Porto

When we packed to go to Spain for the year, we maxed out all the luggage we could take, Exactly 50 pound large  bags for each person, rolly carry-ons for D and I, backpacks for each of us, violins for the kids, and my CPAP machine. It was one thing to navigate the airport with these, checking the large bags and going on the plane with the rest, but now we had to get ourselves on the train to Porto and store them somewhere. We arrived for our early train, tottering through the station with all our stuff. It was rather a hilarious sight, us with all of our stuff. But we made it and found the train ride to be fairly comfortable and smooth.

We arrived in Porto mid-day, into the famous and beautiful Sao Bento station, just a 5 minute luggage roll over cobblestone to our hotel. We quickly found that the hotel did not have an elevator and hauling our luggage to the 5th floor was a challenge. So we were all a bit tired when we made it up. The room was charming and the balcony view was sweet. 

L found that there were some pools near the beach she wanted to visit and G was interested in visiting some catacombs, so D went with L while G and I walked through the touristy areas of Porto to the church. The architecture was all stone and felt heavy and gaudy, but beautiful. We explored the adjacent building and all the artwork commissioned by the Church, ending with the catacombs and ossuary. I am still unclear why they had an ossuary, why put bones there rather than somewhere else, but it was properly creepy. G was thrilled. 

A church we saw while going for lunch…buildings like this with the tiles all over the city.

Outside Igreja de Säo Francisco

View from Igreja de Säo Francisco

Ossuary inside Igreja de Säo Francisco

Crypt inside Igreja de Säo Francisco…we didn’t realize until after that this is the name of one of D’s friends as well.

I had to get a snap of this McDonald’s. There is another in Porto that is said to be amongst the most beautiful in the world. We took a quick peek and it really was quite beautiful.

Along the waterfront.

The next day we had tickets to visit the famous Lello Library in the afternoon, said to be one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world and an inspiration to J.K. Rowling as she wrote the "Harry Potter" series. Some years ago they did not charge to enter, but now they sell times tickets to enter the gorgeous bookstore.  It is said that people mobbed to see the store but weren’t purchasing enough to keep the bookstore afloat. We had plans to visit other sights throughout Porto beforehand, but everyone was still jet lagged, so we wandered around a bit, found a park to play and rest in, visited another church with catacombs, and D found that food there was not very vegan-friendly.  

Outside the Lello Bookstore; people line up an hour before their entry time.

Entrance to the Lello.

The entire store is a work of art. Here the underside of the famous staircase.

They found books to read and cozy spots while the adults soaked in the ornate architecture.

Upstairs you can view the stained glass ceiling, staircase, and woodwork.

Trying Porto’s famous franchesinhas sandwich; this restaurant even had a vegan version. We were all in agreement we were glad we tried it.

Sunset from our balcony overlooking the Säo Bento train station.