Back in Spain

It will be a very short post tonight since we spent the day in the car. I took some pics of the view from the room we stayed in last night. 

This is the front door. When I finally reached the lady and she showed up to let us in, she looked at Kim's bag ànd asked if we needed help. I said no, but she said, are you sure?  It's at the top. She wasn't kidding. 41 stair steps later we were there. She showed us the room and the first thing I noticed was there was no bathroom. When I asked about it she said it's outside. I'm sure my jaw dropped. I was thinking all kinds of weird things about getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, down 41 stairs and outside in this shady part of town, then back up all those stairs when it dawned on me that she meant it's outside the room, not outside the buulding. Then the other shoe dropped when she said it's shared with another guest. I don't do shared bathrooms with strangers, so I wasn't happy about that. Sure enough, when I walked down the hall to get ready for bed, it was occupied. 

View across from the apartment. It was really more like a hostal with a shared kitchen and each room had its own cabinet and shelf in the fridge.

Another one of those weird face and feet sculptures. After a bit of research I found out that these square face sculptures are the work of Luis Queimadela, collectively called "InVitro". There are 14 of them around the city.

We stopped at a rest area to get breakfast and it was very busy. Apparently it's a popular donut shop and favorite with the bus tours.

Kim needed a little pick me up this afternoon.

Headed back to Spain.

Saying goodbye to Portugal.

Some major scaffolding on a bridge.

Our first glimpse of the rock of Gibraltar in the background.

It's holiday Inn tonight. No chasing down owners for access. It wouldn't be so bad if we weren't overseas and I could use my phone for text and calls. I can only use it when I have access to WiFi or it costs an arm and a leg.

More tomorrow.

Porto, Portugal

I walked around the property this morning taking pictures of all the different plants while waiting on breakfast. These are just a few of them. 

Holly

The little vineyard.

Grapes

A palm tree that looks like a pineapple 

Our breakfast table 

Tomato, olive oil and herb toast

Bacon and eggs

Portuguese breads 

Doing laundry on the street. That was a first for me

We drove into Porto, the city of tile facades. It is the second largest city in Portugal with a population of 1.8 million. It is also where Portugal gets its name: the combined Celtic Latin name of Portus Cale. 

I fell in love with the old tiles on the face of the buildings and would love to bring a bunch of it home with me.

Closeup of a building

The old city of Porto from the Gaia side of the river Douro.

One of the çity's famous exports is port wine. Sandeman is a brand of Port and Sherry wines. Sandeman cellars are located in a granite building dated 1797 and feature a logo of a caped man named Don dressed in a Portuguese student's cape and a Spanish sombrero. 

We took a tour of the cellars and this was our tour guide. 

The Vila Nova de Gaia, directly across the river from the old town of Porto is where the wine is aged, bottled and exported. The cooler climates and humidity make it ideal for the aging process.

A cellar (or cave) wall.

This barrel holds 20,786 litres but only had a bit over 17,000 in it. 

The tawny Port.

Jo Anne, I know you will remember when we left the Edinburgh train station and started climbing stairs and every time we thought we were at the top, there was another set that just went on forever. Well that's what we faced today. Fortunately we weren't lugging our suitcases up them like you and I were "trying to do. 

Graffiti on the wall partway up the stairs. Kim and I discussed it's meaning at dinner. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

More tile facades

These pictures were taken in the old train station in Porto.

Breathtaking tile work.

Love the lamp post

They even tiled this rock.

The walls are covered in beautiful purple morning glorys.

Fortress wall

Looking down on the roofs from the top of all those stairs we climbed.

Looking back at the Gaia side.

We left Porto and headed to Aveiro

Old Aveiro train station. I found a phone booth outside the train station to call the apartment owner for our accommodations tonight. Yep another one of those. 

The sidewalks in Aveiro are tiled also depicting many nautical themes.

Not sure what this sculpture represents. All I can think of when I see it is a popcorn box.

Aveiro is known as the Venice of Portugal because of all the canals.

Colorful gondolas.

View from our outside table at dinner.

Another view.

Kim had Foijoada de Leitao con arroz. That's the rice and bean soup in the top of the photo. I had salad. They are very big on pork in Portugal. Our hosts last night said it's because its a very poor country and they use every bit of the pig. Yuk!

So far on this trip I have logged 164,732 steps and 44 miles. Seems like a lot more!