Portugalia dia um

So...... It's been 10 years, but I finally made it back to Portugal. I cannot express how much I love this place. The history is incredible, the people are amazing, and the bolos are delicious. We had a short 3 days so I wasn't sure exactly where to start. So, in the end, I made no plans whatsoever. I called a couple people I wanted to see, but basically made it up as we went along. I think it worked out well...

So, we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express which was really nice and newish. Apparently there is a qualifying game going on between Portugal and Denmark, so hotels everywhere were booked, so we were a little outside Porto, but no biggie. I was glad we at least got 2 twin beds.


First thing in the morning, we got up for breakfast and they had a bunch of bolos for the taking. That's really all I ate. Portuguese know how to make their pastries. I may be saying this a little early, but I think they could put the French to shame.


So, I decided to upgrade the vehicle...
I LOVE this thing. It was small, fast, comfortable, and radio was decent if there would have been anything good on. I haven't driven a manual in a while but I am now considering converting. It is definitely a possibility when I get back to the States. There are also a lot of cobblestone roads. They are a little bumpy, but not bad to ride on.


We were right near the ocean, so of course we had to stop by there first thing. Have I mentioned Tracy loves the beach? The beach is very pretty with a lot of jagged rocks to make a distinguished coastline.


There was a lot of movement in the water. The waves were gigantic which created a lot of churn in the water. We walked out on this rock wall out near a lighthouse. The waves were about 20 feet high and were going over the retainer wall.


As they crashed into the rocks, it would shoot water everywhere. It was pretty amazing.


You can see that the area we were walking on was completely soaked and we were over 25 feet above the water.


Tracy looked better


Sometimes it would cover the rock completely and make it disappear for a few seconds.


My favorite area of Porto, the Ribeira (Riverside). On the North is the city of Porto, while the bridge crosses over the River Douro (people can cross on top and bottom) to the other side, Vila Nova de Gaia. We were standing on the Gaia side with all the Wineries. We didn't have time for a tour, but has an amazing view of Porto with all of its character.


Those boats are the style they used to use to transport the barrels of wine up and down the river. No longer used, but very indicative of the style of Portugal.

Along the river, those colorful rows of buildings are many little Cafes, restaurants and shops. Walking around with no particular purpose still creates such an amazing energy there. Unless you have to go to the bathroom, then it is less fun.


There are actually 2 levels. There are shops and restaurants on each level. It is normally very busy, but we were there while it was raining early in the morning, so many of the restaurants hadn't opened yet.


So, we decided to head up to the area where I lived and walked around all day, Avenida de Fernao Magalhaes. I walked up and down that street all day everyday. It seemed like forever to get down to the Ribeira. Driving, it took about 10 minutes, and we got lost a couple times. Here is the Praca de Velasquez. We had to pass through this U shaped row of buildings all the time to get to the Mission Office, Presidents house and the church.


So naturally I became quite familiar with Cafe Bom Dia (Good Morning Cafe). They had so many great bolos. There is a good variety there. So naturally we had to stop and try some.


I can't remember many of their names, but I haven't met one I didn't like.


I was recreating a picture I took in the same spot when I was on my mission here 10 years ago. It is one of Tracy's favorites. I was scaring a group of pigeons back then. Now it just seemed odd. There were a group of guys in the cafe in the background getting a good laugh.


This is the Mission President's house. He was gone that day so we didn't bother stopping. Very nice place in a very nice neighborhood. That is where I spent my first night here in Portugal.


We drove the streets trying to find places I remembered. All of these fuzzy details came back to me and it felt like I never left. We wandered down random streets that all looked so familiar to me, but couldn't quite remember how. As we stopped down one street, we ran into an old friend that was entering his studio. Abilio is a great guy. On one of our P-Days, he took us out to go fishing in the Atlantic. He loved to talk to us about anything. We spent a lot of time discussing the church, God, soccer, life, etc. It was great sitting down and talking to him for a while. We laughed about old stories and life over the last 10 years. In the middle of talking, he interupted himself multiple times to say "mas, es mais gordo" to basically say "hey, you've put on some weight." This would be a recurring theme throughout the trip.


This is O Torre (the Tower) of Porto. It is from the 1700s, but is right in the heart of the city. You can see it from many points in the city, and on a good day, you can climb up and see for a ways off. It was rainy and cold, so we took this from the car as we drove by to get back down to the Ribeira for lunch.


This is the main Praca down by the Ribeira. I love the style and the character that each building and color provides. Since it was wet, we ate at a little cafe just left of this picture.


I have tried to convince my wife of how good Portuguese food is. I love it. I had a chicken and rice dish, which was incredible. They have about 50 different types of dishes that are all done with chicken and rice and I never got sick of em.


Afterwords, we walked up to the "Terceiros de Sao Francisco". It is a very old church with catacombs in the basement. The interior was extremely gaudy. Incredibly detailed woodwork from the baroque period lined every corner. It was amazing to see. We couldn't take pictures, so google it.


Afterwords, we went down to the basement to check out the catacombs. Tracy perked up. Many infamous or church-related individuals are buried here. Most of them either have the name Joao, Jose, or Maria.


This is a shot of the floor. Underneath the grate is a relatively large room full of bones and other remains.


This is a typical street in downtown Porto. Narrow with overbearing buildings on either side. Many times with cobble stones and without sidewalks. We navigated quite a few of these to walk from the Ribeira up to the City Centre. We got drenched, but it was a lot of fun.


By the time we got to the City Centre, we were drenched, cold, and tired. We stood there long enough to get this shot of City Hall and a statue of a naked women. That was good enough for us.


We got home and changed so we could meet up with another old friend. They were about our age and got married not too long before we met them. They live close to our old house when we lived in Ermesinde. We always dropped by to talk to them. We could talk about everything. It was great to see them again. When we first met up with Ana, I said "I know, I know, I have put on some weight since last time," and we just kinda joked how we'd both changed. Later, when Tiago met up with us, the first thing he said was "wow, you're a bit fatter." We all had a pretty good laugh. We went to this cafe in Leca de Palmeira near the port. We had a Francesinha. It was amazing. They are very Portugues, specifically Porto. It is a type of sandwich with all sorts of meat and cheese, fried, and covered in this special sauce. Amazing. Ana ad Tiago are pretty awesome. It was great to see them again.


The Francesinha. We had a seafood one. Not the same, but still pretty awesome.

Bath Abbey

A friend that Gavin works with invited us to a rugby game in Bath, so I thought I would spend the afternoon there and meet Gavin and his friend after work. Turns out there wasn't a game, but I had a nice afternoon anyway.

Gavin's work did a reward for the people in his department. They were going to do a James Bond type of car driving, but that got canceled. They were going to do mini golfing instead, but that got rained out, so they did a afternoon tea and toured the Bath Abbey. Just as good as James Bond driving! Gavin really enjoyed the tour and told me I should check it out sometime, so that's what I did with my afternoon.

I love the high ceilings with the fans on top.

They have stained classes depicting different events from Christ's life.

The fans on the ceiling.

This is the roof of the ceiling.

You can see where the columns are. There is a hole there where they can see into the hall, but I didn't get close enough to see.

This is where the bell ringers pull the ropes to play the bells.

This is also where they can play the bells. Here, just one person can play a song compared to the ten needed to pull the ropes.

This is in the bell chamber. We were up there when the bells went off for the half past the hour. It was really loud.

This is the biggest bell they had. It weighs about 2 tons.

We were able to go on the roof of the Abbey. It was an incredible view. It was such a beautiful day as well.

That's the tour guide and the little winding stair case we walked up. It was over 200 steps to get there.

Walking along the roof.

That's the top of the Abbey, where we went.

Some of the stairs. We went down a different staircase going down, but the ones going up were smaller and steeper.

Looking up the Abbey over the Grand Doors.

Liverpool

While we were touring Wales, we stayed in Liverpool. Our hotel had a beautiful pool. The night we went to the pool, we had it all to ourselves.

Our last day there, we wandered around Liverpool, checking out the different Beatles sites. This statue is where the original Cavern Club stage was.

Now there is a cafe called Lucy in the Sky.

After playing at the Cavern Club, the Beatles would go hang out at the Grapes.

Matthew Street, where the Cavern Club is. There are a lot of bar along it.

The Cavern Club. This is where they played when they first started out.

Liverpool's skyline.

It was raining pretty hard during the morning, but I couldn't hold my umbrella and take pictures at the same time, so Gavin held the umbrella for me.

Part of the Harbor. People had their boats all along the square by all if the shops and restaurants.

We had lunch at a place called Circo. The food was really good, but it was a weird place.

Circo.

One of the main attractions in Liverpool is the Beatles Story Exhibition. It's really expensive, but a lot of fun.

Elvis's shoes.

The drums set from when the Beatles were the Quarry Men. I think this was John's group before he found the rest of the Beatles.

George Harrison's first guitar.

High school pictures.

The Beatles at the Cavern Coffee Club.

An exact replica of the stage they preformed on at the Cavern Club. It was really small and intimate. During the audio tour, it said that the fans who heard them play here were the only ones who really got to hear them play live. Once they started playing in other venues, the girls were screaming so loud, you couldn't hear them play.

Abbey Road Studios, where they recorded most of their records.

I was a little creeped out by the mannequins, but this is what they looked like recording their first album.

John Lennon's mohair suit.

I think I see my mom in there somewhere. :)

They had an airplane set up so you could sit and pretend you were on the flight with them landing in New York for the Ed Sullivan show.

Eleanor Rigby's grave. This was the actual prop from the movie.

Sgt. Peppers

"Are you blueish? You don't look blueish."

Ringo's Sgt. Pepper's outfit.

John Lennon's glasses. They were bought by some guy at auction for $1 million, then donated to the museum.

Original copies of John Lennon's two books.

John Lennon's white piano.

The coast line.

Since there is no Thanksgiving, everywhere is already decorating for Christmas

One of the radio stations.

One our way out of town, we drove past some famous landmarks.

Abbey Road.

This was right below the Abbey Road sign. I have no idea what happened, but am rather curious.

Everything in Liverpool has something to do with the Beatles. The cabs are Fab Four cabs, there is a Hard Days Night hotel, Sgt. Pepper's Cafe, etc.

Penny Lane. They have to really screw in the sign because people keep stealing it.

Penny Lane. John Lennon wrote the song about his childhood here.

Paul McCartney's childhood home.

Gavin was told by some work friends that Chester is a great little place to visit. It was out of our way a bit, but we decided to visit anyway. We got there and Gavin decided that he didn't want to walk around and it was getting late, so we left. It looked like it was pretty cute, though.