As you may recall from an earlier post Porto is a city made for walking. So I guess it wasn’t surprising that after our superb tour of Palácio da Bolsa we decided to stretch our legs before we had lunch. We headed uphill on Rua de Ferreira Borges into Rua de Belomonte and then right onto the Escadas da Vitória. This stairway was once called Escadas da Esnoga as it is in the middle of the Jewish quarter, and gave direct access to the Jewish temple. It wasn’t history though on mind as we climbed the steps but my feet. The narrow cobbled streets and stairways of Porto are beautiful to explore but at times you do need to look very carefully where you are walking as numerous ‘presents’ have been left by the canines of Porto.
Despite the modern day hazards though this stairway is well worth climbing for the views from the small 18th century square at the top.
From here you look across the tiled roofs of Porto to Vila Nova de Gaia and its many wine lodges, as well the Dom Luis I bridge, the convent and the large glass dome of the Palácio da Bolsa. There are plans to renovate the building on the square and this has led to concerns that access will be restricted to the hotel residents. The current owners do say they will keep the open access, but it sounds like it might be a case of visit whilst you can.
Eventually we dragged ourselves away from the view and continued our walk up Rua de São Bento da Vitóra until we found ourselves at the bottom of an even more famous viewing point – Torre dos Clérigos.
It is the bell tower of a church of the same name, and a popular tourist attraction. We half considered climbing up, but as we had already thoroughly enjoyed the views from the square and lunch was calling we continued our walk. By the way there are quite a few rings of Porto in the shots below, click on the gallery to see if you can spot them!
We soon found ourselves behind the law courts on Passeio das Virtudes, and to my delight we discovered another view point. This city is full of them!
A few steps later we were on R. De Azevedo De Albuquerque 1 and we found lunch! Not quite warm enough to sit outside despite the sunshine, we did however enjoy the views of the Gaia and Jardim do Passeio das Virtudes through the glass. And just in case you are wondering lunch at Árvore was delicious, and the set menu a bargain price.
Don’t worry Jo this is not the end of the walk! I still have a little more to share for your Monday Walkers. As after lunch we explored the garden that we have been looking at over lunch. It is a garden of terraces, and whilst there is an exit at the bottom most visitors seemed to be entering and leaving from the upper terraces. We did the same but only after we had explored all of the terraces.
By the way did you notice the two floral squares? I couldn’t resist creating two floral squares – after all I am the host of ‘Square in September‘! I didn’t take many photographs on the second half of the walk as we had explored a lot of this area on a previous walk. I did though spot some unusual street art on one of the stairways, and did take a couple of shots during our retail diversion on Rua das Carmelitas!
Despite the diversions it wasn’t long before we found ourselves back in Porto’s narrow streets and near to our apartment, so I thought I’d finish with how I started with this post – with a view of Porto’s Cathedral. A different angle though.
I had quite forgotten how hilly Porto is!
Hee hee! Good for the legs though 🙂
and the funicular wasn’t working!
aargh!!
Thanks for taking me on your walk in Porto Becky 🙂
So glad you enjoyed 🙂
So beautiful pictures, Becky! I’m so glad I found Jo’s Monday walks, because I can see all these beautiful places in Europe and the wonderful and historic architecture that I miss so much. I love the September Squares, but now it’s a bit too late to join and I hardly find the time for my blog anyway. Greetings from San Jose 🙋🏻
Now you are somewhere I’d love to visit . .. I will one of these days 🙂
If you fancy sharing just one square on the 30th then love to see you, but will understand if not. Thank you for popping by again today x
This looks like an interesting city which I need to visit. I too enjoy Portugal and we have been visiting, mainly in the Algarve for the past few years – I still have pictures to post from 2017! Do visit and see what you think – it would be good to hear from you. (I found your site via RestlessJo)
Jo is lovely isn’t she, and feel honoured you found me via her.
Great to discover another Algarve fan . .I will pop along this week to explore your site 🙂
Great photos Becky – the views from the top are incredible but I love the one you called “pretty in pink”. Being the flower fan that I am, it’s gorgeous.
Thank you so much Clare – and it is rather gorgeous that flower isn’t it 🙂 One of the many lovely surprises about Porto is the number of flowering trees.
What a beautiful city. I have been, but obviously missed a lot!
So much to do here it’s impossible to see all in one go. Good excuse to return though!
I will visit Portugal shortly (Lisboa and the South), so this blog is really very inspiring. Unfortunately we have only 10 days for this coming trip in order to catch just some more sun before winter starts here in Central-Europe combined with discovering another interesting country at the very edges of Europe.
Oh I am so glad you are finding it helpful . . . and what an exciting trip you have planned ahead. Do keep me posted on your Portuguese travels and don’t hesitate to ask any questions when you start to plan your schedule.
We will stay in Lisboa for 3 nights, then going to Luz not far from Lagos for a week near the beach (appartment owned by a British couple living in the same house). Let’s see why so many foreigners decided to live there. Only RYANAIR can now still destroy our schedule, but actually all seems to be fine!
3 nights in Lisboa and then the rest in the Algarve actually sounds perfect. We prefer the east Algarve to the west so will be interested to see what you think!
Keeping fingers crossed that Ryanair behaves itself for you.
Awwh! And that one’s maybe the best of them all 🙂 🙂 Thank you very much! It is a lovely city seen from all angles isn’t it? And that’s a lovely shot of you and Robert!
Thank you so much . . . fortunately light was just right as we found this corner!
We had such a great day that day couldn’t help smiling 😀