Saturday was a busy day in Porto. I took a walking tour, a river cruise, had a late lunch, bought some jewelry, and went to a fado dinner show. Fado is a musical genre that dates back to Lisbon in the 18th century, and is very beautiful to watch and listen to.  

I learned that Portugal has been a kingdom since 910. It had a city wall back in the day, and parts of it can still be seen today. From 1926-1974, Portugal was under a dictatorship with Spain. And even though they remained "neutral" during World War II, many Portuguese supported the Allies.  

The Sao Bento station, with all the tiles, has 22,000 of them, and is considered the 6th most beautiful station in the world. There is also a McDonald's that is a former cafe, and it's almost much too pretty to be a McDonald's. I ate mussels for lunch, and drank vinho verde (Green wine), which means that the grapes are harvested young, but the wine can come in different varieties and is not green in color. :)

The big Cathedral was started in 1110 and was designed in baroque. Portugal is 90% Catholic, and olive trees are common, so I'm not surprised that restaurants give you a "couvert" when you sit down, which has olives and bread. You do pay for this, so if you don't want it, you can ask them to take it away. 

Eugenia, our tour guide, said there weren't many tourists here until 8 years ago, and now tourism is exploding. It is so much that some areas don't want Airbnbs built, because it ruins a neighborhood. There are also lots of bachelorette parties happening, which makes sense as it is a weekend. 

It really is a lovely city and hard to describe. Thanks for reading!

- Jamie