Portugal! After leaving Spain we drove south to Portugal on a rainy, rainy day. Our campsite was south of town and while it looked a little rough around the edges it was very close to a lovely beach and was handy to the bus. The bus ride into town definitely deserves a mention. We were absolutely barreling along roads that I wouldn't have even thought a car could fit down. There was a hand span's room on either side, and any pedestrians unfortunate enough to be about had to jump back into doorways in order to avoid being squashed. All in all, very entertaining!!
Porto is very pretty, the old town is on the north side of the Duoro (which gets all the sun) and is built along a ridge line that slopes down to the river. All the Port houses are on the south of the river which is actually its own city - Vila Nova de Gaia.
We were particularly impressed by the interiors of the churches and buildings. The outsides (as you can see in the photos) are often quite ornate - particularly the tiles - but the insides are stunning. Very highly decorated, often with plasterwork and gilding. As seems to be the way, we were not allowed to take photos, so we have had to make do with post cards and a couple of sneaky spy shots.
It is also a city of contrasts, very beautiful, lovely architecture, but also quite run down. It was common to see boarded up buildings on the main streets and derelict (or fallen down, or missing altogether) ones on the side streets.
Anyway, we saw HEAPS in the few days while we were there - I'm not going to cover it here - I think it will be easier in the captions.
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| The north side of the Duoro River, with the Cathedral (The Se) and the former Bishops Palace on the sky line. |
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| Jane in front of the Ponte de Dom Luis the I (the metal bridge) - it has a road on the top AND bottom. She is eating a new discovery, roasted chestnuts! Worth getting mild burns on your fingers for. |
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| The Duoro riverfront. By the way, nice winter, Portugal. |
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| The riverfront. |
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| This picture is a good allegory for Porto - lovely, but run-down. Faded glory..... it used to be the richest country in the world. |
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| Super Bock - an English word and a German word combined as a name for a Portuguese beer. |
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| The guy behind me is coveting my awesome Pinnacle Village Holiday Park cap. Dream on, buddy, it's mine. |
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| The bus trip. That corner on the left is almost touching the bus, and we have almost hit the wall in front. Almost being the operative word |
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| The Igreja (Church) de Trinidade. |
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| The Camara Municpal (Town Hall) |
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| Possibly a racist sculpture? The white dude on top appears to be saying 'I'm king of the world!', which is perhaps a little unfortunate. |
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| The tiles on the facade of the main train station. Amazingly detailed. |
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| The Cathedral - you can just see the tiles in the main portico. |
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| The plaza in front of the Cathedral. I liked the matching hats on the various parties of schoolkids. Note: blue hats in the background - has that guy in the front wondered off? |
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| The former Bishop's Palace |
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| This is a side street just down the hill. The houses are (mostly) derelict and abandoned. Quite strange when they are so close to the middle of the city. The local cats like it though. |
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| Looking down a side street towards the port houses on the south bank. |
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| The Ponte de Dom Luis I from the south bank - taken from a cable car. |
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| Our first meal in Portugal. Chicken done over a charcoal BBQ and chips. And one olive (that counts as 'salad', I think). Everything comes with chips, no wonder the English like it here so much. The red stuff is peri peri sauce and you can see my pork skewers lurking in the background. |
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| And our first port house - Taylors. Our tasting confirmed that port is delicous, and more expensive port is more delicous. |
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| They have a large vat. They call it 'The Large Vat'. Interesting port fact - vintage ruby port has to be drunk within 48 hours after opening, otherwise it oxidises and is ruined. |
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| We found a place which did tastings of port - note the generous pour.... |
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| .....several samples later = eating corn fritters in bed while listening to gangster rap on the computer. |
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| The Sao Francisco Church - not much to see on the outside.... |
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| ....but the inside is incredible. It is completley covered in carved wooden scultpture which is painted and gilded. It is stunning - this is a photo of a postcard, so it doesn't do it justice. |
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| This is just one of the side chapels - gob smackingly amazing. Although I am not fond of the slightly terrifying chubby baby heads they seem to like carving everywhere. |
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| The underground vault.... |
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| ...topped with skulls. Looks like something out of Harry Potter. |
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| The Igreja dos Clerigos and the Torres dos Clerigos - the highest point in Porto. When we were coming down the tower they had a power cut, plunging us into inky blackness. |
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| The view from the top of the tower, looking over the Cathedral and the river. |
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| On our last afternoon in the city we went for a wander in the Jardim do Palacio de Crystal. That structure in front of Jane was suppose to be Porto's equivilent of the Crystal Palace in England. None too impressed, the locals nicknamed it 'The Half Onion'. Which also sounds like a paint colour. Or wrestling move. |
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| The park, though, is very pretty. |
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| Our campsite was a bit average. However, it was a five minute walk from this beach - which would be amazing in summer. |
I have to comment on the food - we have never been to two countries with as much contrast between the food as Spain and Portugal. Spain has it's nibbley tapas, whereas in Portugal Steak with an egg on top with chips and gravy is a 'national specialty'. They seriously love lumps of meat, and chips are served with everything. If you want to see what a heart attack on a plate looks like - here it is.
A Franceshina translates as 'little French girl' and is, somehow, the Portuguese version of a ham and cheese in a croissant.
It is a tradtional Oporto 'sandwhich' that is toasted bread with steak, bacon, sausage, chorizo, mushrooms and cheese. An egg is placed on top, more cheese is place on top and around - then the hot tomatoey sauce is poured over the whole lot so the cheese melts. The tomato sauce/soup is made with beer. As you can see, mine had 5 shrimp on top for comedy value. It tastes like a bacon and egg mcmuffin, only better, and probably deadlier. My lifespan has probably been shortened, but it was worth it.
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| My Franceshina - I am dubious - this is a sandwhich? |
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| Note the cheesiness, with the egg yolk poised under my knife blade. Vegetarians may want to turn away from the next picture. |
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| Here it is revealed in all its glory - steak, egg, sausage, chorizo, mushrooms, prawns, cheese and some beer based tomato sauce. Together at last. |
