Day 6. Porto

The day started with a tourist sightseeing bus taking in the historical parts of the city. I had an urge to leap off the bus, scrubbing and paint brushes in hand. There are a lot of dirty and derelict buildings throughout the city. Then I remembered that Portugal is broke, deep in debt to the EU banks. There is some redevelopement going on but, at the moment, it is not enough.
There are many beautiful tile mosaics on churches, in the railway station and on significant government buildings.
One mosaic on the Santa Caterina chapel has over 14,000 tiles. Quite impressive.
Only two small trams remain from a once extensive network. The tourists love them.
We joined the hordes crossing the Douro river high on the Luiz 1 bridge to vista Vila Nova de Gaia on the opposite bank to Porto. An impressive view of the city.
We did visit some churches and a monastery.
A busy day and we were quite happy to dine and retire for the night.
Luckily a cool change is on the way for tomorrow.Lue lisää