A Porto Surprise...

Porto, Portugal

November 30, 2007
N41°08.941
W008°35.136

Our train pulled into the Porto station after a short trip from Coimbra. The journey took less than two hours and since we couldn’t get any further north due to train schedules, we decided to spend the night in the city of Porto. After reading reviews in Lonely Planet, we figured we would just blow right through; however, after spending an afternoon in the decorative town, we were happy we stopped and actually wished we budgeted more time. Unfortunately, we’re running short on that valuable commodity known as time. We’ve been traveling for 10 months and only have two more months before our journey comes to an end. Six months ago we would have modified our plans, and stayed a couple more nights in Porto, but with mere days left it’s like counting change to pay for a cup of coffee… every nickel, every penny and every day is precious.

It was late afternoon and shadows were falling across the city famous for Port wine (thus the name). As we rolled down the streets one of the first things we noted were all of the Christmas decorations including an 80 ft. tree. It wasn’t dark enough to light the tree and we knew we would have to swing back by once the sun set to get the full effect of the display.

With warm light still falling, we had the opportunity to wander through and explore several areas of the city, including the riverfront promenade along the Rio Duermo. Porto is undergoing a major renovation with emphasis on restoring the riverfront, the main tourist area which was recently added as a UNESCO heritage site. We browsed through several shops selling tasty port, local artesian cheeses and a variety of olives; stocking up on some cheese and olives for our train ride to Santiago de Compostela the next day.

We found a nice table along the river and enjoyed a couple beers and watched the sun slowly dropped behind the hills. As the sun set, the twinkle of the Christmas lights appeared across the river, almost like stars on the horizon. When the sun fell so did the temperature along the riverfront. Too cold to drink another beer, we said a quick goodbye to a woman we met from San Francisco, and made our way back up the hill toward the city center and the giant Christmas tree.

The large tree was a show in itself. Every ten minutes the tree would start completely dark, after a few seconds shimmering white lights glittered against a dark background, blue stars began to twinkle, then angels illuminated and the tree would turn green. Next, the angels were swapped out for candles and wheat stalks before the tree would light up completely—one section at a time (each section approx. 10 ft.). The tree was by far the most impressive holiday light show we’ve seen to date; with the possible exception of Carlisle Avenue in Sacramento, CA.

Tomorrow we’re headed back to Spain and intend on traveling through some smaller rural towns, it will be fun to see their displays of holiday cheer.