still up in the north of portugal, meg & i decided to do a day trip out to one of porto's neighbouring towns. we'd jotted down about five different places, viano do castelo being one of them. not sure what made us choose this one over the others - must have had something to do with lonely planet's description of it sounding something like: charming, narrow lanes, roccoco palaces & manueline manors...
from porto it took us about two hours to train it up a bit further north to viana do castelo (was such a tongue twister of a name when we first tried to say it...). we set out early, arrived late-morning and, not really knowing anything about the town - we decided to just stroll around and check it out. the quaint little seaside town didn't disappoint. uneven cobbled streets wound their way left, right & every which way you looked...coulerful cast-iron balconies/terraces jutted out from first, second & third floor houses...diy washing lines stretched across these balconies, personalised with portuguese flags, colourful ribbons & we even saw one with cd's strung through the lines.
it was another beautiful summer-esque day of 32° (we've been so lucky with this weather, we have to keep pinching ourselves!), so all the locals had hung out their washing to dry. blue & white sheets and clothes rippled in the warm breeze and gave us some well-appreciated shade from the hot sun.
after a few hours wandering around, snapping photos & asking for directions (the portuguese are such lovely, helpful people....even though after alot of broken english chit-chat, they eventually sent us in the wrong direction...it's the thought that counts, right?), we found ourselves a tiny little cafe that sold ice cream and not much else. perfect! we sat our tired legs down on some tables & chairs under the shade of a biiiiig umbrella and devoured chocolate, caramel & vanilla icecreams - probably our last before we head into colder weather in a few days! our cafe was just next to the big church in town, which happened to have a wedding taking place while we were there. definitely the highlight of my day, seeing the bride & groom (and their procession of a million of family members) being showered in rice & red confetti lovehearts on the church steps.
after a few hours wandering around, snapping photos & asking for directions (the portuguese are such lovely, helpful people....even though after alot of broken english chit-chat, they eventually sent us in the wrong direction...it's the thought that counts, right?), we found ourselves a tiny little cafe that sold ice cream and not much else. perfect! we sat our tired legs down on some tables & chairs under the shade of a biiiiig umbrella and devoured chocolate, caramel & vanilla icecreams - probably our last before we head into colder weather in a few days! our cafe was just next to the big church in town, which happened to have a wedding taking place while we were there. definitely the highlight of my day, seeing the bride & groom (and their procession of a million of family members) being showered in rice & red confetti lovehearts on the church steps.
we eventually managed to pick ourselves up from our comfy cafe posi & see a bit more of viano do castelo. we visited the church just next door, some ancient stone statues & a few of the towns houses that are famous for their architecture. i love the crumbling nature of the buildings here in portugal. i think there's a real beauty in the fading paint, lopsided door frames with doors of all different colours, chipped tiles of varying geometric patterns and buildings that seem to lean in whichever direction they please. beautiful.
towards the end of the afternoon we headed down to the river's edge where we munched on a baguette and a delicious garlic dip that we managed to score at the local supermarket. no better way to finish up our stay in portugal than stretching out in the sun, reading our books & chatting about all the amazing things we'd seen over the past week. will definitely be back!
tchau,
S.
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| yum! |
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| too cool |
