Culture Vultures

Ruby and I head back over the river to soak up more of Porto’s culture despite our sore feet from yesterday’s walking tour.
Colm opts to stay at the Marina with Ronan who has a day of jobs in front him. There had been a beach date tentatively arranged with the crew of Luna and Colm didn’t want to miss out on that.
We go to Livraria Lello which is a beautiful book shop but there is a queue to get in. It is a major tourist attraction because its staircase was an inspiration to J K Rowling for Harry Potter. We decide to come back later when the queue is gone. We climb the Clerigos tower to see the beautiful views of the city. We return to the bookshop and find the queue is slightly smaller so we join and an hour later we get in. The interiors are stunning especially the red staircase and for Ruby there are books so it was worth the wait.
It is now very hot so the only solution is ice cream. We search google and find Gelatopia with a 4.9 rating - good enough for us. We end up chatting with the owner who gives us more ice-cream ; happy days
Next is a tour of the Palacio da Bolsa which is a UNESCO world heritage site. The rooms are stunning and the tour brings it alive. We see the Arab room and are shown that everything is symmetrical except for a door that is off centre. This was done purposefully because only God can create perfection. We tour a huge room clad entirely in wood but are told that it is mostly plaster with clever paintwork.They used cod-fish tails to give it the wood effect.
Meanwhile back at the Marina Douro in Gaia it is a morning of jobs for Colm and Ronan. They walk to the village for some shopping passing by the local washer women. There are large indoor communal washing stalls and outside there are tall thin sticks set out in a haphazard way, where the laundry is hung to dry. We are unsure whether the people come to wash their own clothes or are doing others laundry. A local woman carries a basin of laundry on her head, hands free.
While Ronan and Colm are sitting outside the cafe in the village, that lady or one very like her gestures at their bag full of shopping on the ground. At first they sense she is concerned when she speaks to them in rapid-fire Portuguese. As they smile and say ‘no Portuguese, pardon’ they quickly realise she is not concerned but annoyed. Through her persistent heckling they understand they are to remove their bag from the ground and put it on the chair nearby - why? They will never know.
They get to the beach in the afternoon and have fun with parents and kids from a few other travelling boats.
A different day for the boys and girls today and when we regroup in the evening all four crew are happy.Read more