On my way to York via Porto and Liverpool - Porto - on the way to Soares dos Reis Museum - The Church of Carmo - The 4th of September 2016

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I took a quick shower and soon headed back into the streets, this time on my way to the Museum of Soares dos Reis I had been wanting to visit for a long time.

Having turned right from my hotel I walked up passing by Lello  bookshop, one of Porto's icons, which I wasn't to visit this time due to the long queue that sttod outside its main entrance. 

I soon found myself in Rua do Carmo and the Churches of  the monks of Carmo and  the nuns of Carmelitas, standing next to each other and sharing a common wall. I was fortunate enough to visit the Church of Carmo dated back to the second half of the 18th century as the mess had just finished, though prior to having walked into its guilded nave I took several pictures of its lateral façade, which is said to have been designed by the Silvestre Silvestri.

I continued walking towards the Carregal gardens until I finally reached the Museum. Around that area I came across a few interesting graffitis and a street message stating "Mais amor por favor" (More love please), which I personally feel we have been lacking lately.

(To be continued)

On my way to York via Porto and Liverpool - Porto, São Bento train station -The 4th of September 2016

I got on a train to Porto very early in the morning, having had to change at Campanhã and then heading off to São Bento station, once the hotel I had booked was fairly close. 

I strolled around the station of São Bento for quite a while amidst battles and daily life scenes depicted on the glazed tiles that cover its walls and are breathtakingly beautiful. The train sation entrance hall happens to be one of Porto's touristic highlights and I am not surprised it is so, as even for Portuguese used to this form of Art present almost everywhere, these 1916 glazed tiles by the Portuguese artist Jorge Colaço are absolutely mesmerising.

(To be continued)

Santo Aleixo da Restauração village, Alentejo - The Tomina Festivities - "Largada de touros" - The 28th of August 2016

My experience as a first time Tomina Festivities onlooker ended with a "largada de touros", which is a bullfighting related tradition still carried out in many Portuguese and Latin American villages.

It basically means having wild bulls run about freely in the streets of a given village, though confined to delimited areas. Barriers (normally trucks) are positioned at strategic points and therefore determine the running track of the animals.

Young men and courageous onlookers take to the streets sometimes to call out the bulls and become bullfighters for a few moments.

The "largada de touros" in Santo Aleixo da Restauração was confined to a rather limited area of just a few streets and included one bull and two cows.

Problematic as it may seem for animal rights defenders, these people love animals and wouldn't deliberately harm them, I believe ... it's just another tradition and traditions around there are to be preserved

Another family gathering, this time at Misi's set the tone for this experience of mine. Apart from having felt very welcome despite being an outsider I was  also able to immerse myself into century old traditions and get to know a little bit more about my own country.