Porto - My favourite place so far

 Monday 20th May 2019

I have always wanted to visit Porto,   I had read about it and seen documentaries about it and it fascinated me.   So it was always on the itinerary and it did not disappoint.

Porto is an ancient city on the River Douro, considered the capital of Portugal after Alfonso took it away from Coimbra and before moving to Lisbon. It has UNESCO status and its riverside walk is considered as one of the top 10 sites in the world that you should see before you die.   I think I agree with them.

We took a local bus from Leixoes (2Euros) and were joined by a group of English cruisers from the British Legion ship Boudica.   Armed with water, a free tourist app that will design a walk around Porto ensuring that you see all the sites within your designated time I was ready to take it all in.

Porto has one of the prettiest vista's of terracotta roofs, piling in on top of each other as they go upwards and along the river.

Our starting point: J K Rowling lived in Porto for two years and took inspiration for her Harry Potter books from a number of places and people within Porto.   The Livraria Lello bookshop has the crazy staircases that twist and wind around the shop.   If you go up one you have to remember where you exited or you will get lost amongst the staircases. 

A very pretty bookshop but the queues are long, and it costs 5 Euros to get in. 

Across the road from the bookshop is the Baroque-Rococo styled Ireja das Carmelita's church, the side of the building is covered in painted tiles depicting scenes from the founding of the Carmelite order, the church dates back to 1768 and has a beautiful carved alter.   I am genuinely interested in church architecture, I am blown away by the intricate and ornate structures made from basic materials, made by very skilled people with limited tools.

Down the road from the church is the Avenue of Avenues, when Portugal won the wold cup the avenue was planted with trees that produced red and green flowers, the avenue leads up to the Municipal building that is one of the most ornate government buildings I have ever seen, inside the ceilings are covered in paintings and gold inlays.

As you leave the avenue you are greeted by MacDonald's, with a  backdrops that stops you in your tracks as you enter (we need a comfort break not lunch) if only all MacDonald's could be as pretty as this one.

From there you walk down the square to the old train station, the Bento da Victoria, a small building that houses  one of Europe's biggest collection of tile paintings dating back to the 1800's.   Whilst people are going about their business catching trains I stood for ages taking in the beautiful painted ceilings and tiles.   Mostly depicting religious stories but a few depicted Portuguese life in the 1800's.

A short walk down the Taipas a small street with balconies filled with flowers you reach the riverside, it is always busy and on one side of the river is the Port houses and on this side are the narrow walkways and restaurants with street entertainers.   A great stopping place for lunch of Grilled Squid and wine with a great view of the Ponte Luis Bridge.

After lunch we walked along the river and across the bottom part of the Ponte Luis, as we walked along the other side of the river there were traditional Portuguese goods as well as the normal tourist tat, we also found a great Riberia market.   Alan had to stop for a pint of his favourite Somersby Cider at this point, the Port wine didn't interest him at all.

The app then suggested that we took the cable car back to the top of the Ponte a Luis bridge which gave us the best sites of the day, a full 360 view of Porto, at the top of the bridge is a concrete walk way and the money shot photo opportunity - the view of Porto and the river.   

I took a great photo and had just finished saying to Alan how one day that would make a great jigsaw puzzle when a seagull decided to shit all over him, it was really funny both to me and to the others gathered on the concrete walkway.   I had to use my new tea towel to clean him up. 

Still laughing we walked back across the river via the upper walk way and made our way to the Funicular railway that dates back to 1901 taking you from the upper part of Porto to the riverside.

No day to Porto would be complete without watching a group of university students dressed in black long tail suits, white shirts, black ties and cape (another reference here to JK Rowling this is her inspiration for the Hogwarts uniform) singing Fado a really sad lament to Portugal's past and to lost loves, they were very entertaining.

After a quick sandwich we made our way to the river boats for a evenings cruise up and down the River Douro's 6 navigable bridges.  

There is a marina at the entrance of the river but they can only navigate up to the Ponte Luis, only the tourist boats are able to navigate further up river. It was a really nice way to end a magical day in Porto.