After visiting Gaia and the Porto wine caves, we literally climbed to the cathedral. From there, the view was superb. A sea of reddish roofs waving as the streets go up and down, and with Torre dos Clerigos in the background as a nice outpost or continuing with the previous analogy, a lighthouse.
Afterwards, we came back downtown and went to visit a famous modernist bookshop called Lello. It was fantastic! so beautiful! It reminded me of Gaudi. This library could well be in Barcelona ;-) And it is still selling books. Maybe, the most eye-catching element is the artistic twisted staircase. Have a look:
The last stop that day was next to our hotel, in the city hall square. There was a huge Xmas tree with nice illumination. This week I found out that Xmas tree has been the largest ever and has been included in the Guiness Records Book. This is the city hall:
Next day, we visited Mercado do Bolhao, a pintoresque open-market. My Portuguese officemate told me to go there because it was special. But actually, it looks like any market in Spain... maybe this kind of markets is typical Iberian...
The morning was foggy, but I did not want to leave Porto without watching the city from the top of Torre dos Clerigos. So, foggy or not, up I went and enjoyed the view. The sun rays heated the city at that time and fog banks vanished... I was quite lucky!
And finally, on our way to the airport, we stopped at Casa da Musica, a nice building designed by a Dutch architect.
After that, flight and back to Valencia. Two nice days in a surprisingly beautiful city. Really enjoyable!
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