Day 114 ~ Porto, Portugal

May 3, 2022

70 degrees and sunny. We have been so blessed with good weather for lion's share this voyage!  

“Portuguese is cheerful and sweet, like a language of birds.” – Paulo Rónai

Our guide today wouldn't agree with this quote. She claimed often that her countrymen are "tough cookies" for whom profanity is the true mother tongue. She warned us not to be shocked by how often we'd hear the F-bomb dropped, but honestly, I didn't hear a bit of it as we explored the old section of Porto.

The River D'Oro (River of Gold) divides the Old Town from Gaia, the bedroom community on the opposite bank that sprang up because it's too expensive for most to live in the Old Town. Notice one of the seven bridges the city boasts in the background.

A Victorian train station that only services trains to France now. The murals on the walls are actually millions of hand-painted tiles!

The marriage of King John I and Phillipa of Lancaster (sister of King Henry IV of England) in 1387 was the start of a long and fruitful relationship between Portugal and England. Portugal leaned heavily on its English ally in its many dust-ups with neighboring Spain.

This imposing fellow in the center of the scene is Prince Henry the Navigator, 3rd surviving son of King John and Queen Phillipa. Never in direct line to the throne, he nevertheless influenced the fortunes of Portugal more than any sitting king.

I remember learning about Henry the Navigator when I was in grade school. We studied all the early explorers, but Prince Henry was different from...say,...Magellan or Columbus. He stayed home and made it possible for others to explore more easily. He helped develop newer, lighter and more maneuverable ships. He donated houses to bring together experts in all the sciences of the day--grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, astronomy, and music (yes! Music was considered a science!)--to form the backbone of a university. Cartography was a passion of his and he supported mapmakers on every journey.

The DH and Dave checking out the quaint architecture of Old Town.

Our guide told us an odd story about a connection between JK Rowling and Porto. Apparently, the author lived in Portugal for a while, and worked as a waitress in one of the restaurants there while she wrote the first three chapters of Harry Potter and drafted the rest of the first novel in the series. 

According to our guide, the black capes and crimson hats worn by graduating college students were inspiration for the uniforms at Hogwarts! 

Today was graduation day, so we saw many young people decked out like young wizards and witches.  (Frankly, I'd love to have a hat like that, but don't know how I'd pack it so it wasn't ruined by the time we get home...) 

Porto is a city of 7 bridges that span the River D'oro. Here's another one:

We walked across the top level of this bridge, sharing the space with their subway train that ran in both directions down the middle of the space. It disappeared underground at the far end of the bridge. 

We had to ride a bus from the port to our starting point for the walking tour and then it was a very up and down day. I'm pretty good on level surfaces, but add an incline or decline to cobbles and uneven pavement, and it becomes a slog. In fact, one of our group caught a toe on the pavement and very nearly went tail-over-teakettle. Fortunately, she managed to stay upright, but not before stumbling forward about eight feet in staggering steps. She could've been badly hurt if she hadn't been able to stop herself. 

In our demographic, that sort of thing can ruin your whole day... 

I don't know why the door to the cathedral known as the Se was flanked by two of these serpents. But I looked around half expecting to see St. George ready to pop out and slay them. We've seen at least one representation of St. George and the Dragon in every Mediterranean port. Oh! Perhaps this was the inspiration for JK Rowling's basilisk in one of the later Potter books? 

More soon