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Another exodus ...
"To the people who work in this area the only solution is to emigrate, without ignoring the importance and urgency of the protection of the built patrimony, either in simple activities such as conservation, or in others with a larger scale that go from regeneration to rehabilitation. These actions are not a cost, but a sustainable investment. For that to happen, it's necessary the willpower to change the legislation on leasehold and rehabilitation. Then, it happens.
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Porto should make more sense."
This caption to a phtographic exhibition in the Photographic museum (which is housed in an impressive yet harsh building in the centre of the town,which was a prison for many centuries) seems to capture the feeling of Porto. So many derilict buildings, where only the facades remain, take the eye away from the many renovated buildings. On our stroll through the ancient streets of the originally Jewish quarter (the Jews were persecuted and forced to leave in the 17th century at the time of the Inquisition - or convert to Christianity) and the Ribeira, we met a home owner in one of the oldest streets, more than 700 years old. He was taking photographs of the facade of his house in rare sunshine. As the streets are so narrow, the facade of his 3 storey house only gets direct sunshine in 2 months of the year - May and June - and then only at 8 in the morning and around 7 in the evening. The other side of the house fronts onto the river with amazing views. Amazing to think that this building was standing at the time of Vasco da Gamas voyage around Africa and that the inhabitants of this building saw Napoleon and his troops crossing the river to occupy Porto in 1809. He has renovated this 700 year old house, keeping the facades, windows, walls and beams intact, and utilising modern natural materials for the inside. The result is a very modern and chique interior, with warm colours and natural wood. As he rents out 2 levels as apartments, we were fortunate to be shown the interior of this magnificient dwelling. This certainly confirmed our suspicion, that behind some of the crumbling facades lie beautiful interiors. It obviously takes lots of resources to renovate these buildings, and there is no assistance from the city or the state to renovate these historic buildings.
We spent the day just wandering ...around the narrow streets , beautiful squares and green areas, along the river, popping into the many churches along the way (ok ....mainly I popped into the churches ....Clint preferred to take photographs outside). After what seemed like at least 500 stairs we reached the top of a church tower for magnificent 360 views over Porto and the river. Breathtaking - and that in more than one way - as the windchill factor there was at around 12 degrees !
We managed to find a wonderful local restaurant for lunch, slightly off the beaten track, where we had soup & a roll, chicken / sardines and chips and rice and salad, a coke and espresso to finish for 6 Euros per person. Authentic and great tasting food in an awesome environment.
Strolled back to the guesthouse in the early evening - wanted to wait for the sunset ....but the sun just sets too late ...at about 21h45....so watched it from our window instead.
Another amazing day ...with a view into eras gone by. As our Ribeira guesthouse owner said "In Porto time is very close."
Oops...bit of an Ipad failure ...just managed to delete my whole blog of Europe ....well luckily it is here on off-exploring. No idea how it happened, which is even scarier !
Anyway ....just wanted to mention 2 things :
1. That our first impressions of Lisbon are of a city in need of some TLC ...which may be influenced by the grey skies and drizzle. With some rays of sunshine it should all look a bit brighter. There are some amazing sights and there is quite a bit of rehabilitation of buildings and roads going on, which is great for the city, although not so great for us sightseers at the moment.
2. The more we travel and the more we see, admire and enjoy, the more we realise how blessed and fortunate we are to have our home in just the most beautiful place and enjoy a most amazing lifestyle.
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