Many buildings in Porto are clad in tiles…amazing designs and colours…This morning we set off to walk the Dom Luis Bridge, Upper level (third time to this location) we started noting the tiled facades of the buildings, so the next few images are a snapshot of today’s observations…
Close up…
Of this building…
A rounded street corner in green…
Red and green side by side
Tiled (rather than cobbled) pavements…
Blue and white triangles…
Green, yellow and mosaics…
A bank of colourful apartments..
A stained glass and tiled bay window arrangement dating back to 1872…
Getting closer to the bridge, overcast day, good for walking…we stumbled upon a market!
Wandered around the stalls and it was morning tea time. I took my Portuguese Tart early today!
The Chapel of Santa Catarina, also known as the Chapel of Souls (Capela das Almas), is a chapel particularly noted for the blue tiles on its exterior walls, built in the 1800’s…
Coffee and tart inhaled we headed for the famous walk across the Dom Luis bridge, top level where pedestrians share the space with the metro trains…
Looking east up the Duoro…
And back over the cable car line we took uphill yesterday…at this point my vertigo kicked in – I was 60 metres above the Duoro river, with only a hip height iron railing between me and the river .., every time I glanced down, it was with extreme control that my Portuguese tart and coffee did not come back up! But I was determined to cross this at least one way!
Looking south to the city of Vila Nova De Gaia, the Duoro river separates Porto (2nd largest city in Portugal) and Vila Nova de Gaia (3rd largest) combined they maybe a larger urban sprawl than Lisbon (number one on the size list according to population)
Looking west…this Iron railing my friend…
And off on the south side…to make our way down to the lower level to cross back over into Porto…
Down a very steep cobbled street…I spied a rooftop garden, with the gondola flying high…after my bridge emotions, I was not tempted to take a gondola ride…
And looking up, right off the top, a couple of painters were doing a bit of touch up work…held by a carabiner clip and a piece of rope tied to the railing! Again my stomach turned!
Catching our breath before crossing over the lower span…
From here we headed west…to the vintage tram and caught it all the way to the end of its line…Portugal has pretty much done away with trams in the city, with only three tourist routes remaining. We alighted in Cantareira…just before the headland and the Atlantic Ocean beaches…we walked through a beautiful cool, sparsely populated park…with water fountains,
Statues and ponds…
More statues framed with Pōhutukawa trees, yes our native NZ Christmas tree!!!
And out to the headland…lighthouse pier…
Just out side the entrance to the harbour is Sao Joao Baptista Fort…
These 16th-century stone walls hold the city’s history, having survived countless wars and rebellions. A great example of military architecture, meanwhile…
Seaside, the sounds and smells (seaweed) of the ocean!
And due to the overcast day, not a lot for the lifeguards, who were dotted every 100metres or so along the beach, to do!
We wandered along the foreshore until we found a beach cafe…
And relaxed here for a couple of hours, with lunch and a drink in hand, just soaking up the peace (mostly) A few tourists determined to get a tan, donning an array (not always attractive) range of bathing costumes, and lounging on the beach…none we saw actually ventured into the sea!
We decided to use another form of public transport for our journey back…the Bus!
We got to the bus stop with 10 minutes to spare, but it turned up immediately and we were off on another sightseeing journey through the city of Porto! It took an hour to get to our side of town…speeding like a race car where possible, through residential, commercial, tourist, and many areas we had not seen!
We called in to our local Superette to buy some bleach to try and minimise our smelly apartment..not sure it’s made much difference!
All who wander are not Lost girls 