Porto

We arrived in Porto to find university students celebrating the start of their academic year.

First cab off the rank was to initiate the freshies.

And to maximise embarrassment,  initiations were done in full view of the community at large.

You might be able to see the guys with white headbands - they have been picked out to be humiliated.

Much like this bloke really:

But at least there was a cause involved there - If you haven't yet donated, please visit my donation site for the global pong: https://theglobalpong.raisely.com/julianjosem

Some students sang in the square - offering CD's of their work.

Here's a student group in Ribeira square, Porto:

This square was very picturesque actually.  Here's a shot looking back at the square:

And this is looking down on it and the Douro River with a replica Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background.

As the sun set in Porto, we found ourselves a romantic little restaurant away from the hustle and noise of the square.  We even enjoyed each other's company.

And NO, it wasn't just the alcohol.

We were excited about the coming day - a tasting tour.  We were booked in for Taste Porto starting 10am the next morning.

Here's where we met our tour guide, Andre.

Thankfully we didn't have to go inside!

Instead, he took us first to enjoy an old retailer's joint - a licensed grocer who provided us with some old-style bread mixed in with chorizo, goat's cheeses, and some jams.

Doesn't sound like much, but it was a great start.

Andre walked us through many Porto streets, providing us with an explanation of what we were seeing.  We were lucky enough to be his exclusive customer for the day.

Here we passed the Majestic Cafe - this is where the aristocrats would have coffee, or even meals.  Ruth and I came back later for a meal here on our own.  After all, we may not be aristocrats, but we could pretend to be tossers as good as the aristocrats any time. 

Check out the tourists wanting to be seen here:

We passed McDonalds - Andre explained the history of the building to us, so I had to duck in for the photo... The electronic ordering systems coupled with the Art Deco surroundings makes for an interesting combination:

Our second eating spot on the tour was for coffee and chocolate at the Cafe Arcadia.

Apparently these guys introduced the idea of a chocolate house to Porto, and it quickly caught on, and now there are quite a number of competitors.

We were served coffee with dark chocolate with orange flecks, and a dark chocolate mousse.

Delish as Cyril Rioli!

A stroll past the railway station was next... Interesting building.

Around the top of the four walls was depiction of travel starting in the corner photographed going left with horse and buggy, and coming around to train travel.

And lots of blue tiled scenes of events that occurred around Porto.

Next stop was the co-operative that supports the canned fish industry.  A beautiful shop displaying canned fish from various suppliers, and descriptions of each's point of difference.

Andre made a big deal about the artwork on the cans.  He pointed out the obvious that the better the can presentation, the more sales of the product.  I think he was in love with the girl on the Cantara mackeral fillets.

A quick visit to the Pinhais sardine processing plant which was very fishy:

And then as we're going to the next spot, I thought I was back in Melbourne as a tourist tram passed us.  Is that Flinders Street Railway Station in the background?

Sorry... just missing all my friends family back home.

No apartment blocks like this in Melbourne (yet) clad in the style of Moorish tiles.

Not only was I missing my friends in Melbourne, I started to get paranoid.  I was sure Ruth and Andre were holding hands walking the Porto streets, but on closer examination, he's holding a drink bottle in his hand-holding hand.

Notice the typical Portuguese footpaths - Treacherous indeed.  They're slippery and uneven.

We visited a couple more tasting places.  We tasted various local Portuguese dishes like salted codfish delicacies (not), game meat "sausage", and a few other things, and eventually ended up here with a Port tasting.

This was really good for a non-wine person like me. 

Of course they flaunted "Port".  It's not real port of it doesn't come from Porto's Douro Valley region.

I never realised the versatility of port - before dinner, after dinner, during dinner, and most importantly, at the end of a Porto Tasting tour.

We found our way home via the main town square... I was quite taken by this nude lady sitting on top of the fountain in front of the town hall.

Now here's an interesting story - City Hall is placed directly in front of a church.  Apparently the vision was to have this a major square celebrating liberty for the people and when they came to the church boss of the time with the offer to move their church, he refused.

So... they built City Hall in front of the church as you can see below:

And now we have Praca da Liberdade pride of place in Porto.

Porto has the odd green garden

Notice the tram passing in the distance:

And here's a statue of guys falling over laughing at the stupidity of people taking their photographs in the park;

Here's a close up:

That tourist tram gets around hey?

The thing about Porto is that it is on the go.

It is a city where the atmosphere is definitely "we're open for business".  I could really detect this after being here a short time.  They are workers in Porto.

Even churches are being restored:

Check out this Porto shopping street:

This lady behind the patisserie counter winked at me as I passed her...

I think she really meant business.

Maybe she though I was a sucker for sweet things.

Here's a few shots of Porto.

Situated on the Douro River makes a great start, visually and practically.

It is a bit of a mish mash:

But its developing:

And did I say picturesque?

It's picturesque, wouldn't you agree?

A quick visit to the northern suburb of Matosinhos - the beach.

And how about this giant fish net sculpture suspended in mid-air.

Our tasting tour guide Andre recommended we eat at a restaurant here - O Gaveto.

It didn't disappoint.  Great sea food - I was in raptures over the seafood soup.

They asked Ruth to walk the runway for all the diners to whistle at... I was the loudest:

The beach had an interesting sculpture titled "Tragedy at sea".

It memorialised  how the women of the city were constantly worried about their men being lost while working to put food on the table.

So that was Porto.

From here we are off to the Douro Valley - this turns out to be a real highlight of our visit.

Blog later,
Jules!