Over the Bridge to Porto

I was off early this morning with a few things on my agenda. As I stepped out of the door of Sandeman I took the opportunity to get a nice shot of the Rabello boats:

This was to be the last of the blue skies, as there was a lot of cloud cover all day. I walked across the Dom Luis I bridge and then took the funicular up into town:

These pics are looking back towards the Vila Nova de Gaia area on the other side. The bridge, with its upper and lower levels, was constructed in 1886 and was designed by the business partner of Gustave Eiffel. At the time, it was the longest metal arch bridge in the world.

The first thing I needed to do was to locate a Vodafone shop and buy a Portuguese SIM card. They had been closed all weekend. I had been reliant on the wi fi signal at Sandeman which was constantly dropping out.

Then I made my way to the so-called “Imperial McDonald’s” (a tourist attraction, said to be the fanciest Maccas in Europe). I bought a coffee and sat people watching as they all took selfies. This is the counter:

The outside of the building is much more restrained, as they had been forced to retain the integrity of the place and not allow the Golden Arches to spoil it. I have to say that the Maccas free wi fi was very strong!

Next, I paid a quick visit to the Cathedral:

The rose window at the west end is the original, dating from the 13th century. Outside is one of the starting points of the Portuguese Camino:

Then it was time for lunch. I remembered that there was an excellent vegetarian restaurant nearby. I just couldn’t picture its exact location as it wasn’t well signposted. At last I came to it by chance. It’s called daTerra and has a buffet for €10.50:

Delish!