Happy birthday Asherah 😊
Today was a bit cooler and cloudy but never less we headed off to the beach for a look. The bus took us through the city again before heading west to the beach. As far as I was concerned it was not swimming weather, but many people did not agree with me. The beaches are sandy and nice enough. Headed back to town after a bit and went to the Church of the Clerics. The church and the Tower are from the 18th century, and designed by Nicolau Nasoni, who appears to have designed all the old important buildings in Porto. The tower is over 75m high (225 steps) and as it is at the top of this hilly city, the 360° view is stunning. We also had a bird’s eye view of the inside of the church as the climb took us through the upper parts of it. An interesting view point as you could see how tings were put together. Then off to the Palace da Bolsa, which is known as the Stock Exchange Palace as it was built in the mid 1800s to house the Commercial traders and later the stock exchange until quite recently. The building was nice until we got to the formal dining hall which was being set for a formal dinner that evening and was quite amazing. The church of St Francis was next door so check it out as well. The church itself was Baroque – that says it all! But the crypt was interesting and there was one area which was a glass window down which just was a room covered in bones. We finished our touring for the day with Livraria Lello which is one of the oldest bookstores in Portugal and has some amazing architecture. In the middle it has a red forked staircase connecting top and bottom, there is a stained-glass window for most of the roof and the bookcases go almost to the ceiling with glassed cases holding rarer books. It is said to an inspiration for Harry Potter as JK Rowling lived in Porto for a time – and you can certainly see how. Home and more vegetables – bit sad that is so exciting.
