{"id":1911,"date":"2016-04-08T05:47:59","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T11:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dltwt.com\/?p=1911"},"modified":"2016-04-08T05:47:59","modified_gmt":"2016-04-08T11:47:59","slug":"wandering-oporto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/?p=1911","title":{"rendered":"Wandering Oporto"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There are really very few similarities between Porto and Lisbon-they are both near the coast and have some fairly daunting hills, but we think that is where it ends. \u00a0The two cities have a different feel and different charms. \u00a0Porto almost has a “faded grandeur” about it similar to Buenos Aires. (In our opinion, Lisbon, even though it is larger, trumps Porto for charm.) \u00a0We were told that there is a strong sense of rivalry between Porto and Lisbon. \u00a0Porto is a riverside town that has a thousand and one nooks and crannies with loads of local culture and history. It was a trading and commercial city dominated by the church and all that can be seen and felt in one of the oldest cities in Europe. It’s like taking a trip back to Olde London town. Today, was the first sunny day in Porto since we arrived; so, we decided not to take any day trips by train and just meander the streets and explore this delightful city. \u00a0We strolled along the steep, cobbled, convoluted streets and alleyways of the historic center and the downtown area. \u00a0The network of tiny streets, where no cars could possibly travel, \u00a0had lots of laundry swaying in the wind from the windows. There were numerous small shrines and churches dotted throughout the city. We were awestruck by the number of churches that had absolutely magnificent blue and white tiled scenes on the facades.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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The Ribeira District is the heartbeat of the city. \u00a0It lines the banks of the River Douro with pastel-hued, tile-faced houses with ornate iron balconies that has made Porto a World Heritage town. \u00a0Ribeira also lies next to the most beautiful bridge of Porto, the Ponte Dom Luis (a 240 foot high double-decker bridge). \u00a0Ribeira, is full of bars and touristy restaurants and overlooks the area across the river called Vila Nova de of Gaia. \u00a0Gaia is where the original port families stored and aged their port wine. Gaia is what made Porto so famous. \u00a0Unfortunately, both of us are not fans of port wine so we didn’t partake in any “flight” samplings.<\/span><\/div>\n
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We stopped by the Bolhao Food Market which was disappointing (perhaps because it was on a Tuesday?) and then headed to the Torre dos Clerigos which is a 240-step landmark tower with panoramic views of Porto.\u00a0The<\/span> Sao Bento train station might be one of the most beautiful train stations in the world! \u00a0The station, which used to be a former monastery, marks the transition from the old town to the downtown area.\u00a0 The station is famous for its massive and stunning Portuguese tile (a.k.a. traditional azulejos) panels that depict scenes of the history of Portugal. We also visited two Porto institutions that exemplify a bygone era: \u00a0The Lello Bookshop which is considered\u00a0 to be<\/span> one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world (they even charge admission!) and the iconic Cafe Majestic, opened in 1921, where waiters serve you tea and pastries in white jackets. Photography in the bookstore is not even allowed. \u00a0The bookshop is well-know for its red stairway that looks like a giant tongue!<\/span><\/div>\n
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Tonight, we dined at an upscale restaurant that served “contemporary” Portuguese food, specializing in tapas. \u00a0We feasted on 4 different Portuguese tapas ranging from sausages, octopus, fish cakes and a ham and mushroom mixture. \u00a0All were quite delicious.<\/div>\n
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Tomorrow we fly back to Madrid for the night and then we fly on to Rome on Thursday.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"OLYMPUS<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Always<\/a>
Always lots of high end children’s clothes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Graffitti?\"<\/a>
Graffitti?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Majestic<\/a>
Majestic Cafe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Good<\/a>
Good example of Porto buildings<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Hills<\/a>
Hills of Porto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"One<\/a>
One of many blue-tiled churches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Quite<\/a>
Quite a bookstore!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The<\/a>
The metropolitan area (3.7m people) stretches a long way.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"One<\/a>
One of the great trams.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Riverfront<\/a>
Riverfront & many bridges of Porto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\"The<\/a>
The window displays rotate up & down – interesting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"One<\/a>
One of Porto’s shopping streets<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
A popular plaza<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"????\"<\/a>
????<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Douro<\/a>
Douro River & all of its bridges<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are really very few similarities between Porto and Lisbon-they are both near the coast and have some fairly daunting hills, but we think that is where it ends. \u00a0The two cities have a different feel and different charms. \u00a0Porto almost has a “faded grandeur” about it similar to Buenos Aires. (In our opinion, Lisbon, … Continue reading Wandering Oporto<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Si9J-uP","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1911"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1932,"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1911\/revisions\/1932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dltwt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}