The bougainvillea looked familiar as I walked through a beautiful neighborhood en route to the mouth of the Douro River where Portuguese explorers returned from their explorations in sailing vessels half a millennium ago.
An interesting but unmarked land sculpture caught my eye.
Thanks to Google maps, I learned that it honors Willy Brandt, the German chancellor who won the 1971 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to keep the Iron Curtain from separating Europe during the Cold War. He was mayor of Berlin when I visited with my parents in 1963.
Does your pooch need a rinse after frolicking on the beach?
Sculpture, basketball courts and industrial detritus line the river walk, much as they do along the Hudson on New York's West Side.
Is that an unhappy nun across the street?
Locals fish, sun and swim from these docks.
The Arrábida Bridge, completed in the early 1950s, relieved traffic congestion on the Dom Luis I bridge, originally constructed to carry horses and wagons.
I turned the corner at this Art Deco building to walk back up the hill to the Crystal Palace Gardens.
I never did get around to hopping on board a tram.
It turned out that the 19th-century palace, modeled after the one in London, had been replaced long ago with the Superbock Arena. Still, the hike was worth the views.
Signs warn visitors to the park that the peacocks, which have the run of the place, can be aggressive. My battery died before I could take more than a couple of photos.
A quick re-charge at the hotel before returning to Mercado Bon Successo for dinner enabled me document that Portugal hasn't altogether reckoned with its past as a colonial power, at least not in this Porto ice cream shop.
