The last two days

And so we come to my final post about our trip to Portugal.

On the Thursday we took the metro to Casa de Musica where a short walk took us to the Cemeterio de Agramonte.  It was started in 1855 as a simple burial ground but in the 1870s people started building elaborate mausoleums.

We walked to the Jardim Botanico do Porto

By this time I felt I couldn't walk another step so we got the bus to the Parque e Jardim da Fundacao Serralves.

This was a mix of an art gallery and sculpture park as well as gardens.

We didn't understand this exhibit!  The person sat on the hippo sculpture was reading the newspaper and then tearing the page off and throwing it on the ground!

In the evening we took the metro to the other side of the river in Porto.  We walked down to the riverside where we had dinner.

By the time we had finished dinner the bus we had intended to catch was only operating once an hour so we got a taxi back as I didn't have the energy to climb back up to the metro.

On our final day we took the metro out to Vila do Conde.   We could see this ruined aqueduct from the train.

We walked through the market.  This salt cod was piled high and smelled high too!

There was, of course, a maritime museum and a replica ship to visit.

We walked along the promenade to a restaurant by the sea.

Where I had a raspberry mojito.  Very nice.

We walked back into town and then got lost trying to find the metro station where we saw this young man waiting for the train.

The next day we took the metro to the airport and came home.

We had a wonderful time.  It wasn't all sweetness and light - I've left out the frustrations and the not-so-happy times.  Let's face it you don't need to know how grumpy I get when I'm very tired.

Thanks for joining me for the last few posts about Portugal.  Next time normal service will be resumed.  Fabric books, creativity and the odd poem.  And one of them is very odd indeed!

Bernice

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