12/16: Porto's Exquisite Azulejos or Blue Tiles

Close to three months ago now I returned from being away on vacation with a friend in New Zealand and Australia for 3.5 weeks. In case you also want to follow that really fun trip Down Under, here's a link to the newest blog:
www.bergersadventures7.blogspot.com

Follow us as we hiked up to the Porto Cathedral or Se do Porto on our last day in the remarkable city.

Aren't you glad YOU didn't have to hike up all the Cathedral Steps as we did?! They certainly got our morning juices going.

From the top of the stairs we had a lovely panoramic view of the city with the San Francisco Church on the left and Clerigos Tower on the right, both of which we'd already visited.

The fortress-like 12th century Romanesque cathedral was famous as being the site of Henry the Navigator's baptism and the scene of many royal weddings.

The cathedral's main entrance wasn't in the front but on the side.

Unfortunately, the cathedral wasn't open but we really enjoyed our foray into the Cloister as we had seeing so many others the last six weeks or so while touring most of Spain and some of Portugal. This Gothic cloister was begun at the end of the 14th century and was decorated with glazed tiles representing scenes from Solomon's Song of Songs. According to the pamphlet, the azulejos referred to "the mystic dialogue  between God and the Virgin, the patron saint of the Cathedral."

We hated that this was our last day in Porto and Portugal and therefore our last opportunity to take in the splendid blue and white tiles before moving on to the Netherlands the next day.

We admired the beautiful silver items and vestments from the Chapel of St. Vincent's Treasury.

The grand staircase was designed by Nicolau Nasoni, the Italian architect who created marvelous churches and palaces throughout the area.

The ornamental Chapter Room was where the bishop and his followers met to wield their religious and secular power. 

From its windows were more pleasing views of the city.

The sumptuous ceiling had portraits of holy figures.

Imagine sitting in a room with such a spectacular ceiling and tiled walls!

The amazing tile work wasn't simply confined to one, albeit stunning, room; it also adorned the exterior walls on the upper cloister!

What a picture perfect day to take photos of the cathedral from the upper level of the cloister!

The tile panels depicted rural and mythological scenes.

As we'd had mostly gray skies and rain since arriving in Porto, seeing the city bathed in blue skies on our last day was delightful. Perhaps now you can appreciate why Steven and I felt we left part of our hearts in Porto and hope to return one day. 

Another view was of the Douro River with the town of Vila Nova de Gaia on the other side where much of the world's port wine is matured.

It's been so long now I can't remember which room this was but very inch of wall space was so jam packed, it was hard to take it all in and appreciate it.

The adjacent 17th century Chapel of St Vincent had painted carvings of Bible scenes from the Old and New Testaments. Not to put you off at all, but the chapel also had a trapdoor into a crypt where centuries of bishops' bones were tossed!

Though the chapel was small, it still had a very impressive organ and choir stall underneath with more dazzling tile work. 

In Cathedral Square, the 20th century copy of the spiral pillory was a reminder of the harsh justice that was once meted out here. I thought it strange to have it located within feet of the cathedral, a place of prayer and forgiveness, surely. 

The massive 18th century Bishop's Palace took up much of the square and was still the home of  the bishop and his offices. The immensity of the building reflected the bishop's past power. We'd first noticed the palace from the riverfront the previous day but hadn't known then what it was.

 A few steps from the cathedral was a statue of Vimar Peres, a Christian warrior who reconquered this region from the Moors in 868. They regained control within two generations until the final reconquest about 1100.

The portico on the side of the cathedral had some original 18th century blue tiles.

The ancient medieval enclosures of the city were built in the 11th century around the cathedral hill. It had three gates and a narrow entrance and built on even older Goth defenses. 

Another view of part of the palace:

I got a kick out of the street art in Porto especially since the amount of graffiti there was so minimal compared to Lisbon. The city was a very appealing blend of buildings that had been renovated and those yet to be done to put a positive spin on it!

To get a further sense of the city walls, we walked behind the cathedral to a lovely leafy square.

From there we had easy access to the impressive crenelated remains of the 14th century town wall that was restored in 1920.

Another for my rapidly expanding collection of bathroom signs!

In Praca da Batalha or Battle Square was the 19th century National Theater, that was built after the first theater, constructed in the 17th century was destroyed by a fire.

Sadly, the imposing Art Deco Cinema Batalha had closed down.

We were lucky to be in the square when its fun Christmas market was taking place.

The exterior of the San Ildefonso Church had more of the azuelos tiles that were all the rage in Baroque Portugal. These tiles, which celebrated the life of the church's patron saint, weren't actually Baroque but were fitted into the walls of the church during the early 1930s when the country celebrated its heritage. 

From the square, we strolled down Porto's mostly traffic-free main shopping street, Rua de Santa Catarina.

While taking this picture, I wasn't paying attention to the oncoming tram and was almost hit!

The sidewalk had more of the stunning limestone and basalt mosaic work we'd first seen in Lisbon or actually in Rio de Janeiro, Portugal's former colony, the year before. Though handmade and high maintenance, it was apparently worth the effort and expense to locals. I was sure glad as the designs were so appealing and made me appreciate a walk along the sidewalk even more.

The venerable Art Nouveau Cafe Majestic had been a circa 1900 hangout for the local intelligentsia.

I was agog seeing the exquisite tiled church a couple of blocks down the street! To me, Porto became synonymous with the tiles reminiscent of Ming dynasty blue and white ceramics. The early 18th century Capela das Almas de Santa Catarina was restored and extended in 1801 and the tiles on the facade were added in 1929. 

The tiles were the most beautiful and also the most overtly religious of all those we'd seen at so many other churches here in Porto.

Another striking storefront caught our attention.

We ended up doing a circular walk through much of Porto we hadn't discovered in our first few days in town, ending up just blocks from our apartment at Sao Bento Train Station. It wasn't because we were taking a train but because it was also famous for its vivid blue and white hand painted tiles! Its main entry hall featured some of Portugal's finest azuelos which showed historical and folk scenes from the Douro region. 

The station was so spectacular I just wanted to hop on a train and go somewhere!

Medieval battle scenes from when Portugal and Spain were at war:

A depiction of how the Cathedral appeared in the 13th century:

One whole wall was devoted to a pivotal event from Porto's past, the 1387 wedding of Portugal's King Joao I and the English princess Philippa which established the Portuguese-English alliance. 

Other tiles illustrated Porto's traditional economy and transportation from long ago.

Multicolored tiles above the blue ones also portrayed methods of transportation.

Names on the ceiling represented Portuguese rivers.

It was so weird hearing the choir sing Jingle Bells and Santa Claus is Coming to Town in English and not Portuguese in front of the Misericordia Church we'd explored before!

The last 'museum' we wanted to see in Porto was the House of Henry the Navigator where, six hundred years ago, Porto's favorite son was thought to have been born in this mansion.  It was once the largest house in town and later became the main Customs House. As that was also the main royal building in Porto, King Joao I and Philippa stayed there in 1394. It was there their son, later known as Henry the Navigator, was born.

The entryway had a copy of the first Roman mosaic found in Porto with faithfully reproduced tiles.

A model of the Customs House in the 14th century showed it to be much larger than the current museum where there were many archaeological exhibits about the city's early days.

Archaeological excavations at this site identified occupation from the Roman era, including the ruins of a large building with mosaic floors which were the first to be found in Porto. The current city of Porto first began as a settlement established during the first millennium BC on the hill where the cathedral was built hundreds of years later.

Among the unconfirmed stories about the birth of Magellan are some certainties, we learned. The explorer was born in northwest Portugal and part of his expedition was prepared in Porto and it included ships and sailors from the city. From the 16th century, merchants, sailors, adventurers and emigrants from Porto left their homeland to seek their fortune in the Castilian lands of the Pacific and in the Portuguese trading posts in the seas of China and Japan.

I wondered how accurate this image of Henry the Navigator really was!

At the tender age of 21, Henry was responsible for preparing the fleet to sail to Ceuta on the north coast of Africa. As the Administrator of the Order of Christ, he deployed men and ships in exploration of the seas and unknown coasts leading to discovery of islands and exploration of the west cost of Africa as far as Sierra Leone. 

We wanted to return to the Ribeira or riverfront district to walk around one last time as the weather was so much better than our last time there! It was only a block or two away and would look lovely in the early evening. 

Porto is known for these skinny houses above the waterfront. If you read an earlier post, you'll recall the Douro River often reached the arched doors.

Restaurants and bars lined the water's edge.

If we ever return to Porto as we'd love to one day, it'd be a blast to take a cruise up the river passing under its many bridges. 

The Praca da Ribeira was a hopping square with lots of shops and places to eat and drink and some fascinating artwork including a cube fountain!

Though we knew we had exciting places still to explore on this and future trips, Porto and the rest of the country was one of the few places in the world that we'd really love coming back to if given the chance. There was an electrifying mix of museums, churches, fado music and port wines, and riveting history that drew me in. We aren't 'foodies' but there were several Portuguese treats that we will also long remember, more than I can say about most countries we have explored!

Next post: Amsterdam, here we come!

Posted on June 25th, 2019, from Flagstaff, Arizona, so Steven and our sons can hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon tomorrow and back up the next day.