June | 2017 | Journey with Phyllis and Jay

Yes, this is how many miles we walked on Sunday.

Here is the Se Cathedral.

Like all of the churches in Porto, it is an eye popping example of Baroque artistry and is covered from floor to ceiling in gilded carving.

Here is a view of the street below the Cathedral. If you look closely you can see the open shutter of our apartment window on the top floor of the middle building.

Below is the Church of the Franciscans. It is the most over the top of all the churches in Porto. No photography is allowed inside: I have included a photo from the guidebook. The Franciscans, of course, were not a flashy bunch. All of the guilded carving was added to the church in the 18th century by rich benefactors. Lots of money floating around at the time. The Portuguese Court was one of the wealthiest in a Europe.

The next pictures are from the tower and museum adjacent to the Church. Here we see the upside of being a wealthy woman in 18th century Porto. The chair is described as being for the transport of “ladies and the infirm”.

Then there’s the downside; this pic is from the catacombs in the church tower:

We strolled around in the afternoon.

Revived by a glass of wine, we decided to take an afternoon cruise on the Douro. There are six bridges across the river from Porto to Vila de Gaia, which is home to many wineries.

This bridge, the Maria Pia Bridge, was designed by Gustav Eiffel.

You would think that that would have been it, and it would have been, until I realized that it was the last day of the Miro exhibit at the museum of contemporary art. It was also the last day of a gigantic arts festival, and the museum was open late, with free admission. We taxied over and arrived just after 6:00. HUGE crowd, so we knew we were in the right place. 😬