Scrapbook: Porto

I went to Portugal in April - my first time in that part of the world - and enjoyed it SO much, I can't wait to go back again. The main reason for going was to visit friends in Lisbon, but I flew into Porto (partly because Ryanair doesn't fly to Lisbon, and partly because I wanted to see as much as I could in a short time), and travelled to Lisbon on the train.
Being without a laptop at the time, these photos stayed on the memory chip in my camera for months, and as a result, very few people have seen them.

After storing my bags in a locker at Sao Bento station (an adventure in and of itself) I found my way down the steep streets to the river front. The colours of the buildings were just magical and it was such a lovely place to wander. Everything seemed mega-cheap after London too.

I ate lunch in this restaurant, at the table nearest the river on the far left (I'd only been gone for three minutes when I took this picture and already someone's sitting there). It was the first warm weather I'd been in for months and months, as it was early spring when I left Australia, and I arrived in time for another autumn and another winter, so it felt wonderful to be in the sun. Plus, I'd taken a day off work to go - so I knew EXACTLY WHICH CLASS I should have been having, which made the experience all the sweeter. The teachers amongst you will understand ;)

So many of the buildings look like this! stunning architecture and gorgeous tiling on the outside... so many were run down and derelict though; it was distressing. I just wanted to buy them all and do them up; they'd be so beautiful. The only problem would be choosing which one to live in.

YUM YUM. Two of each, please :D

Sao Bento station, of the interesting locker room. Stunning atrium; I squeezed myself into a corner to get as much into the shot as I could. Interesting timetable too - being a reasonably organised and cautious traveller, before I'd set off anywhere I'd checked on the trains to Lisbon, and returned that afternoon to catch what appeared to be the third last of the day. Not so; it was the last, and I had to run for it. I caught it ok, but still don't know why the other two trains weren't running; double and triple checking of the timetable revealed no secrets.

This was in the city centre, at a place called Praca da Liberdade. I just thought it was beautiful.