Hills and Stairs

Douro River & Ponte Luis II View

From outside the city, Porto looks like another lovely European city with colored row houses and beautiful balconies, and while indeed it is, the city (similar to Lisbon) is full of hills. The view of the city from overlooks or towers is very deceiving as when you start walking and turn a corner, you have no idea how steep your climb is, either by a sharp incline or many many many stairs. 

Standing on top level of Ponte Luis II Bridge

 

 

 

 

 

Porto sits on the Douro River and across the river is Gaia, home to where are the wines of the Douro Valley are stored. You can get to Gaia by water taxi or across several bridges, the most popular being the Ponte Luis II bridge which is two levels and has a pedestrian path on each level. We visited Gaia on a few different occasions using both levels of the bridge. What we didn't realize that taking the lower bridge meant having to climb a very steep hill to get the overlook of Gaia. The residents that live on this street realize what an endeavor it is to climb, and several women sell bottled water right from their front door.

The view from our cable car

 

The third time we crossed the bridge to Gaia, we finally had figured out the best way to visit: walk across the lower bridge and walk the half mile to the cable car station and then take the cable car up! It did cost us 16 Euros for the one way ticket, but it was much better than getting the evil eye from M & O for making them climb up the hill a second time. 

 

Gaia Cable Car

Since we had just taken the cable car up, it was an easy ask for us to climb ANOTHER short hill up to the Monastery of Serra do Pilar for some of the best views of Porto; it also helped there was an ice cream truck at the top who sold lime popsicles.

View of Porto from Gaia

Monastery of Serra do Pilar

Even though just walking out of our apartment required climbing a mini hill, if a city we visit has a tower worth climbing, then M & O are up for the challenge. The Clerigos Church has a tower that is a modest 75 meters tall. Today was finally a cool temperature (78 degrees) so it was the perfect day for climbing. The tower has 49 bells and one of our guides had advised us to avoid climbing close to the top of the hour as we might have ringing ears for a few days after. We got there at 9:10am with enough time to climb up, enjoy the view and climb down before 10:00am. M was nervous the bells might go off at 9:30 am and climbed the last few steps covering her ears. It was a great way to start the morning!

Halfway up the climb of the Clerigos Tower

Views from the top