Detour Ahead

But first Porto

We arrived to Porto São Bento station and headed straight to our hotel without realizing the treasure behind us. We returned to look at it later.

Estação Ferroviária de São Bento might be the most beautiful train station famous for its azulejo panels depicting the history of Portugal.

Dom Luis I Bridge, the double-deck metal arch bridge you see in many Porto riverfront photographs. was completed in 1886 by a student of Gustave Eiffel. We walked along the top deck and returned along the bottom deck. Later during the power outage, we sat along the bank of the river and watched kids jumping from the lower deck into the river.

On Rua das Flores 222 is an enormous mural of a cat, seen on Google Maps simply as The Cat.

Mercado do Bolhão is the city’s public market. It was closed for renovations and reopened in 2022.

Livraria Lello is known as the most beautiful bookstore in the world. It is beautiful but now it is by a timed entranced and very people-y inside. Steps away we saw this one-man (and many chicken) band. And it was everything.

The Churches

At Igreja dos Clérigos you can climb the bell tower. It is a 225-step spiral staircase which was a #hardpass for me. Inside, people gathered to listen to music. The churches with the blue tile external walls were simply beautiful. Igreja de Santo Ildefonso was rebuilt in 1730 as the original church here was in ruins. Igreja do Carmo. This is a 18th century Baroque-Rococo style church. Carmelite Church is beside this church.

Here is a close up of Capela das Almas (Chapel of the Souls).

Igreja da Santíssima Trindade is where we were when the power went out

Just walking along the river, sitting and enjoying the view is an amazing experience. You can get help with the hills by taking Funicular dos Guindais up and riding Teleférico de Gaia, the aerial gondola, down. We weren’t able to go on these this trip – next time!

Viana do Castelo

We traveled to Viana do Castelo for my residency card appointment at AIMA. Everything looked promising. With a recommendation from the hotel, we began by having lunch at Casa de Pasto Maria de Perre. The experience was delightful.

With full bellies we set out to explore, making sure to check out that AIMA was open again after the recent power outage. Then we headed to the funicular to take a look at Basilica de Santa Luzia at the top of the hill. Finding the funicular not operational and the climb daunting, we took an uber to this must see spot.

After, we wandered and looked at the various historic sites in town. It is an absolutely wonderful town to visit and we hope to return to explore it in more detail.

On the morning of my AIMA appointment, we passed the time by looking around town and visiting the Museu do Traje de Viana do Castelo to learn about the traditional clothing and traditions of this town. This was also the day before Dia do Trabalhador (Labor Day) and we saw floral wreaths being delivered and hung above the businesses.

The Drive Home

So AIMA broke my heart, because I traveled all the way from southern to northern Portugal only to be presented with a slip of paper with a rescheduled appointment. Again, this could have been an email. Sad, I wanted to return ASAP, so we rented a car and began the 5.5 hour journey. So glad to be driving a rental car with full coverage as we drove into an unexpected hail storm. The pictures here are when conditions were improving. I was a bit frightened but the driver said it was no problem.

The drive home gave me time to reflect, and even though it was disappointing to be turned away, I am happy for the experience (and to have an appointment scheduled).

Power Outage

Unnerving is the word I would use for the power outage. We were in Porto when the power outage occurred and very quickly learned that all of Portugal and part of Spain was without power. People were speculating some sort of cyberattack, and it would take at least 3 days but maybe over a week to restore. We had 160 euros in cash, and partially drained phone batteries.

With all the unknowns, we decided to ration both our phone batteries and our cash. Learning that our hotel’s water pump was electric, we realized the entire hotel was also without water. So, we went out to buy some water for drinking and some water for cleaning. We also picked up a few bags of mixed nuts & dried fruit and a loaf of bread.

Food and other items were available to buy, but you had to have cash. This was an important lesson to us, to always carry a bit more cash.

The hotel staff were cheerful, and almost every Portuguese person we met had absolute faith in the power coming back on that same day. We were told to go out and enjoy the river and the city. It was great weather so we did exactly that, returning to the hotel before sunset. We learned that some people received messages to their phones that power was being restored to some areas. We ended up playing cards with another traveler in the lobby of the hotel, and we were not even 1 hand in when the power returned. Everyone erupted in cheers — in the hotel and on the street. After some celebrating, we headed out to get cash.

Back in the Algarve

Here are some outings before and after the Viana do Castelo trip.

Cerro de São Miguel

We made the short trip back to Estoi to take a look at the Palace there. This was our third failed attempt — this time it was closed due to a private event. Re-routing, we headed up to Cerro do São Miguel.

Albufeira

Winter People are the folks that live in Tavira for three months starting in January or February. So, with some friends preparing to head back to the U.S., we made trip a day trip Albufeira (with a side trip to see the ruined castle of Paderne).

It was a ruddy dirt trail, and maybe we should have gotten a 4WD vehicle for this visit to Castelo de Paderne. We survived and got to see one of the castles that is depicted on Portugal’s flag.

25 de Abril

This year was the 51st anniversary of A Revolução de 25 de Abril de 1974. The April 25th revolution deposed the dictatorial, authoritarian political regime in force for 41 years. It is called the carnation revolution because carnations were placed in the barrels of rifles – representing peace and non-violent resistance.

Maios

Earlier in April, I noticed a pile of life-size cloth dolls and snapped this photo. A Portuguese woman saw me looking and came over to explain. Through a combination of short phrases and miming, I understood that she and a group of women sewed all of these and they will be place around town soon.

May 1st is Dia do Trabalhador (Labor Day), but it also is the day you see “Maios” all around town. Maios are life-size dolls made of straw and old clothes representing everyday life or even satire. Accompanying the dolls are signs with small poems or verses. It’s fun to go out searching for them and it’s very familiar to the scarecrow festival in Cambria California!

We found some of these in Tavira and some in the nearby village of Santa Rita.