The plan today is to walk around Porto and explore as we make our way down to the waterfront in time to hopefully catch one of the port tastings in the caves along the waterway. So we head out and start our walk eventually stopping at Cafe Moustache for a breakfast and some coffee.
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| Soooo blue! <3 Beautiful church. |
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| The inside of the church having some visitors, stunning inside as it is out. |
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| Crinkly checking out some of the older architecture. |
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| Such a beautiful day for Crinkly to explore such a lovely city |
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| Crinkly enjoying the artwork brought upon the different colors/styles of tiles |
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| Another beautifully tiles building we came across. |
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| Found a belgian beer bar as we walked around. Crinkly misses his delicious friends. |
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| Crinkly getting some refreshments with us at the Moustache. |
We continue to walk around and check out some of the beautiful buildings on our walk and then come upon the book store that inspired the Harry Potter staircases in the castle (the livraria lello). Steph loves books so she goes and waits in a line to buy the ticket to enter then a line to enter the book store. I spend the time walking around the are checking out some alleys and just wondering around until she finishes up and joins me down the path.
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| Found another large blue tiled church. These beauts are everywhere. |
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| Vuew of the whole church from a nearby square |
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| Close up view of the church |
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| Crinkly enjoying this tall lookout tower |
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| Crinkly led us to this sign so we could prove we werent in Houston. |
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| Museum near the Porto sign |
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| Found this lil cafe with beautiful tile work. |
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| Another blue building. Crinkly was impressed with the sheer number of these buildings and trust me, you are only seeing a fraction of them |
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| Rainbow house! |
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| Ceiling in the book store |
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| view from the first floor in the book store |
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| Some cool little light fixtures lighting the balcony |
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| Old school cash register |
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| Apparently there are tons of book/HP fans |
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| Really cool looking staircase |
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| Beautiful skylight |
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| Creepy street art |
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| Panorama view from an outlook we found walking around. |
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| View of the way we will be walking very soon. |
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| Saw these lil symbols a few times. Think they signify common places to take dates as it was outside the viewing we were looking out over the city |
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| Crinkly enjoying the view before we head out |
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| Crinkly enjoying the view of the water |
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| Apparently Porto has let their voice be heard on the pineapple pizza debate. Saw a few of these installments on the walk |
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| Cool tile work on this building |
As we continue our walk, we find the Sao Bento train station which is known for all its tiled artwork which was an impressive sight indeed. We then keep walking down towards the river and come across this contemporary building that hosts the Urban Market, which was filled with all different types of art and items people were selling as well as a little cafe and what not so we explore the beautiful building before heading on down and stop at Tram near the coast for some drinks.
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| Flower power? Power Flower? Los dos? |
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| One side of the train station |
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| Some of the pictures in the station made of tiles |
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| Crinkly enjoying the larger murals made of all tiles |
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| Came upon this huge church as we were making our way down the hill |
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| Crinkly admiring the stone work of the tour entrance for the church |
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| Postcard worthy right there. |
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| Crinkly again stopping to take in the view |
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| Crinkly looking back to where we just came from. Oh look bird! |
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| Top of a church that was at the foot of the back stairs for the big church we just were looking at. |
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| Crinkly loves markets lets check it out |
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| View onto the quad from the entrance of the urban market |
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| Main hall of the market. Love the roof and layout of this place, as does Crinkly. |
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| So much natural sunlight. |
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| Crinkly wanted some pics with the beautiful tulips in the quad. |
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| Crinkly enjoying the soothing view |
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| Close up of some pretty flowers |
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| Crinkly looking back on the market as we move on. |
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| Little blue church across the street from the market. |
They had some craft beers and I wanted to try them but I didnt like the ones I tried too much then come to find out the craft beers they have are a craft arm of one of the main breweries in the country so then wasnt too surprised. After enjoying the break and refreshments, we walk along the water and across the bridge and go into the Sandeman building to check on tours. The last tour available is in spanish; fortunately that is one of the many languages Steph speaks and it is my second language (by no means am I fluent but I thought I understood a bit of what was said - was a nice challenge).
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| Crinkly enjoying a flight at the Tram with the tram picking up people to go along the coast |
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| Tried this special stout after the flight to give a different beer a chance. Crinkly liked this one the best. |
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| Cool little alleyway as we walk towards the waterfront |
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| We made it to the waterfront. Quite the view eh Crinkly? |
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| Got to the bridge and now its time to cross. |
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| Crossing the bridge, see the monastery that was lit up last night. |
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| Crinkly taking a break next to some giant boat tie offs |
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| He knows how to pick some great vantage points |
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| Alright time to get Crinkly some port |
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| All the choices to choose from |
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| I do enjoy their logo. The tour guide was actually wearing a black cape and hat as well. |
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| No Crinkly you cant have liquid from there. But you can see our guide blending into the darkness with her gitup. |
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| Crinkly getting a close up of one of the barrels |
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| Giant Foeder I believe. I find it weird that this giant wood thing has a stainless steel connection port built into it but definitely makes sense from a use standpoint |
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| Room of barrels |
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| Crinkly thought this was a cool pic with the creepy dude in the background |
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| Better pic of our guide in the room with tons of barrels |
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| Some extremely old bottles of port. If I remember right, some were like 50 or 100 years old or something like that |
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| Sandeman squared |
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| Crinkly saying buy to the barrel room |
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| History of the bottles - lots of Crinkly's older cousins |
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| Crinkly is ready for his tasting |
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| Crinkly admiring some of the cooler looking bottles |
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| Crinkly wanted a pic with the Sandeman him/herself |
Go through the caves which were incredibly impressive while also being dark, but nice and cool. After the tour, we get our tastings in the gift shop area, depending on the level tour you paid for, you got different amounts and types of port. It was ok but tasted thinner and less complex than the ports we tried yesterday which I guess makes sense when you think of mass produced product compared to small batch production products. After finishing up there, we walk over back to our side of the river and head to the Baxia area to grab dinner and drinks before returning to the hostel for well deserved rest.
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| Crinkly enjoying sunset on the river |
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| Boats used to bring grapes down from the valley to the caves? |
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| Sunset Panorama |
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| Boats with Sandeman barrels just waiting for Crinkly to get himself some |
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| Looking back on the monastery as it starts to get lit up |
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| View up the river as the city lights start to turn on |
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| Better view of the monastery |
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| Crinkly wanted one last view of the river at dusk before we head back into town |
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