Porto--Full Day--One (October 26, 2022)

Another catch-up post since it was pretty busy yesterday.  Started off early with a trip down the street to the Capela das Almas (Chapel of Souls).  Covered in 15,947 tiles that depict scenes from the lives of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Catherine, the chapel's construction began in the 18th Century.  The tiles were added in 1929.

View of the Church

Front Entrance

Tile Detail

Next we walked over to Porto City Hall.  

View and Reflection

The obligatory city-name selfie.

I had heard about this McDonald's and I'm glad we saw eat.  Didn't eat anything though.

Fan-cee

Running into a lot of churches on this trip--here is the interior of Santo Antonio dos Congregados, built in 1703.

View of the church

We're also seeing a lot of beautiful train stations.  This is São Bento Station.

Two Pics of Wall Tiles

More walking, more churches.

Clérigos Church

Clérigos Tower.  This is an icon of Porto.  We did not climb this one.

Inside the Church

This next church--I should sat two churches--was like nothing something I've never seen before.  The Igreja do Carmo and the Igreja dos Carmelitos are two churches with a one-meter wide house built between them.  It was inhabited until the 1980s.

The Churches

Blue tiles on the side.

Inside the Church

The dining room in the narrow house.

In case you're wondering, not everything we see is old.  We took a bus ride around town and came across the Casa da Música.  It was designed by architect Rem Koolhas and was designed to host all kinds of music--from classical to electronic.  The surrounding area also appeared designed to allow skateboarding and bicycles.

View of the Casa Música

Did I mention we had a busy day?  We finally made it to the riverfront of Porto--arguably the most famous part of town.  A lot to see and do here.

View of the Douro River and the Dom Luis I Bridge

View of Praça de Ribeira

We stayed here a good bit.  It's a good place to see the sunset but since it was cloudy that was a bust.  We had dinner there too--which was not a bust--and then saw the place lit up at night.

The Dom Luis I Bridge and the Serra do Pilar Monastery on the hill.

Close-up of the monastery.

More exploring tomorrow.

I mentioned a lot of blue tiles this entry.  These are called azulejos and are used in both Portugal and Spain not only as ornamentation, but also to help with temperature control.