Bom dia, Oporto!

  
A few weeks ago, me and Tom flew out to Porto, Portugal, and what was quite possibly the best holiday of my life so far. Our hotel was set right in the middle of the cities vast Avenida dos Aliados, which seemingly every street in Porto opens onto. 
This is the view from our 5th floor balcony (eek, a balcony!) and what greeted me on the first night after a few hours as the guest of the British and Portuguese public transport systems...

...Hotel Aliados beats Travelodge into a pulp any day.

 

There are far, far too many photos to put many of them here, so they'll be dotted all over the place in my next few posts, like some sort of international Where's Wally. Except with a river and some buildings instead of a bloke in a wooly pully and bobble hat. 

 

 A word of warning, I blooming love Photoshop. Or at least I would, if I owned it. I'll rephrase; I love my cheap (free, actually) knockoff of Photoshop, which does a fraction of the things at a fraction of the quality, with a fraction of the freedom that Photoshop does, but at a price (freeeeee) I can get on board with. Oh, Picasa, you beauty, you let me whomp up the saturation on my photos to my hearts content. You don't let me do much, but that you allow me this, and for that you are my one and only. 

Porto as a whole reminded me a little of London, a little of Prague. That combination of lived in, worn out and utterly disregarded beauty in the architecture and skyline is very reminiscent of both cities, but there's something missing from both examples too. 
It took me a while to put my finger on it but I think what Porto has that London lacks is colour, that opulence that can only come from a palette that encompasses, but isn't defined by, very old stone.  

It probably helps the comparison that all three cities are built straddling a river too.
  












I have the mighty hill that Porto is entirely built on to thank for the buns of steel I have come home with. Also, very sore legs, and a taste for ruinously expensive Port Wine. 
Next time; my daring tale of a death defying trip up the River Douro*. Plus more! 




*Death defying nature of River cruise may be exaggerated for entertainment purposes :P
xx