Porto. First day

As I told you sometimes before, from 2nd to 4th January, I was visiting Porto with my mother. It actually was my Xmas present for her. We arrived there in the afternoon on 2nd Jan. I had never been to Portugal, so it was quite interesting from the beginning. The first thing i noticed was that Portuguese is similar to Spanish when written but a complete different language when spoken ;-)

I didn't have a map of Porto, so we just went downtown and checked a map in a metro station. As the hotel was a bit far, we could see a bit of the city on our way there. We passed by the church of Trindade and Avenida dos Aliados. And then we found our hotel with the help of some local people.

After checking in and leaving our stuff in the room, we went for a walk in the city. This photo was taken next to the university. At the back, you can see a typical Porto church with blue and white tiles all over.



This is a typical pintoresque view in Porto, a row of old houses which look ancient and at the same time cozy.



This is the entrance hall of Sao Bento train station with its typical tiles in blue and white colours. It looks like a traditional beautiful station.



An another typical church in the top of one of the countless slopes in the city.



After a few hours, we were a bit tired and stopped for a coffee at the most famous cafe in Porto, Cafe Majestic. It was opened at the beginning of the 20th centuty and has been running since. This is it from outside:



And this is the interior:



And this is the main shopping street, Via Catarina, with its nice New Year's illumination.



Finally, we came back to the hotel along Avenida Dos Aliados, one of the main avenues in Porto and full with nice buildings and a huge Xmas tree!



More about Porto in the coming days!!