Porto and the Douro Valley

Yet again everything was either up a hill or down a hill!  Our hotel was in an upper part so of course we had to walk downhill and then uphill to the Cathedral.

Another walk took us to the Gothic church of Igreja de Sao Francisco, a deconsecrated church.

It is famous for all its gold and while we were there a team of people were restoring the gold leaf.

 Beneath the museum were the catacombs.

 
Around the corner was the Palacio da Bolsa which wasn't a palace at all.  It was in fact the former Stock Exchange.

The next day we took the train to Regua where we went round a museum about the Douro Valley and the wine region.

We had booked a river trip which took us 14 miles up the River Douro to Pinhao.

The train station at Pinhao was quite pretty.  We took the train back to Porto.

Come back on Saturday for my final post about our holiday in Portugal.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Coimbra

Pronounced Quimbra!

The train journey from Lisbon was fantastic and it only cost us 10 Euros each - we got half price tickets.  Yeah!

We arrived in the afternoon so after checking into the hotel we had a walk along the river.  We had a trip on the river in a replica old boat.

We had a walk through the lower part of the town

After dinner we went up to the rooftop of the hotel to look at the city.

Next day we checked out but left our luggage at the hotel.  We walked up the steep streets to the Old Cathedral.

Old Cathedral

And up again to the New Cathedral

Then up again to the University - only to find that the ticket office for entry to the university buildings was back next to the New Cathedral.  It took Roger an hour to get the tickets!

Still the view was worth it.

Then we wandered our way back to the hotel through the Botanic Garden.

Having collected our luggage we took the train to Porto.  I decided we would go First Class.  The extra  cost was only 2 euros each.  I wished I'd bought First Class seats for the previous day's journey.

So now we were over halfway through our anniversary trip.  5 nights in Lisbon, 1 night in Coimbra and now 5 nights in Porto.

Our time in Porto coming up.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Travelling during a worldwide crisis

As I sit at my home computer in the midst of a 12 week lockdown, I am totally amazed by the fact that our trip planned last May happened at all.

I spent January and February watching the news from Australia about the fires and then the floods.  The roads we planned to drive along were shut.  Happily, they were all open by Thursday March 5th the day we left Heathrow.  We arrived in Melbourne on Friday night and had arranged to stay in a hotel until Monday, then start the drive to Sydney arriving in Brighton-Le-Sands on March 16th.   We had planned a week's stay with the Hopper Juniors and Minors, returning home on March 23rd.

The folks in Melbourne seemed totally oblivious to a worldwide virus and seemed not to realise the severity of it.  They spent the weekend at the Moomba Festival and F1 was arguing about whether to cancel the Grand Prix the following weekend.  They did eventually.

We spent our 3 days in Melbourne amidst the crowds - no social distancing!

The front door of the Cathedral

Flinders Street Station

A fancy arcade

Another view

I had particularly wanted to see the art work along the lanes in the city centre.

We visited the main market.  The fish stalls were amazing.

More art

A beautiful green lane in the middle of the city.  I could hear the birds singing.

We visited the State library with its amazing layout.

One of Melbourne's oldest trams which was also free to ride. 

A view of the city

On Sunday we walked through the very noisy festival to the tranquility of the Botanic Gardens

We saw this party - we couldn't decide whether it was a birthday party or a bridal shower.

In the evening we ate at a roof top restuarant.  This was the view - not the most appealing!

On Monday - a trip on the river to Williamstown.   The Moomba Festival had closed the upstream part of the river we had wanted to cruise on so we went downstream instead.

We went for a walk around Williamstown

And got the boat back to Melbourne.

We collected the hire car and Roger drove us to Belgrave where we were booked to stay two nights.

More adventures next time.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice