Saturday, June 3, 2017

Porto Scenes, 2

Continuing our fine first day in upper Porto...
Note: 1) much of the old city is under wraps, renovation; 2) the up and down
nature of the place; 3) the azulejos on the churches (and later, public buildings);
the azulejos are the beautiful blue tile painting thingies...of which we will see
much more; typical Portuguese everywhere

Street scene

Artsy juxtaposition of tourist train and Carmelite churches and azulejos

U of Porto Old Main; nice gift shoppe

Wait, are we in Cuzco?!










































































Dublin?!

Over the top azuleja wall on Carmelite churches; there are two of them, a boys'
and a girls'...more on this below

Detail

Inside, the usual South American gold leaf everywhere

Plus, in both churches, life-sized religious mannequins in
interesting poses

The city had a law, story goes, prohibiting his and her churches
from sharing a wall--go ahead with whatever filthy thoughts you
may have--and thus, between the church of Carmo and that of
the Carmelitas, there is a 1 meter wide 3 story apartment that
was occupied, so we have read, until the 1980s; perhaps by
persons of bi-sexual orientation?

Plus the usual gold

Full frontal of the Carmelite churches

More art deco; by my count, construction cranes outnumber churches in Porto
by 2:1

Interior of yet another interesting building

Tuk-tuk Central; as in Lisbon, Porto has a fleet of tuk-tuk tourist taxis; all-electric,
too, which is good, since tuk-tuks generally are powered by super-polluting 2-cycle
engines...

Inside the Clerigos church (but not tower)

Another beautiful old building; couldn't quite tell whether it was being
renovated or demolished

And more azulejas

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