Porto, Portugal - Week Four

Well, it's officially December and the weather is getting colder in Northern Portugal. The autumn leaves on the trees are rapidly disappearing.

And did I mention the rain? We made the mistake of visiting the Botanical Garden on a rainy day. When we left the apartment it wasn't raining but once we got to the garden it was. The garden had a large collection of cactus, succulents and other familiar-looking plants.

Huge colorful lanterns had been installed all around the garden showing travel scenes from countries like Japan, Egypt, and India. This was part of the "Magical Garden" holiday luminary show.

Faced with several days in a row of rain, we made plans that included indoor or sheltered places that wouldn't be completely packed with other tourists (it is still a pandemic, after all!). Churches are always a good bet, so we headed to the Sé do Porto (Porto's Cathedral). Dark clouds were gathering, so we got there just in time.

The church interior is a blend of styles. Construction on the current cathedral began in the late 1100's but it has been changed and enlarged over the centuries. Even up to today -- the nave of the church is currently under restoration and was behind a wall of tall scaffolding. But I preferred the gothic arches in the cloister, which turned out to be a nice place to shelter under once it started to rain.

Next to the cathedral is the opulent Bishop's Palace. Clearly, bishops used to live in the lap of luxury -- everything inside the palace was decorated to the hilt and dripping with gold and silver leaf. The bishop of Porto doesn't actually live here anymore (the clergy fled the palace in the 1800's during the Civil War when Porto was under siege), but if I were a modern-day bishop, this is where I would want to live.

One more church was on our list of "must-sees" before we leave Porto -- the Clerigos church (Igreja dos Clérigos). The single bell tower of this church is one of Porto's best-known landmarks and is the tallest point in the city. We didn't climb the tower; instead we opted to go into the church itself so we could hear a little bit of the free pipe organ concert that happens almost daily at noon. The church has two historical pipe organs that are over 200 years old. In other churches, the pipe organs are hidden in the back of the church and you have to crane your neck around to see them, but in dos Clérigos both instruments are visible from every seat in the house. In this photo you can just see the pipes of each organ on either side of the altar.

We had a bit of bad luck trying to go to another popular museum. The Soares dos Reis museum is in a beautiful 18th century palace and is supposedly full of the treasures of Portuguese art -- sculpture, paintings, furniture, and other decorative arts. 

Unfortunately the lady at the front desk informed me in Portuguese that the museum was closed. Well, she *tried* to inform me in Portuguese. She didn't speak English. I don't speak Portuguese. But we did have one language in common -- finally my years of French came in handy! She said that due to nearby construction (subway extension) and COVID, they had closed off most of the museum. Only two small exhibits and the garden were open for visitors, and only two sculptures by António Soares dos Reis (the guy who they named the museum after) were on display. This one is "O Desterrado" (The Exile).

Since early November, we have been watching crews of workers install Christmas decorations everywhere. It seems like they finished installing them more than a week ago, but none of them have been lit at night until now. Apparently here in Porto, the holiday season starts on precisely December 1st and not a moment before. 

The tree in front of the town hall is 34 meters high and puts on a constantly changing display of colors and animations.

This was our final week in Porto. Next week we will rent a car and head south, where hopefully it will be a few degrees warmer and maybe a bit less rainy. Até à próxima, Porto!