It turns out I don’t know Porto as well as I thought I did. This morning we decided to go to the Romantic Museum at the Crystal Palace; I followed the directions given by Google. About three minutes after I left the hotel, I realized that we had passed the same location yesterday going in the other direction just before we arrived at the Bolsa. Seeing a sign today that said “Hotel de Bolsa” was a hint, but I also recognized the name of the street that the Bolsa is on. I had no idea we were so close….

It took us another twenty minutes to get to the museum; of course, there was a great view of the Douro along the way!

The Romantic Museum is an “extension” of the City Museum of Porto. It’s in an old house and the entire interior was given over to an exhibition titled "METAMORPHOSES – Vegetal, Mineral and Animal Immanence in the Romantic Domestic Space ". There were a few paintings, but it was mostly actual objects – everything from pianos to furniture to lace. I would love to have this desk!

The exhibit ended with a “cabinet of curiosities” occupying an entire room.

I wouldn’t make this museum my first stop in Porto, but it was small enough to explore completely in the time we had this morning.

We decided to take one of Google’s alternate routes back to the hotel in the hope of finding somewhere for lunch. We passed the Justice Museum (and its courtrooms) and got a nice view of Clergiós Tower before turning onto a street we hadn’t yet explored, where we found Swallow Decadent Brunch. The menu was interesting and TripAdvisor said it was good, so we went in. TripAdvisor was right; I had the chicken and waffles and Diane had lox and bagel (with egg) and we both enjoyed our meals.

Our hotel was only five minutes away, all downhill; we collected our luggage and the hotel called a taxi to take us to the AmaDouro, our home for the next week. When the taxi stopped, we worried that we might be repeating our Budapest experience of being dropped at the wrong place and having to schlep our luggage for miles – but the driver checked with a guard who pointed out the ship, and all was well.

We arrived a few minutes before they were ready to start the mandatory Covid tests – we passed and could officially check in, unpack, and greet our friends.

After dinner this evening, the ship took us on a short cruise on the Douro to see the city greet the night.

We’re docked again and will sail at breakfast time tomorrow.

We had no firm plans for today other than to walk around Porto and see what we could see. We had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and set out just before 10am.

Our first stop was the Igreja dos Carmelitas Descalços, one of two adjacent churches owned by the Carmelites – although a “Secret House” was discovered between them a few decades ago. The church is lavishly gilded.

Our next planned stop was the Palacio da Bolsa (the former Stock Exchange); Google Maps offered us several walking routes with similar ETAs; we decided to take the one that led us through a row of sanctioned street vendors and a park. We escaped with wallets intact, and soon we were across from Porto’s very modern Justice Building.

We then found ourselves passing the Igreja de São José das Taipas. We were going to keep walking but the sign outside said that there was a painting inside of the disaster of the Bridge of Boats, so we went in. I wasn’t surprised to see that the altar was gilded!

Thousands of civilians died in the first Battle of Porto during Napoleon’s campaign in Spain and Portugal when the “Bridge of Boats” that crossed the Douro collapsed under the weight of the people trying to flee the city. The painting in the church shows the disaster.

We avoided stopping anywhere else until we got to the Bolsa. The only way to see the Bolsa is on a guided tour, and we arrived with barely enough time to get on the only English-language tour on the schedule.

We began in the Court of Nations; it had a magnificent skylight and the coat of arms of twenty nations that were friends of Portugal at the time the room was built.

The tour continued through the palace, ending at the Arab Hall which is still used for formal visits and official city events.

After the tour, there was yet another interesting-looking church on our route, but we avoided going in.

We wanted to have lunch on the Ribeira, but didn’t like the restaurants we saw at river level; instead, we went to A Grade in an alley away from the river itself. We had the house codfish and liked it a lot.

We wandered around the Ribeira and discovered a branch of the City Museum of Porto that was devoted to the Douro; it had some interesting exhibits (including a 1960s documentary about the last “rabelos” on the Douro, bringing port to Porto by rowing it there). An artist had decanted soil from various places along the Douro into wine bottles and mounted them on racks.

It also had a wine bar with Port tastings and comparisons; we indulged.

We paid our respects to Prince Henry the Navigator before going back to our hotel to regroup.

We headed out again for a chocolate and Port wine tasting at Chocolataria Equador; we decided against buying either, at least for the time being.

Our hotel offered a free “welcome drink” to its guests; the only catch was the timing – it was only available from 11am to 6pm, and we didn’t expect to be at the hotel then. But we were there this afternoon and tried the Madeira – not bad!

We walked to the Santa Caterina shopping district and had a simple dinner at Mengos. On the way back to the hotel, we enjoyed a nice view of Clergiós Tower passed by the Igreja Paroquial de Santo Ildefonso (we didn’t even check to see if the church was open!).

Shabbat Shalom!