(O)Porto

Greetings from Oporto (or Porto, if you prefer).

Porto

We arrived at our hotel, the Grande Hotel de Paris, yesterday afternoon. It is a lovely old hotel, charming in its faded elegance, decorated with antiques and delicate staircases. We just had the breakfast this morning, which was fantastic.

Yesterday we visited the beautiful sao Fransisco church, museum and catacombs. We stopped for lunch and Betty Lou decided to sample the grilled sardines. There were four large fish on a plate, complete with their tails and tragic faces, which i covered with leaves of lettuce out of respect (and disgust). She reports that they were tasty, but difficult to eat. 

Buildings: Porto

We then walked along the banks of the Rio Douro, and looked across to the south bank where all of the port is made. This inspired us, so we paid a visit to Vinologia, a cozy & rustic drinking establishment that describes itself as a ´Port School`, as it provides education with each glass. Betty Lou and & i did a beginner´s tasting of three ports each. (That´s right, Betty Lou was drinking again!)

Port in Porto

We spent the rest of our evening walking through the city and stopped for a coffee at the Majestic Cafe, which certainly lives up to its name.

The weather again today is grey and a bit drizzly, but we hold out hope for sunshine.

That is all for now. More to come later. We are off to a market and, what else, more cathedrals.

d & b

Graffiti (1000 cranes): Porto