Forgotten how stunning this city is – maybe because we only saw about half of it last time we came in 2017. We were then parked by the river near the Ponte da Arrábida and Rufus was struggling by the time we made it to the centre. ☹️
This morning, we woke up to sunshine – hurrah! Got an Uber into the city as the buses are apparently a bit unreliable. He dropped us off on the Gaia side of the river at water level. The trouble was, we wanted to walk across the Dom Luis bridge on the tram level, which is the highest. A very steel uphill walk ensued.
The views from the bridge were brilliant, but it was quite cold up there as it’s really high. Uphill on the other side, we reached the cathedral. The whole area was swirling with people of all nationalities – made us realise what a quiet life we’ve had for the last week or two.
The cathedral had a service on so we didn’t venture too far in, but the baroque cloisters and staircase were absolutely stunning with their traditional blue tiled frescoes. More climbing then, up a steep staircase inside one of the towers for sweeping views over the rooftops.
Quick coffee stop and our first ‘pastel de nata’ or Portuguese custard tart – top notch!
So many beautiful buildings to see. The Igreja do Carmo was a stand out, as one side of the exterior is covered in Azulejos (blue tiles).
Along from this, we ventured into a lovely park, Jardim do Palácio de Cristal. I was expecting a crystal palace pavilion type thing but apparently, it was replaced years ago by an ugly domed stadium. The park itself was full of ducks, geese and peacocks all wandering around looking for scraps. Finally made our way down to the waterfront or Ribeira, which was jam packed with busy bars and cafes. We decided to move back a street for our lunch as it was a bit quieter.
Mid afternoon, we met up with the lovely Jules (aka Fozzy’s wife) who, quite by chance, happened to be in Porto on the same day as us!
We picked one of the port lodges on the Gaia side of the river and sat in the sunshine having a good old catch up over a few drinks, moving inside when the sun disappeared.
Taxi home once we realised that he was parked around the corner 😂
A fabulous day after a wet, miserable week.
Glad the sun has come out for you at last. It’s been miserable here too.