Panoramic Porto

After all our walking yesterday we were not disappointed to be doing what was mostly a panoramic tour today, meaning that we spent most of our time on the bus.  The only thing about a panoramic tour is that you don't get very good quality photos through the windows.  I had one side of the bus and my friend Kim was on the other, so between the two of us we got some highlights on both sides.

As we docked this morning I could see dozens of seagulls circling the fishing boats across the harbor from us.  For many years this was a major fish cannery, known for how bad it smelled around here.  I'm grateful those days are gone!

The Romans settled the area in the 3rd century BC, calling this spot Portus Cale, or “warm port”.  That name evolved into “Portugale” so the country got its name from this city, as did Port wine.  Located on the banks of the Douro River or River of Gold, which divides the city into two parts, it is the second largest city in Portugal and was a major shipbuilding hub in the 15th century. 

One of the first things we saw was this "sculpture", created by an American artist named Janet Echelman to honor all the fishermen who lived and worked in Porto.  When the wind blows it supposedly undulates like a jellyfish.  The red part is just netting, this is was a million Euros will get you.

Not far from the beach is this statue of King Juan VI who sits in a direct line from Rio de Janiero, looking in that direction.  Juan was king at the time that Napoleon invaded Portugal, not just once, but three times and was forced to flee to his colony across the Atlantic.  His troubles didn't stop there so eventually he returned to Portugal.

This statue is another tribute to the fishermen and their bravery at sea.

There were those who went to Brazil, made money there and then returned to build fancy homes along the beaches.  The house on the left is an example of what they call "Brazil Houses".  On the right are apartments along the beach that are some of the most expensive real estate in Porto.

There was a good stretch of sandy beach after we left the terminal, unlike yesterday in Lisbon.

TheJohn the Baptist Fortress was originally a monastery that was next to the sea. 

It was later fortified to help protect the city from pirates and Spanish invaders.

Portugal and England have had a strong political relationship since the 16th century.  When the latter started coming here for the beaches, and the port wine, they encouraged the Portuguese to plant palm trees along the seaside to make it look like more of a resort.

We hopped off the bus and got on one of the old trams that still run in Porto.

It was a fun way to travel but also noisy and slow.  Karl accidentally picked the wrong side of the car to sit on so all the scenery was on the beach/river side as we traveled to the old part of Porto.

A couple of the typical older homes we saw.  A lot of Porto is fairly run down.

Across the river is the newer city of Gaia.  Many of Porto's residents are moving over there as housing prices are cheaper and since the apartments are newer they are better insulated making utilities less costly as well.

The Porto Bridge crosses the Douro River between the port and the old city, it is one of multiple bridges that make this span.

When it opened for traffic in 1986 it was the largest arch bridge in Europe.  Now it's also a tourist attraction as people are allowed to make a climb along the arch.

Houses along the river are nothing if not colorful.  Here again is the Gaia side, where housing is more modern.

On some of the older houses on the Porto side you can see the colorful tiles on the exterior walls.

On the right is probably the largest McDonald's that I've ever seen.  On the left are some of the narrow houses you see all over town.

We learned that people liked to build the houses narrow and tall because taxes were based on how wide your house was, not by how many square feet.  If your house was wider, like the one on the left, you'd pay a lot more taxes for your two stories than for these narrow ones with four or five stories you see on the right.

Henry the Navigator is just as well known here as in Lisbon, maybe even more so since he was born in Porto and his first exploration left from here as well.

Apparently Porto went through a phase where they liked to build structures from iron.  This one was supposed to be a market but it was too far from the water and the merchants didn't like having to bring their goods up the hills.  Currently this building is used as a concert hall.

A look down one of the pretty  streets in Porto.

We were dropped off just below the Porto Cathedral and walked up the hill to take a look.  The views from there over the red tile roofs of the labrynthine city were beautiful.  You could see the wealth they had of old thanks to the multitude of church spires, 30 of them.  There wouldn't be that many old churches around if there hadn't been money to build them.

Old houses like these surrounded the cathedral hill, the site where the city began thanks to its defensible position and abundance of water.

The Porto Cathedral was begun in the 12th century but has gone through lots of different looks over the centuries.

It has a lovely rose window that you can glimpse from the outside and is made of local granite.  The boat that is carved into the exterior wall is an odd reminder that during the scourge of the Black Plague, Porto continued to prosper, it's always been about making money in this city.  I guess you could also look at it as Porto continued to go about their work despite difficult times, which is pretty symbolic of the Portuguese here.

This pillar was added in 1940 by Portugal's dictator, Salazar, to bring attention to the church, mainly because this had always been a site of power and he liked to use the church to wield it.

Houses were demolished to add this more modern monument next to the church where there had once stood a Medieval tower.  It was created to imply a connection between church and state.

The view from the cathedral's plaza is quite plain, until you look closely and see the hand prints along its length.  These are a reminder of how during Medieval days measurements were made in hand spans, this combines the old and the new.

Inside the cathedral are many of the blue tiles that are prevalent in Porto.

There is a lot of wealth in the St. Vincent's Chapel.  It dates back to the 16th century but was redone in the 18th century in the Portuguese Baroque style, over the top ornate, in an effort to entice people back to the Catholic church after the Reformation.  The gold you see is the real thing, not paint.

Some of the blue tile that adorns the chapel.  And an example of faux marble on the corner column.

There is an impressive courtyard in the middle of the structure.

Another of the chapels is a little more subdued but does have a gorgeous ceiling.

Some of the Gothic columns in the window openings.

Inside of the cathedral itself.  The columns here are massive, and again, the altar is gold plated.

The cathedral's organ pipes are next to the beautiful stained glass of the rose window.

This altar is the ultimate in Portuguese Baroque style, columns had to have spirals decorating the columns leaving no empty space.  The more ornate something was the better it was in Portuguese Baroque.

Outside the cathedral was this marker for the pilgrimage road that leads to Santiago de Compostela.  There are many ways to get there but this spot is one of the center spaces.  The arrow on the marker shows the direction to go and the marker below that shows how many kilometers it is to get there, 248 from here.  The are many of these markers all along the way to where pilgrims go to view the bones of St. James.  The one on the reverse side of the marker is a map of Europe.

A selfie with a view.

We walked down the hill to the Sāo Bento Railway Station, which is known for its decorative tile panels that depict scenes from the history of Portugal.   

On a site that was originally a monastery, this station that is one of the country’s national monuments, went into operation in 1916 and boasts 20,000 azulejo tiles in these works of art that took 11 years to complete.

A few of the lovely painted tiles

that adorn

the railway station

entrance.

Most of it was common people doing everyday tasks.

It is still a functioning train station and is the main one in Porto

which has been around since 1910.

Outside the trains station on one side were these buildings that looked pretty derelict, then on the other side of the street were these really nice ones.

There was a lot of graffiti around town.

Leaving the train station we made our way across the Henry the Navigator Bridge, being careful to stay to the side as the Metro trains used it as well, coming every six minutes.

View of the homes along the river were spectacular!

It was fun to see rowers on the river, they reminded me of Jessie.  I sent her a video of them to ask how their form was, and she assured me it wasn't very good, they weren't working together.

The Gaia side of the Douro was the repository of the port wine warehouses.  Many of these have been turned into upscale apartments.

Another view of the Douro.  We we docked out of view beyond the curve of the river.

A view of Porto and the bridge from the south side.

Time for another scenic selfie.

Just across the bridge is a small garden with the Gaia sign and a few pretty flowers.

We boarded the bus for more panoramic views of the area.  While cross another of the city's bridges wer were able to see the Henry the Navigator bridge that we had just crossed.

On our other side was this bridge that was built by Eiffel engineers 10 years before they built the Eiffel Tower.

One of the green space parks on the Porto side was gifted by Peter IV 

to the women of the city in gratitude for all they did.

The main large plaza where celebrations are held.

The star here is the Fountain of the Lions, not the building behind it!

These Sycamore trees have become a tourist attraction thanks to a disease they got that enlarged their trunks into strange shapes.

Outside the Court of Law building is this statue of Justice.  The thing that is different about her is that unlike most statues like this where the eyes are covered, this one, and all of those throughout Portugal, have their eyes wide open.  They were created during the 48 years of Portugal being under a dictatorship, letting people know that eyes were always upon them.

When we got some free time we headed to a recommended bakery for a tasty sandwich.

We did walk past the Lello Bookstore, and yes, there were crowds outside there waiting to get in.  Karl said we should just take a cab back after our tour and get tickets to go in, but I'd had enough of touring and enough of crowds for the day.  Maybe some other time.

On the way back to the port we got a view of this small fishing village on the south side of the Doura, one that's on the edge of the Gaia community this is like stepping back 50 years in time.  Men there still do the fishing and the women work selling their fish, grandparents care for the children.   It's the old Porto.

On the edge of Gaia there are all kinds of construction going on.  That is the only place where there is room to grow, Porto doesn't have anymore space and with so much of it dedicated as heritage/historical sites it's difficult to build or refurbish places there.

The verdict is still out of Porto, I enjoyed it but not as much as Lisbon, even though it was a much easier day physically.  It's situated on a lovely spot, has a nice beach, people seemed fairly friendly, so much history here.  It's a place that's trying to become a destination and I think it will probably make it, there's a lot to see.