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Wap's Euro Travelogue
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Desertbreh
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wap
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View out our hotel window. St. Vitas cathedral and Prague castle in the background.
Close up and interior of Our Lady Before Tyn (
) on Old Town Square in the first pics above. It dates from the 1380's.
Close up and interior of Our Lady Before Tyn (
) on Old Town Square in the first pics above. It dates from the 1380's.
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MexicanYarisTK
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Prague is an amazing city, so much to see in such a short distance. Except for the hills
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wap
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MexicanYarisTK wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2023 2:57 pm Prague is an amazing city, so much to see in such a short distance. Except for the hills
's 
with the hills, 
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MexicanYarisTK
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Its just long to walk up there where it can drain the energy. But definitely not an issue for a constantinoplite.wap wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2023 5:26 pmMexicanYarisTK wrote: ↑Fri Oct 13, 2023 2:57 pm Prague is an amazing city, so much to see in such a short distance. Except for the hills
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wap
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MexicanYarisTK wrote: ↑Mon Oct 16, 2023 10:57 pmIts just long to walk up there where it can drain the energy. But definitely not an issue for a constantinoplite.
It is a bit hilly in places, but not too bad, And nothing someone from a hilly town such as yourself couldn't handle, as you noted.
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wap
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So, Portugal. Spent 8 days there earlier this month. Flew into Porto and immediately took a train south to Coimbra. So we'll start there.
Coimbra is an old university town. The University of Coimbra was established in the year 1290. :impressive.
The main university building, which is at the top of the hill in the center of town.
there is a chapel in the building.
Couple views of the town from the campus.
A lecture hall. It was kinda dark in there, sorry.
We like old churches. Beautiful architecture inside and out and a quiet, peaceful place to to sit and rest for a few minutes. The cathedral of Coimbra is from the 1100's so it's Romanesque, or pre-Gothic. Still very cool in its own way.
A 14th century Byzantine princess is buried there.
A few miles outside of town are the Roman ruins of a town called Conimbriga, the origin of the name of Coimbra, which was inhabited from approximately the 2nd century BC through the 4th century AD, when it was sacked and destroyed by the Swuebians.
There are some amazingly well-preserved mosaics there.
All the homes had a fresh water supply and central heating.
In the museum is a picture of what the Roman town looked like.
Our hotel had a roof-top bar so we went up there to have a glass of port one night. This is the view of the town. The buildings at the top of the hill are all university buildings.
Our last day in Coimbra, before catching a train back up to Porto, we went to see an old monastery, Santa Clara a Nova, built in the 1600's. It's the "new monastery" as the old one, built down closer to the river in the 1300's, kept flooding so they finally built a new one up a hill.
The altar was
The ruins of the old monastery:
That's all for now. I'll post some pics from Porto later.
Coimbra is an old university town. The University of Coimbra was established in the year 1290. :impressive.
The main university building, which is at the top of the hill in the center of town.
there is a chapel in the building.
Couple views of the town from the campus.
A lecture hall. It was kinda dark in there, sorry.
We like old churches. Beautiful architecture inside and out and a quiet, peaceful place to to sit and rest for a few minutes. The cathedral of Coimbra is from the 1100's so it's Romanesque, or pre-Gothic. Still very cool in its own way.
A 14th century Byzantine princess is buried there.
A few miles outside of town are the Roman ruins of a town called Conimbriga, the origin of the name of Coimbra, which was inhabited from approximately the 2nd century BC through the 4th century AD, when it was sacked and destroyed by the Swuebians.
There are some amazingly well-preserved mosaics there.
All the homes had a fresh water supply and central heating.
In the museum is a picture of what the Roman town looked like.
Our hotel had a roof-top bar so we went up there to have a glass of port one night. This is the view of the town. The buildings at the top of the hill are all university buildings.
Our last day in Coimbra, before catching a train back up to Porto, we went to see an old monastery, Santa Clara a Nova, built in the 1600's. It's the "new monastery" as the old one, built down closer to the river in the 1300's, kept flooding so they finally built a new one up a hill.
The altar was
The ruins of the old monastery:
That's all for now. I'll post some pics from Porto later.
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MexicanYarisTK
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Dat byzantine.
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Desertbreh
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wap
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Happy to do my part.Desertbreh wrote: ↑Fri Oct 25, 2024 6:07 pm Way to counterbalance the Hawk Tuah conversation Ron. Looking good.
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wap
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Porto!
Porto is the second city of Portugal. Second largest, oldest, and the source for the name of the country. It is also the center of the port wine industry.
Took the train up from Coimbra and switched to the metro. This was our first view coming up from the Metro station. They do love their blue tile there.
It's also a pretty city. Very walkable with some pedestrian-only streets, like this one:
And plenty of pretty buildings. The construction in the foreground is digging for a new metro line. Construction is booming there. Saw building sites and cranes everywhere.
Porto is on the Douro river, which flows a few miles west to the Atlantic Ocean. It is actually 2 combined cities with Porto on the north bank and Gaia on the South. So sometimes the city is referred to PortoGaia, much like Budapest, which as I'm sure you know, is actually 2 cities, Buda and Pest, on opposite sides of the Danube. Anyway, the Porto neighborhood of Ribeira, along the river, is a Unesco World Heritage Site, full of narrow, winding streets, shops, restaurants, cafes, etc. Great place to wander around.
A note about that bridge on the right. The Ponte D. Luís bridge was built in the late 1800's and designed by a student of Gustav Eiffel, shortly after he built the Eiffel Tower in Paris. This thing is beautiful and terrifying if you don't like bridges. The top is for the metro and pedestrians and the bottom is for cars and also pedestrians. In the foreground you can see some students from the University of Porto in their traditional robes, like in Coimbra.
Base of the bridge.
See if you can spot what made me
on this pre-fix menu board.
Also,
The Sao Bento train station is famous for it's beautiful tiled hall.
The Clérigos church was beautiful. We were lucky enough to wander in while someone was playing the pipe organ. Nice place to relax and get out of the rain for a bit. Mrs WAP may or may not be in one of these pics.
The church has a bell tower that you can climb the 220 steps to the top for 5/7 views of the city. If you zoom in on this one you can see the Douro River and way off in the distance the Atlantic Ocean, and you can just make out a cargo ship on the horizon..
The Porto Cathedral is also worth a look
We took a day trip by train to a town called Aveiro, which has a series of canals and is therefore sometimes called the Venice of Portugal. Didn't really look anything like Venice but it was pretty in its own rite. It's known for its Art Nouveau buildings:
Back in Porto for our last day. There's a nice little park, called the Jardim do Morro, on the Gaia side of the river, with excellent views of the bridge and Porto on the other side.
I walked out to the middle of that terrifying bridge and got a neat shot of the Port warehouses in Gaia. Note those boats lined up. They bring the wine in barrels up the river from the wine region in the Douro valley to the east. The barrels are then aged in the cellars for a number of years before they're bottled and sold, mostly in Europe.
There's a cable car you can take down to the Gaia riverfront area where the port cellars are, which is much easier and quicker than walking or waiting for a bus.
The views from the cable car are 5/7.
We toured this warehouse and got to sample 3 different types of port, Ruby, Tawny, and Rose.
Last meal in Portugal before our
6:30 am flight.
Thanks for looking.
Porto is the second city of Portugal. Second largest, oldest, and the source for the name of the country. It is also the center of the port wine industry.
Took the train up from Coimbra and switched to the metro. This was our first view coming up from the Metro station. They do love their blue tile there.
It's also a pretty city. Very walkable with some pedestrian-only streets, like this one:
And plenty of pretty buildings. The construction in the foreground is digging for a new metro line. Construction is booming there. Saw building sites and cranes everywhere.
Porto is on the Douro river, which flows a few miles west to the Atlantic Ocean. It is actually 2 combined cities with Porto on the north bank and Gaia on the South. So sometimes the city is referred to PortoGaia, much like Budapest, which as I'm sure you know, is actually 2 cities, Buda and Pest, on opposite sides of the Danube. Anyway, the Porto neighborhood of Ribeira, along the river, is a Unesco World Heritage Site, full of narrow, winding streets, shops, restaurants, cafes, etc. Great place to wander around.
A note about that bridge on the right. The Ponte D. Luís bridge was built in the late 1800's and designed by a student of Gustav Eiffel, shortly after he built the Eiffel Tower in Paris. This thing is beautiful and terrifying if you don't like bridges. The top is for the metro and pedestrians and the bottom is for cars and also pedestrians. In the foreground you can see some students from the University of Porto in their traditional robes, like in Coimbra.
Base of the bridge.
See if you can spot what made me
on this pre-fix menu board.Also,
The Sao Bento train station is famous for it's beautiful tiled hall.
The Clérigos church was beautiful. We were lucky enough to wander in while someone was playing the pipe organ. Nice place to relax and get out of the rain for a bit. Mrs WAP may or may not be in one of these pics.
The church has a bell tower that you can climb the 220 steps to the top for 5/7 views of the city. If you zoom in on this one you can see the Douro River and way off in the distance the Atlantic Ocean, and you can just make out a cargo ship on the horizon..
The Porto Cathedral is also worth a look
We took a day trip by train to a town called Aveiro, which has a series of canals and is therefore sometimes called the Venice of Portugal. Didn't really look anything like Venice but it was pretty in its own rite. It's known for its Art Nouveau buildings:
Back in Porto for our last day. There's a nice little park, called the Jardim do Morro, on the Gaia side of the river, with excellent views of the bridge and Porto on the other side.
I walked out to the middle of that terrifying bridge and got a neat shot of the Port warehouses in Gaia. Note those boats lined up. They bring the wine in barrels up the river from the wine region in the Douro valley to the east. The barrels are then aged in the cellars for a number of years before they're bottled and sold, mostly in Europe.
There's a cable car you can take down to the Gaia riverfront area where the port cellars are, which is much easier and quicker than walking or waiting for a bus.
The views from the cable car are 5/7.
We toured this warehouse and got to sample 3 different types of port, Ruby, Tawny, and Rose.
Last meal in Portugal before our
6:30 am flight. Thanks for looking.
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Desertbreh
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Desertbreh
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wap
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Indeed. You find it all over Europe, too. It's fun to find them.Desertbreh wrote: ↑Thu Nov 07, 2024 1:31 pmForeign translations to English sometimes could use an English speaker not a pure translation program. It makes for some funny results. This sort of thing happens a lot in MX.