Books, Port and Paint

Livraria Lello is said to have been visited frequently by JK Rowling when she lived in Porto in the 1990s, and was a source of inspiration when she wrote Harry Potter.  The bookstore is small and exquisite and getting in line early is the only way to see it.  I was the 4th person allowed in (you have to pay 5 euros to enter, as once the crowds fill the place, it's very hard to buy a book even if you wanted to, so entry fees are a main source of revenue for the store) and by the time I left it was jammed and 100% of people were taking photos/selfies. Not sure why, when the line stretches a few blocks down the street anyway, they don't just pace the entry better?  But no matter, I loved it and since I got in early, you can actually see the inside of the store in my photos.

The bookstore has been in operation since 1906 and has a forked, curved wooden staircase in the middle; glass fronted bookcases; a stained glass ceiling and lamps; and a very artful arrangement of books.  They also had 6 rare books on special exhibit, including an original copy of Pride and Prejudice printed in 1813.

Not wanting to waste my climb up the streets to the bookstore, I walked across the upper part of the city, past the beautiful Sao Bento train station (which has an open air boarding area that is backed by old city buildings and has an entry hall with great tiled murals -- what a great train station!) and then across the Dom Luis I bridge.  That's the bridge that you see in so many pictures of Porto, as it's a big iron bridge that has an Eiffel Tower look.  The reason for the look is that it was the project of Théophile Seyrig, a disciple of Gustave Eiffel (who designed another bridge up river a bit).   It was beautiful to walk across and it gave me a good view of the Ribeira, where the apartment I'm in is located.  In that 2nd picture, there's a pink-ish building on the left side facing the water -- the third floor windows are mine.

Next up, Churchill's Lodge (which is what they call a port tasting room).  Churchill's is a relatively recent port producer compared to those who have been making port since the 1800s, but of the Graham's port lineage founded in 1981 and it has a cousin-connection to Bethesda MD, so I went there to taste port.  There I learned that they are still crushing grapes with their feet!  This is not something I would have expected the cousin-connection to condone, but their stated reason is that they feel that a press could crush the grapeseeds and create a bitter note in their port.  So feet are the way to go.  The port is grown, harvested, crushed and fortified 2 hours away in the Douro Valley, but comes to Porto for aging in huge casks for ruby port or small casks for tawny port.  I tasted 10, 20 and 30 year tawny ports and one vintage 2006 ruby port.  The tawny ports have more evaporation from the casks due to their small size, so they are more concentrated and somewhat sweeter in taste; the ruby port was much fruitier.  All delicious.

Today, with the sun out, everyone who stayed in yesterday due to the rain was out in force at the cafes on both sides of the river.  There's a also a lively live music thing going on (good thing I brought ear plugs for future sleeping).  My idea, that there would be a quiet spot to paint near my apartment, was clearly based on a false assumption on a rainy day.  I set up in my apartment to work out a paint sketch of the Dom Luis I bridge and the city, looking out my French doors.  I just laid in a value study and may (or may not!) go back into this one.  Still, I was harassed by an art critic who watched from the balcony railing.  And not silently, either.  This gull and its friends had a lot of opinions about my art.

Finally, Valentine's Day.  For those of you celebrating, I share the cautionary tale I read on a sign today.