Porto - 'I’ve got two places I like to be. Portugal is one. – Cliff Richard"

Porto, also known as Oporto in some languages, is the second-largest city in Portugal and was proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996, as "Historic Centre of Oporto, Luiz I Bridge and Monastery of Serra do Pilar".

The history of Porto dates back to around 300 BC  Celtic people being the first known inhabitants. Ruins of that period have been discovered in several areas.

In 1387, Porto was the site of the marriage of John I of Portugal and Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt; this symbolized a long-standing military alliance between Portugal and England. The Portuguese-English alliance (see the Treaty of Windsor) is the world's oldest recorded military alliance.

Dom Pedro I (12 October 1798 – 24 September 1834), nicknamed "the Liberator", was the founder and first ruler of the Empire of Brazil. As King Dom Pedro IV, he reigned briefly over Portugal, where he also became known as "the Liberator" as well as "the Soldier King". The 5-ton bronze statue is 10 meters high and it was inaugurated in 1866 to commemorate Dom Pedro in Liberdade Square.



Between 1732 and 1763, Italian architect Nicolau Nasoni designed a baroque church with a tower that became its architectural and visual icon: the Torre dos Clérigos (English: Clerics' Tower).  Construction of the church began in 1732 and was finished in 1750, while the bell tower and the monumental divided stairway in front of the church were completed in 1763.



On our walking tour, the guide mentioned we had to see a famous bookstore.  That bookstore is the Livraria Lello Porto and you have never seen anything like it. Although, come to think of it, it probably reminds you of somewhere…


Fall in love with this fabulous bookshop and the totally unique spectacle of an amazing interior architecture. This bookshop inspired (yes, that’s it !) the Harry Potter’s library in Hogwarts. In fact, J.K Rowling lived in Porto teaching English in the early 1990s. Remember those awesome stairs and the impressive mouldings? They were all inspired by this bookstore.






Downtown is also the location of the São Bento railway station. This building was constructed over a number of years, starting in 1904. The large panels of enameled tile were designed and painted by Jorge Colaç; they were completed in 1916 and the station was then inaugurated. The murals represent moments in the country's history and the multicoloured panels depict rural scenes showing the people of various regions. An interesting factoid is that there are over 20,000 tiles installed over 11 years and as you look closer, you can see where some tiles were installed in either the wrong orientation, or the wrong spot entirely!

Porto is a very colorful city and we saw many beautiful neighborhoods. It is also a city of artists and performers, and we saw many buskers and painters out and about.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lisbon - World's Leading City Destination 2018

Image
Lisbon is the stunning capital city of Portugal, and voted the World's Leading City Destination and the World's Leading City Break Destination for the World Travel Awards 2018. It certainly has a lot to see and do and we certainly saw and did! We drove in from Evora and dropped the rental car off in the morning leaving us nearly the entire day to spend exploring this ancient capital. As is our habit, we signed up for a walking tour for the afternoon and evening and set off on the 20-minute walk to where the tour started. The tour met and started at the Praça Dom Pedro IV, which Lisboans feel is the main central square of Lisbon and the true heart of the city.  Praça Dom Pedro is often referred simply to its much older name of Rossio which is also where we had caught the train to Sintra on our first day in Portugal. Rossio was founded during the 13th century as the large central square of Lisbon. Here public shows, bull fights, and royal proclamations occurred. During...
Read more

Obidos

Image
The town of Óbidos is located on a hilltop, encircled by a fortified wall. Óbidos remains a well-preserved example of medieval architecture; its streets, squares, walls and its castle are a popular tourist destination. The castle now houses a hotel.  Legend holds that Obidos was founded in 308 BC by the Celts. As the streets of Obidos are very narrow, cars are parked outside the walls -- we were able to park right next to the very cool preserved aqueduct. Originating in Usseira, the aqueduct it is 3 km long. Queen Catarina commissioned its construction In the 16th century, . The water was carried through a great number of high arches which crossed extensive vineyards and orchards and came to provide water to the town's main fountains. The Castle of Obidos has walls that date back to at least the 8th century AD with parts of the walls actually include some of the fortifications of the original settlement that may date back to the 4th century BC.  A interestin...
Read more

Mycenae and the Tomb of Agamemnon …

Image
  Familiar with the history of King Agamemnon, Austin enjoyed visiting the tomb of Agamemnon and the ruins of the palace. Unfortunately, over the years, the tomb has been raided and there were few treasures left to recover.   Agamemnon’s  Mycenaean fortress includes an entry ramp that is a long, steep climb to the infamous lion’s gate entry.  It is said that the gate was intentionally built to be steep so that it would be easier to defend the palace from marauders! Mycenae was considered to be a major centre of Greek civilization from 1600 B.C. to 1100 B.C.   Agamemnon was the commander in the Trojan War to return Helen back to Greece.  Agamemnon prepared a fleet of ships to carry the Greeks to Troy, however the winds were not favourable and he was unable to sail. As Greek mythology unfolds, we learn Agamemnon was ultimately successful in the Trojan war, and Helen was returned to Greece.  The end of the story isn’t that kind for King Agamem...
Read more