Porto

Oh, Porto! What a beautiful Portuguese city full of history and amazing architecture, not to mention enough blue tile to give Delft a serious run for its money. A short (just 2.5 hours via Portuguese Airlines and inexpensive!) hop from Luxembourg City and we were in that colorful city on the sea. We spent three and half days exploring the sites, sampling the port, and enjoying weather a bit sunnier and a bit warmer than Luxembourg in the winter. Be prepared for many photos below (only a fraction of what I actually took!).

In the Porto Town Hall.

In the train station.

Inside the Cathedral.

The Cathedral interior.

The Cathedral - outside in the courtyard.

Gorgeous!

A monastery.

Inside the monastery courtyard.

On the teleferico.

A view of the city from the opposite side of the river.

Another view.

The best lemon meringue pie on the planet.

Random street art!

Another view.

And another. I took a million photos.

Inside the Libraria Lello, where JK Rowling hung out when she lived in Porto teaching English,
back before her Harry Potter days.

Another view of the stairs - theyʻre made of plaster.

Beautiful!

I like how people go about their lives while Iʻm having my photo taken. :)

The ceiling in the bookstore.

This is a Portuguese Francesinha - made with bread, stuffed with a variety of meats,
covered in cheese and swimming in a tomato beer sauce. It was rather delicious.

Inside what is now the Chamber of Commerce, but was once the Customs House. This is the Arabesque Room.

The Arabesque Room.

Just a painting on the ceiling.

And the tile! So. Many. Tiny. Pieces.

I canʻt imagine how long this must take to create.

Portuguese cat. 

Prince Henry the Navigator, who never actually went on many sea voyages.

All the blue tile!

The Clérigos Church.

The Clérigos Tower.

A view from the Clérigos Tower.

Another view - my favorite.

And yet another.

Inside the Clérigos Church.

The altar.

Fountain and tile covered church - about three blocks from where we stayed.

A close-up of the same church.

And another.

Deli and wine shop!

Chapel of Souls.

On the street.

 

In a park on our last full day in Porto.

Maastricht

One of my New Yearʻs resolutions is to visit three new countries, so R and I decided to test the waters in the Netherlands!

Itʻs only a 2.5 hour drive from Luxembourg City to Maastricht, and we kind of chose the city at random. We found a really great Air BnB online, made a reservation, and off we went. Itʻs still winter and not an ideal season to go exploring, but we had a great time leisurely wandering around the city, gawking at the churches, playing cribbage by the fireside in our lodging, and enjoying unstructured time together.

They turned a cathedral into a book store!

The famous red church - St. Janskerk - a protestant church, and right next to the Catholic Basilica of St. Servatius.

Love the cobblestone streets!

This painting is in the Bonnefantenmuseum. Itʻs called "Census at Bethlehem," by Pieter Brueghel de Jonge. R made me laugh when he said "Looks like ʻCensus at Maastrichtʻ" because of the overtly European style.

At the Basilica of Our Lady.

The perfect fireside location for a lively game of cribbage!