a glass of wine, all for a very reasonable price. It was delicious.
Lunch special
When we were here the last time, it was full, but today we had the place to ourselves. Apparently this happens every November. Here is a view of the restaurant. It was originally a milk store of some sort, and all the decorations and tiles have been preserved inside and out.
Restaurant
This was in the window. I couldn’t resist.
Makes sense to me
On our way back to the apartment we spotted this on our street. I’m sure it wasn’t there earlier.
Building art
Jan decided to rest her feet for the afternoon while I, silly boy that I am, decided to check out the Beer Museum. Along the way there were more cobblestones.
Rossio square
And more interesting statues on the buildings.
Prada do Comercio
And finally, the Beer Museum. I’m not going to bore you with the history of beer, but I am going to bore you with this picture of an old safe in one of the displays inside the museum.
Inside the Beer Museum
I knew that the entrance ticket included a beer, but I figured it would be a taste of a bland local lager. But instead, they had a fridge with a wide, and very interesting, selection of Portuguese craft beers.
Take your pick!
That complicated things, but one of the options was a Barleywine from Porto that was aged in port casks. They explained that technically it was from Gaia, which is across the river from Porto. Gaia is where all the port wine is aged. Having just visited Porto, I knew all of this, and because I have a weakness for strong beer, I went with that one. It was excellent.
Beer tasting at the Beer Museum
The table has a map of Portugal etched into the surface, with all the beers labeled. I’m tempted to go again.
Today we … went out for lunch. Perhaps I should explain.
We spent the morning relaxing, enjoying our coffee, and investigating options for the afternoon. Jan suggested taking the tram out to Belem Tower, and I agreed it sounded interesting, so we had a plan. The first step was to get Navegante cards for the transit system. It’s similar to Porto, so it was straightforward. The easiest way to get to the tram was by going through the Metro station where we could also buy the cards. The metro system has many beautiful stations with elaborate tile work. This picture was taken in the Baixa-Chiado station.
Baixa-Chiado Metro Station
After finding the tram, we headed off for Belem tower, until … we stopped. The doors opened, the air conditioning stopped, and the driver made an announcement in Portuguese. Eventually this was followed by another announcement, this time in Portuguese and English. The power was out, and we were stranded until it was restored. No ETA was offered. Fortunately, Jan used this opportunity to begin researching restaurants, either near Belem, or near our current location. We were within minutes of bailing when the power came back and we were on our way. Our first objective at Belem was Darwin’s cafe for lunch. It was a lovely day and we sat on the patio enjoying this view.
Belem Tower
The food was fabulous and the wine was excellent. We took our time and enjoyed the warm afternoon. When we finished lunch we headed over to the tower, only to discover that it was sold out for the day. So we wandered and enjoyed the (free) views of the monuments and the lovely scenery.
Monumento aos Combatentes do UltramarBelem TowerJ&J blocking the view of the towerJan, enjoying the warm afternoonBelem Tower, a modern cargo ship, and a traditional sailing ship
When we headed up to take the tram home, I spotted this apartment overlooking the river.
Belem
The tram came earlier than we expected, but we boarded along with everyone else. It seemed like a good idea until it stopped and an announcement said this was the end of the line … even though we were only half way back. We left the tram and tried to figure out what to do next. I checked google maps and it was just over 4 km back to the apartment, and we routinely walk 5 km at home. Jan was hot and said “let’s just walk”. So off we went. It turns out that 4 km on the flat isn’t the same as 4 km in Lisbon. But we saw parts of Lisbon that were well off the tourist trail.
View while walking
I have no idea what this was meant to represent, and how it relates to Lisbon, but I liked it – I think.
Building art
We passed many local shops. This was a very small old-school hardware store
Hardware Store
From time to time Jan asked “are we almost there” but we managed to keep in good spirits in spite of tired legs and sore feet. But we were unanimous that dinner had to be very close to the apartment. Jan once again used her detective skills to find a wonderful, and close, restaurant. We will definitely add it to our list of places to visit again.
Dinner in Lisbon after a long walk
Tomorrow we’re hoping to visit the old city and castle, perhaps using the iconic Tram 28 to help with the hills. But, who knows?
We took the train from Porto to Lisbon today, which adds trains to our list of modes of transport on this trip. Plane, automobile, bus, ferry, metro, and now, finally, train. I guess that means we will be going home soon? Actually, it’s another six days, but the trip is definitely winding down.
The train trip from Porto was relaxing and uneventful, which is exactly how you want it to be. The first part was along the coast.
The Atlantic Ocean
On our bus trip up to Porto we saw strange clumps of … something … in the trees and on the electricity towers. Like this.
We did a bit of research and discovered that they are actually stork nests. Storks are protected in Portugal, and near feeding areas they build nests on every available surface. Here is what it looks like when you zoom in. And this one doesn’t have as many nests as some of them.
Stork nests
Storks also nest in the trees. The dark clumps you see here are all stork nests.
Stork nests
In some areas you can see 30 or more electricity pylons and large trees filled with stork nests at the same time.
When we arrived in Lisbon we checked into our apartment and discovered that we have a balcony. A welcome glass of rose seemed like the perfect way to end the day.
Evening glass of wine
Tomorrow we will … probably wander aimlessly around the city, like we usually do. Or maybe we’ll go on a walking tour of Lisbon, or perhaps take the train to Sintra. But we’ll definitely eat good food and have a glass of wine.
We’ve been very lucky with the weather on this trip. We have friends who flew into Madrid just after the recent rains, and we met another couple who managed to get out of Spain just before things went south and then had rain in Portugal too. But for us, it has been sunny and warm pretty much the full trip. But today it rained. Sort of. Alex said that the light drizzle we had didn’t really count as rain in Porto. But for the purpose of this blog, let’s call it a rainy day.
We had such a good time on our Port tasting tour that we decided to try another tour with the same guide, this time around historic Porto. And we had a great time, in spite of the rain. We started, surprisingly, with a visit to McDonalds. In this case, the most beautiful McDonalds in the world … but only because the city or Porto forced McDonalds to preserve the Art Nouveau building that had been there before.
The front of the McDonald’s in Porto
Just to be clear, we didn’t eat there, but it was beautiful inside.
Art Nouveau inside McDonalds…
As we were standing outside, we saw an innovative way to keep the pigeons and seagulls away from the scraps around the patio.
Falcon, outside McDonalds in Porto
The falconer was chatting on her phone, standing outside the store. Note the heavy leather glove. There wasn’t a need to do more than stand there with the falcon in plain sight. Simple but deadly effective.
Alex showed us many of the historic buildings and the original city walls, along with the many, many churches in Porto. But he also showed us some of the older sections that haven’t been restored yet.
Waiting to be restored…
Fortunately we saw many other buildings that had already been restored and made available for local residents. Hopefully this will continue.
This is our last night in Porto (for this visit) and we had planned to return to the lovely restaurant just across from our apartment. Unfortunately, it was closed on a Tuesday night, so we went searching for an alternative, using the magic of the internet. (Full disclosure: by “we” I mean “Jan” went searching.) She booked a table at a lovely place nearby. But when we went to find it, we saw this…
The street leading to our restaurant
You’d almost think we were in San Francisco or Wellington from the angle of the street in front of the restaurant.
Pizzeria Bella Mia!
The only things making us comfortable we were on the right track were Google Maps and this sign pointing to the restaurant. The meal was fabulous and the local Douro wine perfect. We will return.
Sign
When we were in Lisbon we discovered a lovely local t-shirt shop. In Porto, they had another store right outside our apartment so we went in to browse. Turns out that all the artwork is by local Porto artists, and all the t-shirts are made in Portugal. We bought one t-shirt in Lisbon, and were so impressed that we bought another one in Porto.
T-shirt
Seems like a metaphor for our times…
I don’t usually do this, but I was so impressed with their t-shirts that I’m going to provide the link to their online store.
We had to meet for our tour today at the ungodly hour of 7:40 AM. We were not amused … but then we discovered the reason for the early departure. The city of Porto has banned all tour buses from the historic center of Porto after 8:00 AM, so the buses need to get out of town before then. We still didn’t like the early departure, but at least now we understand why.
The bus ride to the Douro valley was almost two hours, but along the way we were treated to stunning views of the … terrifying narrow roads. (Spoiler alert – our driver was fabulous, and we all arrived home safe and sound.) The Douro valley is sheltered from the cooling Atlantic winds, so it has its own micro climate that can get extremely hot in the summer … as suggested by this sign.
From a boat on the Douro River
The grapes have been harvested and the leaves are dying. One thing we learned today is that red grape leaves turn red, and white grape leaves turn yellow, so when you look at the terraces you can quickly spot the type of grape.
The boat ride was almost an hour long and we were treated to stunning views of the terraced vineyards. In this next picture you can see steps between the levels of terracing. The steps are just stones sticking out of the terrace wall. I’m not brave, or foolish, enough to try that.
Steps along the terrace walls
Sometimes you see sections where there the terraces are decaying. I’m not sure why they have been abandoned, but you often see olive trees growing in these sections.
Olive trees
We discovered that the olive trees have two functions. The obvious one is for olive oil, but they are also planted along the edge of most vineyards because they have extensive and deep root systems, so they stabilize the terraces and stop erosion. Here is a picture of the olives, nearly ready for harvest.
Olives
The terraces are built from the shale that is everywhere here. Shale looks strong, but it isn’t, which is the reason for the olive trees to stop erosion. But the shale is also great for vines, because it absorbs water during the winter wet season and then stores enough for the vines to use all season. There isn’t a need for irrigation in the Douro valley because of this. Here is a closeup of a terrace wall.
Terrace wall of shale
Here is another view of the terraced hills. Note the olive trees near the bottom, but also the lonely clump of trees on the top of the hill.
I managed to catch this picture of an old house on the side of the hill, in the middle of the vineyards. It appears to be in in good repair and is still being used.
House along the Douro River
After the river cruise we visited a local winery to learn a bit more about wine making.
View from the winery
And just to prove we were there…
J&J
The grapes have already been harvested, but the here and there you see a cluster that was missed, making an interesting picture.
Grapes
And after the educational portion of the tour, we needed some practical experience. It was after noon … barely … so it was okay to drink.
Wine tasting at noon
Wine tasing is a great conversation starter, and just like on our Port tour, we started learning about the other guests. One couple is from Italy, and we were getting ideas for things to see next fall. We also talked about how much we enjoyed our Port tasting, and before the end of the day another couple had booked that tour for tomorrow. Lots of fun.
After the winery tour we headed to lunch, at a lovely restaurant, on the top of a hill of course. This was the view from our table.
Lunch on the Douro Valley tour
Here is another stunning view of the valley.
Douro River
When we were driving to the valley we saw many small fires that were generating a lot of smoke. We guessed they were burning the material pruned from the vines, though we weren’t sure. But we think it added to the smoky haze you can see here.
Smoky haze in the Douro valley
At the lookout point the crocuses were in bloom. Turns out some crocuses bloom in the fall.
Crocus
On our way back to Porto we stopped in the historic center of Amarante.
Amarante
Jan captured this view of a bole on a tree in town.
In the past we’ve not been that interested in a river cruise on the Douro, but after our tour, and our time in Porto, we are seriously considering it.
It’s early November, but the weather has been fabulous, with temperatures in the low 20’s Celsius and beautiful clear blue skies.
A weekend in Porto
We had a slow start on Saturday because … we always have a slow start if at all possible. The train strike is over, so just before noon we headed over to the station to book our train tickets back to Lisbon on Wednesday. We mentioned that we were seniors, and … the tickets were nearly half price. This seems to be common in Portugal – we love it. After booking the tickets and working out how the metro works to get back to our apartment (really quite straightforward once you figure it out) we grabbed a late lunch and then headed to the meeting point for our Port tour. Our guide, Alex, explained that all the port houses are actually across the river in Gaia. The reason … lower taxes, of course. This is a view of the Porto waterfront from Gaia.
Porto, from Gaia
Our port tour included stops at three port houses, with seven tastings in all. At the beginning of the tour, our small group was very reserved and formal. After the first two tastings, we were starting to relax, and by the end we were best friends. We had a hoot.
Calem Port – 1986 was a very good year
Porto is very hilly, so there are a number of funiculars and cable cars. When we were on our port tour, we walked under one of the cable cars on the Gaia side, as the sun was setting.
Cable Car in Gaia
We had dinner reservations across the river in Porto, so when the tour ended we walked (stumbled???) back. It was a lovely warm evening and we had a perfect view of the port houses in Gaia along the way.
Port Houses in Gaia
Our dinner reservations were at Restaurant RC, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, because it preserves the decor from when it was founded in 1894. No pictures, but we had a lovely meal, followed by Fado and dessert … with port, of course. Perhaps not the best plan, but fun…
Sunday we woke up feeling surprisingly spry and I headed out for our customary latte. Every morning I’ve seen the sun on these tiles on the building across the street. Nothing special – just an average (lovely) building in Porto.
The view on my morning latte run
We didn’t have anything planned for Sunday, and it was such a wonderful day that we decided to keep it that way, and just wander the city enjoying the views.
Note the gorgeous blue sky in this next picture.
Sunday in Porto
We spotted a busker singing Fado (we think). We stopped to listen and then bought his CD to show our appreciation. Later, when we told someone this, their reaction was “they still make CDs”? This is when I feel old.
Busker
Another statue – presumably a knight … I didn’t investigate to see if it was a white knight or a black knight…
Statue in Porto
Then we headed across the Pont Luis I (bridge) on the high level. The walk took us past the old city walls, dating back to 1300.
Porto Medieval City Walls
The seagulls love them…
Porto city walls and seagulls
As we were walking across the bridge, a couple asked us to take their picture, so we asked them to return the favour.
Pont Luis I Bridge
Once we got across the bridge, we bought a round trip ticket on the cable car (see earlier picture) and discovered that once again, there was a senior discount. At the bottom, we wandered aimlessly (the theme for the day) and came across a lovely restaurant patio where we had a delicious lunch with a view of Porto. Well, at least Jan had the view…
Lunch, with a view of Porto
There were a number of scenic lookouts in the area (one of the advantages of hills, I suppose) and we took advantage of this one to get yet another stunning view of Porto.
View of Porto, across the Douro
As we were walking back over the Pont Luis I bridge, we spotted a couple from our port tour on Saturday, and stopped to chat. As I said earlier, but the end of the tour, we were best friends.
Beside the bridge, we saw these old buildings being restored. I can only imagine the price tag when they are finished.
Old building being restored
Tomorrow we get up at a ridiculous time (for us) to make it to the pickup spot for the Douro valley tour. It should be fun, in spite of having to get up so early.
If It Was Today... 