Monday, September 17, 2018

May 9th: Beaches and Tiles and Lots of Walking

We were somehow still functional human beings after all of our tastings the day before, so we got up the next morning, got ourselves together, and went back to SnopĆ£o for breakfast.

I got coffee and a couple of pastries...

...and Mark got an omelet, which came with rice AND fries. Just in case he needed to load up on carbs for our day. I helped him eat the fries.

We stopped back at the apartment, I grabbed my camera, and we set off to explore some more.

I could probably live in Porto and never get tired of the tiled buildings.

We didn't have to wander far to wind up in the Jardins do Palacio de Cristal. There was a sign telling people not to feed the birds, so of course there was someone feeding the birds. I bet that kid loved having all the giant birds swarm around so close.

The peacocks were really comfortable around people and would walk right past you without batting an eye.

We wandered through a few sections of the gardens, checking out the views along the way.


We eventually wandered out of the gardens and started working our way down toward the river. It took a little while because I kept stopping to take pictures. Oops.

Along the way, we finally saw a tram! Portugal is known for the trams (especially the ones in Lisbon), so it was neat to see one up close.

We eventually reached the Douro River and started following it to the west.

We passed a bird watching area...

...and a bunch of boats...

...and after a bit more walking, we could start to see waves crashing along the wall near the lighthouse.

We took a short walk through Jardim do Passeio Alegre...

...then walked out to Farolim das Felgueiras, the lighthouse.

The waves were really impressive; we stood there and just watched for a few minutes.


We eventually moved on and kept wandering down the beach.


A short walk away was Praia dos Ingleses, so we stopped for lunch overlooking the beach before continuing our wandering.

We didn't wander very far after lunch; Praia da Luz was just a short walk away, so we stopped for a quick drink and dessert before heading back out.

The weather was slowly starting to improve as we wandered along the beach...

...though the clouds made for some dramatic scenery.


A little while later we came to the Pergola da Foz. I had seen pictures of this online, so it was neat to see it in person. With the breeze and clouds hanging around, we pretty much had it all to ourselves.


We wandered a bit more, past a small garden area with windswept trees...

...then finally reached what I'd been holding out for: Praia do Castelo do Queijo. Basically, Cheese Castle Beach. I mean, how could we skip that?

The Castelo do Queijo had a pretty sweet view...

...and for a mere 50 Euro cents, we could go inside and wander around.

Again, we were pretty much he only ones there. I get it, it was a Wednesday, but people were missing out!

After wandering all over the Cheese Castle, we walked down to the beach and watched people surf while a couple dogs played on the sand. We hung out for a little while, then walked back up to the main road and took a taxi back to...

...the Ribeira District. It was our last afternoon in Porto, so we wanted to make the most of it!

I can't really say that hiking up a VERY steep path was high on my list of things to do, but we eventually reached the top without dying.

It was worth the hike, though, because a short walk from the top of the path was Prometeu Artesanto, one of the coolest shops I've visited in a while. They had hundreds of hand-painted tiles, and a number of artists at tables behind the counters who were painting more tiles as we wandered through. I somehow managed to not buy the entire store and settled on just a handful of tiles to bring home.

We made our way back to the Ponte Luis I bridge and walked across the top span...

...and wandered back through the neighborhoods of tiled houses and down to the river.

We eventually wound up at Mercado. There were lots of little stalls set up with food and drinks and all sorts of other tasty things. We were just in time for happy hour, so we took a break from wandering around for some cheese croquettes and port.

It was getting closer to sunset by the time we finished our snacks, so instead of going back to the apartment, we grabbed an Uber and went back to...

...Praia da Luz. Our Airbnb host had mentioned that it was a great spot to check out the sunset, so we figured it would be a nice way to end our last full day in Porto.

Really, not a bad view for a very tasty dinner.   :)

We even got to watch a cruise ship leave while we finished our drinks.

We eventually finished up and got an Uber back to our Airbnb, packed a little bit, then headed to bed. We had another travel day ahead of us the next day!

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