Sunday, December 9, 2007

Porto, Portugal - Dec. 4-8, '07

The Cafe Majestic is one of Porto's finest coffee-houses built in the 19th C. This cafe was on Rua Santa Catarina one of the busiest pedestrain and shopping streets in the old quarter. Our hotel was almost across the street from this cafe.

Sao Bento train station is right in the heart of the city. It was built in 1900 and is a very beautiful building with lots of art work in tiles on the walls. Many trains daily depart from here.
Jeanne and I left on a train to Guimares which was about 1 hour away. Cost me 1 euro each way and Jeanne, because she was still so young, two euros. A fun day except that it rained.

The O Carmo Church with its tile work on the side. Two churches built side-by-side. Popular tourist attraction. Beautiful inside too and dates back to the late 16th Century.

Having breakfast at our hotel, the Grande Hotel de Porto and was built in the 1800s. Very elegant and old.

The Douro River. Porto is on one side of the river and Gaia was on the other side.
Every street had different Christmas decorations. I have never seen such a variety of lights and beautiful.

We enjoyed eating at the Guaranay Restaurant right next to the large Christmas tree. While there, we were entertained one evening by Joanna who sang Fado music. Beautiful Spanish and Portugese music. She was a very popular Portugese Fado music singer.



The Clerigos Tower rises to over 75 meters and once guided sailors safely into port. It was built in the mid 18th C. The tower is attached to the church called Sao Pedro dos Clerigos.


The Atlantic Ocean was awesome to watch as the huge waves came crashing on shore.
We went on a tour of the Real Port distillery. Port wine is made exclusively in Porto. They had some port wine here that was over 140 years old.




The Via Catrina shopping center next to our hotel.







Many large bridges cross the Douro River. Here are several that we saw on our cruise along the Douro River.

One of the old sections of the wall that originally surrounded the old city. Built around the 11th Century. We read that the first recorded evidence of civilization in Porto, went back as far as 3000 BC.
The largest Christmas tree in Europe. Said to be 73 meters tall and the lights constantly changed pictures. Attracted many people.






Atlantic Ocean again. Too many rocks for surfing.
Church of San Francisco which took over 140 years to build. Was started in 1383 and is absolutely magnificent. It is filled with guilded sculptures and has become known as "the church of gold".

Spent a good time going through the Leonardi Da Vinci exhibition. This exhibition was housed in the Palacio de Cristal. Didn't know that Leonardi was involved in so many things other than art.







The Luis I Bridge The top layer is walking and a metro bridge and the lower level is for vehicle traffic and walking. We walked across this bridge many times.











The old city wall.











The Cathedral erected in the 12th C.


The city is made up of hundreds of tiny narrow, steep roads and walkways. Between the houses are hundred of steps that you have to climb to get up from the river.


























There are so many tall buildings and towers in the city that it is almost impossible to get lost. There is always a reference point to walk towards.














No comments: