Date of Events: April 11, 2019
Carmen walked down to meet me at 9am and our day adventure began. We stopped a short distance from where I was staying and walked through an old market square Mercado de Sao Sebastiao.
In front of the Cathedral was this monument of Vimara Peres.
Carmen and I posing in front of the large Porto Cathedral.
View of Porto on a foggy morning.
This historic train bridge, Ponte Luis I, was our next stop. You can walk across this bridge where the electric trains travel or if height is an issue, there is another walking path below.
From the bridge the fog also made for some interesting photos.
On the other side of the river offered some lovely shots. Love the rooves.
View of main Porto and historic Porto.
Walking down these steps I was so busy talking to Carmen that when we got to the bottom she asked me to turn around. All the little people painted on this wall were doing something completely different. Well done! Didn't see it until Carmen pointed it out. Oh, I am not talking about the locals on the steps. LOL
There were a lot of neat narrow alleys to walk through.
Posing with main part of Porto in background.
A very interesting piece of art on the side of a building.
The fog slowly burning off. .. have a clearer pic of Porto.
Carmen and I posing in front of a store. Hahaha ... okay, I know ... I wish.
We were walking on a boardwalk and this is a shot from about 5km away from the bridge that we crossed that is in the background.
There is a boardwalk on both sides and we covered part of this one. It is about 20km long but we only walked 10km of it.
We made a stop in this lovely section called Afurada. There are 3 streets that are very colorful and the locals were so friendly.
This was an old traditional laundry house. It is still being used today. Scrubbing their clothes on the stone and rinsing in the basin with free flowing water.
Just outside you find a very unique clothesline. I truly don't know how they remained standing
Carmen and I stopped for lunch at a restaurant that both her and Sam (her husband) eats at.
We had a salad, BBQ squid and salmon, boiled potatoes and green wine that is grown and made locally ... so good.
After lunch we went down to the dock to take the ferry to the other side. It costs 3 Euro each.
Once across we walked 10km back into the old part of Porto.
We stopped in an antique store ... they had so much to see and buy, trinkets to this amazing car.
You can even buy an old grand piano.
I loved this old suitcase ... it weighs more empty than all my luggage I brought with me. LOL
We visited some old churches ... there seemed to be a Church every 2 blocks.
I had to take some photos of this nice wall mural.
I just love looking in old Churches ... but a nice touch with music in the background.
More colorful buildings.
At first I didn't think this was real but a statue. Then a little girl put in a coin and this guy hit his shoe twice and then stopped. Carmen told me that she and Sam put in 1 Euro and he only hit his shoe once. Hahaha did they get ripped off.
An old abandoned Church ... I will have to explore next time.
In this area of Porto there are many homes built on the side of the cliff. It turns out they have lived in this area for generations, but they don't own the land. With modernization, hotels and businesses moving in, they are being forced to leave. In many cases the government is providing new shelter for them.
Another incredible Church.
This bookstore was very popular. There was a small line up but Carmen has seen a line up 2 blocks long. This bookstore was used in the Harry Potter movie.
Quite the wall mural for a restaurant.
Sam just got off work and was able to join us. They are certainly a lovely couple.
We went to China and had pork sandwiches ... sooooooo good.
Do they look like they are enjoying their sandwiches? Hahaha
I cannot believe we were out around Porto until 9 30pm ... 12.5 hours nonstop ... what a great day with such wonderful people. A perfect way to see Porto.
Time to go home ... another big day tomorrow.
