Porto - Saturday - Day 19 - Part 2

OK in the late afternoon we walked across the bridge to Gaia to try Port...

Wow - that was like no wine tasting experience we've ever had before.

Kn the way back bridge traffic was stopped because someone was climbing the outside of it!

Here are photos of Porto across the river...

Porto - Saturday - Day 19 - Part 1

More Porto exploration today - Starting with the shopping area and Market.

Then we had to stop at the historic Majestic Cafe for a cafe...

We hiked down (for a change) to the Cathedral.

And the waterfront.

At some point we stopped for lunch and Mike had Fried Sardines (he was very happy)

Then we went to this amazing place you can't take photos of - Oh! Speaking of - yesterday we went to this super fancy bookstore that only allows photos from 9am to 10am on weekdays. Since we missed the window - I tried to sneak in a few...

Ceiling...

Staircase...

Blurry/Artsy...

Insane meal!

Best meal of the trip! A little hole in the wall that you pray you come across on a trip. First was bread with a cheese that was like a salty Tellagio. More, please!

Soup course was a fish soup that was mild, but meaty enough to have texture. 

Holly's entree was a smoky sausage with fried egg, house fried chips,anda regional green with subtle garlic. 

My dish was a Portugese style cassoulet. Lots of tripe and the beans/broth were amazing. 

All this and a nice bottle of red for 35 euro? Get outta here!

Sintra to Porto - Day 18 - Friday

We were on our way early - took the train to Lisbon then caught an express train to Porto.

Our hotel lovely - another great view 

With nesting Seagulls (right side) here's a close-up...

We pretty much wandered all afternoon - Porto is a good walking town - hilly though - honestly it's like we picked every single hill town in Turkey and Portugal - our butts are going to look great - oops I'm distracted.

Porto is filled with beautiful buildings.

And cool graffiti

For lunch we found one of the best pork sandwiches we've ever had. Jeff - you'll want to travel to Porto for this!

And after our wandering we found a lovely cafe for wine and... um... potato chips. Love Porto!

Mike has another Cafe (Bica, Espresso)

Sintra - Day 17 - Thursday

Should've posted yesterday when we got here to Sintra, but we were road weary and we may have had too many glasses of wine at dinner - MAY HAVE. I mean look at how full they fill your glass...

Here's our adorable hotel with view. Yes - pink and yellow stripes!

Today we visited 4 palaces/castles/mansions/fancy houses

First Pena Palace built in a time we can all relate to by King Ferdinand. Here he is...

And here it is up close...

And far away...

Then we saw a Moors castle (Seinfeld fans might refer to them as the Moops - we did!).

Third was the National Palace which is still sometimes used as a palace.

The king must've been a real gourmet because those two Madonna bra like cones are over the kitchen...

And then we went to a Noblemans fancy house designed by an Italian opera set designer...

Sintra is adorable - Tomorrow we move to Porto!

Goodbye, Turkey.

We really loved Turkey, but it's time to move on to Portugal. The two things we'll  remember most about Turkey is the natural beauty of the country and the great sense of humor of the people. 

Pamukkale and More - Day 15 - Tuesday - Part 2

We left Pamukkale and headed to Afrodiasis - More ruins. You're probably tired of seeing theaters so luckily the stadium at this one was in good shape - This is where gladiators fought!

And more amazing temples and baths, etc.

Oops - couldn't resist the theater after all.

After - we headed to Izmir along the way we got stuck in a herd of sheep - Look familiar M?

 We leave for Portugal early in the morning!