Trips

 

Mon., 10/31/16 – Porto – Happy Halloween!
            Judith arranged for us to have coffee at an outdoor cafe while we talked to two graduate architecture students from the Porto University.  We could ask them about anything we were interested in and they were very outgoing with their answers.  We spent an hour learning their views on several issues.  Nothing was earth shattering or even unique from the situation of most students in the EU.  

Teatro Nacional S. Joao	Church of Saint Ildefonso
Clerigos Church	Tower of Clerigos Church
Carmo and Carmelitas Churches	Tiled wall of Carmo Church
University of Porto	Cafe Douro
Cafe Douro	We waited almost an hour to ride the old fashioned wooden trolley car to the Porto Market area.  It finally arrived but we only had 10 minutes to shop at the market before we met the whole group for lunch.  After lunch we went back to the market and bought a souvenir tile and cork hot pad with which to remember this trip.
Street car	Street scene
Street vendor	Central Market - Which to buy?
Lunch	Later in the afternoon, we walked down to the Dom Luis I Bridge next to the Porto funicular.  The bridge is a double-decked metal arch bridge that spans the Douro River between the cities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia. At the time of construction its span of 172m was the longest of its type in the world.  We walked across the upper sidewalk with the subway trains coming up out of a tunnel and crossing the river.  The upper span is about 200 feet above the water.  From this height we had great views of Porto.
Dom Luis I Bridge	Dom Luis I Bridge
View from the Dom Luis I Bridge	View from the Dom Luis I Bridge
View from the Dom Luis I Bridge	View from the Dom Luis I Bridge
View from the Dom Luis I Bridge	View from the Dom Luis I Bridge
Funicular - self leveling	Funicular - self leveling
Funicular - self leveling	Back at the hotel we packed for departure tomorrow morning and then went by bus to our Farewell Dinner. At 9:30 we met on our hotel roof top terrace for a Farewell drink, the giving of OAT souvenir pins to those who have traveled with OAT for at least three trips, and the award from OAT to travelers with more than 20 trips – we were the only ones.

 

Tues., 11/1/16 – Porto to Frankfurt to Denver to Estes Park
        We left for the airport at 3:30 AM and boarded our Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt at 6:05.  We had time in Frankfurt and then flew Lufthansa to Denver and got to Estes Park at 7:30 PM.  We were in bed by 8 PM!
        Both trips were very good. It was fun to see several of the places in Italy that we had been last year and to be able to catch a couple that we missed, i.e., the Duomo Museum in Florence and the Borghese Gallery and the churches with the Caravaggio paintings in Rome. The Northern part of Spain, especially the Basque region, was beautiful and the Bilbao Guggenheim worth the price of the trip. We got just enough of a taste of the Douro Valley, which is also beautiful, to decide not to do a trip devoted to that one area.
        As always it is very good to be home again and almost time to begin to look forward to an Alaskan Cruise in June and the August Africa trip to Kenya, Tanzania, and Namibia. 2018 is in the early planning stages, as well.