Porto's Cathedral Se And The Ribeira

This and the next few posts recount our 2nd very fine day in Porto, a city now high on our list of favorites. Ambience, scenic and architectural interest, and lots of wine.

The day did not begin well; bus #906, for two days now, was
the wildest ride ever not in an amusement park--warp factor
5 down unbelievably tiny alleys en route from the beach in Gaia
to Trindade in up-town Porto; the bus driver evidently side-swiped
this car and its driver caught up with and forced the bus to stop
and answer; a discussion ensued; so far as we could tell, other
passengers defended the car driver; another bus arrived, we all
piled on, and the rest is history

Humongous fountain in Rebeira

Best shot of Porto's Cathedral Se I could get; tour buses were
massing for attack

Inside it is over-the-top 12th century Romanesque; dark even
with floodlights going

Elevation; there were Gothic renovations in
later centuries, and I think someone tried to
make the arches a little more pointy

Choir, altar, gold, etc.

Scary water feature

Main facade and twisty device

So the main reason for visiting Cathedral Se (apart from the
welfare of your immortal soul) is the views from the terrace

Which is mostly of roof tops

And other churches

And still other churches

Ditto

Ditto again

Etc.; I have deleted several more

At length, we walked on, and down, through
the alleys of Ribeira

Where real people actually live

With their dogs

Best potted rubber plant ever, so far

Everyday scene

And on this alley

We had the daily special, menu da dia, at a seriously
hole-in-the-wall restaurant, seating for 18; the other
parties were French, who seemed quite pleased, so it
must have been good

Not pictured, the cream of veg soup and bread; on the plate is
a small house salad, big orders of frites and riz, and a breaded/
fried pork steak Vicki has mostly consumed; with a beer for
me and American champagne for her...10 euros total!OK, it
was the blandest meal I have ever consumed, but we were
happy; especially after the extravagance of the previous day

We moved on: there were yet more churches and other things to
see

Before getting to the other side and the long-awaited tasting

Porto's Bento Train Station

Some train stations are the subject of great art (e.g., Monet), some train stations become great art museums (Musee d'Orsay), and some train stations house great art. The Bento station in Porto is in this last category, with its main hall azulejos (and also some polychrome tilework too).

Bento train station

 

And in polychrome too

Kindergarten field trip

Roman forebears

It's also a train station

Street scene from the entrance

Porto's Lello Bookstore

The Lello Livraria is near the top of everyone's list of the world's most beautiful bookstores. It is certainly the only one I know of that charges 5 euros just to enter and gawk and be pushed and shoved by people trying get selfies or photos of loved ones on the staircase. We spent an half hour there, and Vicki was the only person I saw a) reading or b) buying a book. (You get your ticket's worth back, applied to said book purchase). No comparison with Buenos Aires' El Atenio Grand Splendid (http://roadeveron.blogspot.pt/2017/01/el-atenio-grand-splendid.html). But Vicki liked it better than I did.

The Lello

Official historical marker; and in English too

Pessoa again; on a different storefront

Strangely, it's 5 euros if you book online, 4 if
you just want to walk in; maybe this is a "print
fights back" sort of thing?

Interior from front; it's nice Gothic carved wood; not gilded

The stained glass ceiling

Non-stained glass ceiling

Unidentified authors here and there

Looking down from 2nd floor

2nd floor mob

Vicki reading about the Carmen San Diego

Note stained light on lower bit

Staircase

Light fixture

You've heard of book trolleys perhaps? This is
a book trolley track

Back downstairs

I had to create a scene and knock several people unconscious to get this shot

Parthian shot