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Well, dudes of Apricity, I just have arrived today of my travel to Oporto (four days) and I would want to share my experience with you.
We went to Oporto from Madrid, and passed by some Portuguese cities (Guarda, Viseu and Aveiro) but we just stopped some minutes to buy water and food, so I can not say anything about these places. Even so I will make some comments about this part of the journey:
Nature and landscapes: Portugal is very green. At least that area that we went. It has been surprising to check the landscapes of that part of Portugal.
Forests and forests and forests and forests. And mountains/sierras. In contrast to the typical Castilian landscape, where we have immense agricultural fields, the Portuguese one has not it, due its complex orography, and the lack of farmlands is the reason (I guess) why they have so many forests.
Architecture: FANTASTIC. Being quite similar to that of Spain, the architecture of the villages (and even the mentioned cities: Guarda, Viseu and Aveiro), it is not identical. Of course the houses in the villages are single-family houses. Something so:
As I say, this happens even in the cities, where high buildings are rare.
Guarda:
Now I will go with Oporto:
FANTASTIC AND PINTORESQUE CITY. It is a mix between old and modern buildings. BEAUTIFUL. AMAZING. COLORFUL. WITH TONS OF TOURISTS. WITH A LOT OF HISTORY.
Its historical buildings are 10/10. The historical centre. The Cathedral. The Clérigos Church and Tower. The San Francisco Church. The Ribeira district along the Duero river. Its trams. The Aliados Avenue. The Lello bookstore. Etc etc etc
The Cathedral. It is attached with the historical walls of the city. The statue of the Galician Vimara Pérez, the first ruler of the County of Portugal, is found along the cathedral. I enjoyed a lot when I saw it
Clérigos Tower, emblem of the city. The views since its higher point are amazing
San Francisco Church. I never had seen a comparable church. Its interior is gilded. JUST WONDERFUL. Of course it is a World Heritage Site
The Ribeira district along the Duero river. Super-touristic place, and of course, World Heritage site too. We took a cruise in a typical Portuguese ship (rabelo) crossing the Six Bridges watching the two riversides. The Luis I bridge is just majestic
The Aliados Avenue, with all its beatiful buildings
The Lello bookstore, one of the most famous and pretty in the world
And one of the reasons why we chose Oporto: the river mouth of the Duero in the Atlantic
Portuguese people: super friendly. Unfortunately Oporto is a super multiethnic city (I was going to say it is a multicultural city, but it is not true: the culture is super Portuguese). A disgrace that Pakis or Bangladeshians or whatever they are (brown people) have taken the 90% of the souvenir stores
Tons of blacks and mulatos. They seem super-integrated in the Oporto society. It is hard to find a restaurant, bar, hotel (in our hotel 90% of the staff was black or mulato), etc where you dont see one of them
Among the ethnic Portuguese (I dont dare to say how many of them make the total population of Oporto, since there are a lot of mulatos and exotic people), those who look like Spaniards perhaps are a 70-80% being benevolent. The rest look ambiguous.
Gastronomy: I tried the famous Francesinha and the famous Cachorrinho, the pasteis de nata, plus the typical Bacalhau of course. Just wonderful.
The Portuguese infraestructures (motorways, buildings, etc) and all kind of servicies: Fantastic, such as I hoped. Nothing to do with for example Romania, where I was some years ago. Definitely I will return some day. I am proud of our little brothers.
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