Felice Natal

 The following day, another climb up a hill brought us to the Cathedral, in a splendid position above the old town.

A great place to see the days activities on the river, it being a Sunday there were a good many people out and about.

The sky was almost cloudless, we took the opportunity to have a quick look inside, we may be becoming jaded by golden splendour as strangely this was the least impressive church we had visited. A bit on the gloomy side too until I relised my reactolight glasses were still reacting! It is however quite small for a Cathedral.

We made our way down to the Bridge over the river, the Ponte de Luis. I was struck by a mural on the gable of a house on Perched on the cliff above the bridge. It clearly showed one of Boltons famous sons Fred Dibnah! it even mentioned Fred but got his last name wrong......

The bridge again provided spectacular views of the town and river on the south side of the river the " Rabelos" which in times past were used to transport the wine downriver were moored in a line.

We asked a passer by to take a "selfie".

We were now close to the monastery of Serra do Pilar, probably because it was a Sunday access was restricted to the cloisters. We paid our 1 euro which was worth it just to use the toilet!

The monastery occupies a prominent position above the bridge and can be seen from every part of the city, it is also a fort and there is a collection of field guns in a part of the complex. A strange opposition......









The cloisters are  very quiet and relaxing with the gentle tinkling of a central fountain.











By this time my ankle was making itself felt and I suggested to Lynne that the cable car would be a good way to get back down to river level. The temptation of a riverside market was pointed out but Lynne seemed quite blasé about dangling hundreds of feet in the air so we bought two tickets which also gave us a free port tasting.

The cable car is quite exciting and certainly a novel way of arriving at the side of the river so famous for the many Port wine merchants who have their "caves" there. the photo below shows the cable car station below the monastery.

We decide to take advantage of our free sample ticket and made our way to the port cave for a tawny port which was delicious. As we warmed our cockles we read the fascinating story of the Douro river valley and the many Port producers.

Most of these are household names in the UK, Sandemans, Taylors, Croft etc. Unfortunately as we were flying home with our usual bare-bones hand luggage we couldn't buy a few bottles. We had a bottle in the fridge in our apartment which we would be forced to drink before we left......

Lynne got to mooch through the market traders stalls and bought a couple of tea towels and as the sun slowly set, we walked back over the Ponte de Luis to our side of the river for a coffee before going out to dinner.

Porto, lovely spot............

Buenas Festas

The following day the forecast was as good as its word and the sun made a reappearance. Lynne opened the window shutters and bathed in the warmth.

after lunch (Portugal doesn't keep the extended siesta like Spain ) we made our way back into the old town. It is crammed with interesting shops some dedicated to just one item. T-shirts, wooden toys or in the case of the shop below, brushes.

Of course the decorations continued as we climbed the hill towards the Torre de Clerigos.

Unlike the modern tendency for all town centres to look the same we enjoy the Iberian way of hanging on to the older model with individual shops, specialists and downright quirky. It is constantly surprising and Porto is especially gifted in this respect.

The streets in the old town are narrow and shady, unfortunately in Winter this equates to chilly, however the steep climbing keeps you warm.

Porto is one of those towns that seem to have a surprise around every corner, its one of the delights of exploring by "wandering around" in this case however despite the distractions of the Cordaria park we had the aim (well I did) of climbing the Torre de Clerigos. This is one of the best viewpoints , if not the best in Porto.

From this angle the attached church is not very obvious, it basically runs back from the tower in a triangle. Once we had paid our 3 euros we began to climb the 240 steps that bring you to the balcony at the summit. As usual with heights I am far keener than Lynne, but as she was looking after me and my strained ankle I'm afraid I left her no choice.

The viewing gallery was quite crowded but the views are indeed tremendous, the view below is looking back towards the river and the cathedral, our apartment almost exactly in the middle of the photo, just by the Mercado Ferria Borges (market Hall)

Below is the Park Lisboa, which has shops and cafes that unbelievably are topped by a wooded park area, very popular shopping for hobbits!

we dawdled around on the top of the tower for quite a while as the views just drag you in, there is a brass top to the balustrade which has engraved upon it the points of interest and the distinctive buildings (of which there are many) to be seen. A fabulous place from which to see the city.

Eventually we had to descend, by this time my damaged ankle was giving me some pain and I almost walked back out before remembering that our ticket enabled us to see the church as well, from a fairly unique vantage point.

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The nave is an ellipse, and a raised passageway allows you to walk around it, the viewing galleries are seen in the photo above along with the rich gilded decoration and the fantastic confection of the alterpiece.
As we walked round we entered the museum, which is located above the alter and has a unique viewpoint back into the nave from directly above the statue that surmounts it.

The museum itself is a small collection of religious artefacts, including a lot of carved wooden images of Christ that are from Crucifixes. The images are not allowed to be destroyed and are normally stored beneath alters or similar. apparently the arms are more vulnerable that the body so many of the images are without arms. The smaller examples in the photo are complete but the photo shows the viewing window in the background, which is why I chose this angle.

I always feel a great sense of history when looking at these objects and Portugal seems to be if anything even more Catholic than Spain. Its easy to forget that they were at one time the greatest colonial powers in the world. The catholic church in essence dividing the world up between them.

 It was becoming obvious that there was a lot to see in Porto and our four days would be full indeed.
Lynne was keen for a coffee and to look at the street market we had spotted from the tower, Lynne is a committed shopper!

After a coffee we looked around the stalls, Lynne narrowly avoided becoming the proud owner of a fur coat.

I thought it was quite fetching but Lynne settled for a new Jumper as the sun was slowly going down.

I had one more church to see before my ankle gave out completely, this is the Chapel of Souls, or Capela das Almas.

 Unfortunately closed but the incredible tiled exterior was worth the walk. We walked on and discovered a church that was open, The Church of Saint Idelphonso. We contributed a small amount to the new roof fund which enabled us to sign a roof tile.

We were also delighted to be sung Christmas carols by children in the choir high above the entrance.

We had wandered into one of the main shopping area of the city and the crowds were tremendous, however every corner had a performer or a roast chestnut seller and the whole thing was feeling a lot like Christmas as the song says! We walked back towards the tower in the evening light and the crowds died down a little. we had planned to eat out but were too tired to do so. My painful ankle gave us a perfect excuse. we had however had a fantastic day out in Porto.

Porto

We handed a set of keys and a Christmas present for the marina staff to Bea and caught the ferry to Vigo. A quick taxi ride ( a bargain at just over 5 euros ) and we were having a coffee waiting for a bus to Porto (or Oporto ) in Portugal. The weather was a bit overcast but was forecast to cheer up over the weekend. We had rented an apartment in the old quarter and another equally cheaptaxi ride saw us deposited outside the small alley leading to the front door, this shares a courtyard with a small bar and restaurant  , the landlady was leaning out of an upper storey window with a card of welcome. I must admit without the taxi driver and his GPS we would probably never have found it!

The welcome continued inside  as we were shown around in Portuguese, A small Christmas tree was sat among some cake, sweets and biscuits there was also some food (enough for lunch ) in the fridge.

Afer settling in we decided to have a quick look around the immediate area, it was a good 7 degrees colder than Cangas so we got bundled up a bit. It was the first time in ages that Lynne complained of the cold!

 Just outside our courtyard was a very interesting shop selling antiques/junk. We were to discover that Porto was full of interesting and quirky shops.

We wandered up the hill looking for the Metro station, this turned out to be a few hundred metres away, which was good news for our airport transfer on Tuesday. we continued on to the railway station to discover the source of several pictures in our apartment, they were copies of originals on the tiled interior of the entrance hall.

The pictures depict various scenes from Porto's rich history.

A familiar thing we seemed to keep coming across were English phone boxes, no real idea why but the Portuguese must have bought a job lot, minus the phones!

We were on the north side of the Douro river and the main square nearby was also home to the town hall.

It was obvious that various events and happenings had been planned, the square was decorated however our eyes were constantly distracted by the fantastic buildings. Porto has what could be described as more than its fair share of these!

In comparison to Cangas Porto was beginning to feel very Christmassy, as dusk descended and the lights came on in the Praca de Liberdade, the rather odd looking metal Christmas tree came alive.

Hopefully the following two pictures give some impression. Really quite effective...

We had a good look around and drifted down to the riverfront, the famous Cais de Ribeira. This is the place to look across the river tp the famous Port wine exporters Sandemans, Taylors etc. On a rather chilly evening we sat in a riverside cafe and pondered the Ponte de Luis and the impressive building of the Serra do Pilar.

Lynne was still feeling the cold so we wandered back to our apartment.

Hopefully the forecast sun would return in the morning and we could explore this fascinating city some more.