A Busy Day in Porto

In the next street over from our hotel is the walking route that leads to the Sé do Porto, or the Porto Cathedral. It's a massive structure, the cloisters of which are covered in azulejo tiles.

The church itself is much plainer than I expected, consisting of a mostly granite walls and and pillars.

They left the ornamentation for the alters.

It looks as though the intricate carving on the pillars of the side alters is on wood, not plaster, covered in gilt. You can see where some of the gilt has worn away at the bottom of the pillar.

Off the cloister is a wonderful room which I assumed was a library of some sort. Sadly, there was no guide available and no signage, so it's really just a guess.

We ventured upstairs to the roof but it was pouring down with rain so stayed only long enough to get a shot of the cloisters below.

Back downstairs there was another room off the cloisters which apparently holds the remains of Santo Aurelio and São Pacifico. Just barely visible inside the ornate cases are their remains.

The Chapel of São Vicente was the last stop in the Cathedral.

On the back wall is an organ that has little wooden drapes carved into it.

Next it was off to the Bishop's Palace, which is on the same plaza.

A dramatic stairway leads up a flight to an even more dramatic stairway and atrium.

The Palace has many large rooms, most of which are quite sparsely furnished.

This intricately inlaid chest was breathtaking.

There was an exposition of the paintings of Manuel Maria Lúcio, a Portuguese amateur painter, bibliophile and art collector, being featured in the palace.

Now, back to that magnificent staircase. It wasn't until I was leaving that I took a good look at the portraits painted on the wall.

Did the Catholic church run out of money and get a group of kids in to paint? Scandalous albeit hilarious.

On the way back to the flat we saw that the Museu do Porto Aequeiossitio (Archeological Museum of Porto) was open. We walked inside to find what was essentially a multi-layered archeological dig.

The sign said that the site at "Rua D Hugo 5 is an extraordinary place where each layer and each ruins has its own story, displaying moments from a distant past." There are ruins of an Iron Age House dating from the 2nd-1st centuries BCE, which shed light on the origins of Porto. At a deeper level dating to the 4th-3rd centuries BCE, clay floors with materials associated with the Mediterranean were discovered.

There are remains from the Roman period with materials from earlier centuries used in the walls of a Roman house. Fast forward to the 12th-13th century where foundations of another house was found and, on the opposite side of the dig, evidence of where the interior was a connecting alleyway between the Romanesque fence and Rua Dom Hugo in the 14th century. Pretty remarkable that in this tiny space there is evidence of so much life.

The afternoon saw us walking into town to find the Nossa Senhora das Almas church, the route of which brought us into a less touristy part of town. The patterned, cobbled sidewalks were beautiful and really contributed to the look of the city.

I can't tell you how curious I am about what they sold in this store.

Just across the street from said shop is Nossa Senhora das Almas, aka Our Lady of Souls Church, one of the most photographed churches in Porto.

I don't know if it's because of the downtown location, but this is the first time I've seen evidence of the deterioration of the tiles.

This is one of those churches that asks that it not be photographed. In my defense, I didn't see the sign until I had committed the offence.

This was the first time that I noticed something at the alter that reminded me of Islamic symbolism. See what looks like a stairway that gets smaller and smaller as it reaches the cross? That reminds me of something I saw years ago at the Alhambra, representing the seven steps to heaven.

From there we were off to lunch at the Mercado de Bolhão. We past this derelict building along the way and wished that I could buy it and restore it to its former glory.

The Mercado do Bolhão is an enormous Market that sells virtually everything you could think of, predominantly foodstuffs.

Lunch was at Culto de Bacalhão, a very modern, stylish restaurant. For the uninitiated, bacalhão is dried salt cod. It is a delicacy in many Mediterranean cuisines, especially Portuguese.

Unsurprisingly, virtually everything on the menu is made with bacalhão. Our waiter helped us choose from the large array of dishes, and he did a great job. We started with a salad of shredded codfish with onion, garlic, black olive and parsley, drizzled with olive oil and dusted with fresh black truffles. It was light, and crunchy and full of flavor. I will make this salad when I get hone, though probably with salmon instead of salt cod.

At the recommendation of the waiter, we shared the salad then shared two entrees. The first was Charcoal Grilled Codfish Collar accompanied by new potatoes and several varieties of olives: clean, salty, and delicious.

The second was Codfish with Oven Puree. That's a horrible name and description. It was basically spiced mashed potatoes which were then finished under the grill, along with a sauce of red and yellow peppers and onions. It sounds basic, but it was really delicious.

(I think there must have been a glut of parsley in the kitchen that day.) Wines to accompany the dishes were an Alvarinho (white) for Bruce and a Monte de Zambujeiro (red) for me.

We thought we were just too full for dessert, but we'd been having a lovely chat with the manager, Miguel, and he said he had a little treat for us to try, if we could stay a bit longer. What a treat it was. It was the house dessert, which is a Mil Folhas, sort of a riff on a Mille Feuille with egg custard and vanilla ice cream. What makes it special is that in place of thin sheets of pastry, they make it with oven dried cod skin.

It totally worked. The crunchy, saltiness of the cod skin balanced out the sweetness of the custard and ice cream perfectly. A revelation!

After that huge lunch, we staggered downstairs and wandered around the market. I'm a lover of funghi, so the mushroom stand attracted me. I wanted those blue ones!

There were stalls selling fresh shellfish to eat there, lots of places to get glasses of wine, pasta, charcuterie, candied fruits, nuts, cheeses, unlimited cans of sardines (a Portuguese specialty) and even cans of chocolate sardines.

We walked home from the market and decided to walk over the iron bridge that takes you to the other side of the Douro. We passed this really odd looking building, which turned out to be the Serra do Pilar Monastery.

Across the street from that is a little park which we wandered around till it started to get dark.

Walking back over the bridge, I loved how the lights played off the seagulls.

It was a long day, but so much fun.