Vila do Conde—October 10, 2018

Michaelis, our Metro station, is
three blocks from our apartment.

Today was even easier than yesterday and that was the plan. I wanted to visit Vila do Conde, a town 40 minutes north of Porto by Metro and 20 minutes if you have a car. This town has a population of about 75,000 and is a favorite get away for Porto locals, because it's close the beaches are amazing, the food is good and inexpensive, and the ambience is relaxed. It also has a few sites such as the Santa Clara Aqueducts, Santa Clara Monastery and Santa Clara Church, along with a few forts and churches, but Vila do Conde is for chill-axing.

The Santa Clara Aqueducts (1626-1714) smacks you right
in the kisser as soon as you step off the Metro.

We walked past this section of the aqueduct and look for signs to the city center. There isn't a tourism information booth off the Metro, because tourists don't normally go to Vila do Conde. So we walked west, toward the Atlantic Ocean, knowing we'd run into the town center or the Atlantic, probably both, and that's pretty much how it played out. Of course, we found the Atlantic first and after walking along the promenade and enjoying the coastline, we followed the road signs into the center of town.

First sign of civilization after the aqueduct was this fountain.

And then this one. We could hear the Atlantic by this time.

It's common practice to bring your own wind break.

Okay, so we found the ocean and see why folks from Porto love these beaches. We still hadn't found the town center so we turned up a street.

Found a really nice park, and more importantly—at the end of it—Em Boa Companhia, a restaurant serving what we fondly call linner, our midday meal that serves as lunch and dinner. You know you're in a place tourists don't frequent when no one in the restaurant speaks English and you're only 25 kilometers from Porto where almost everyone does.

Our waiter asked us what we wanted in Portuguese and we hemmed and hawed a moment, but because we looked at the chalk board out front where the menu for the day was written and recognized sardines and bacalhau, I mentioned both and our waiter nodded and then said something else. We both looked quizzically and he said, "Uh...beer, coffee..." and kind of shrugged and looked hopefully back as us. Duh, right the usual routine in any restaurant. 

Marie had grilled sardines.

I had bacalhau, cod.

As you can see neither of us liked our dishes.

After lunch we walked to the Ave River, hoping we'd eventually run into the Old Town and that's exactly what happened. We climbed the steps up to the Santa Clara Monastery and adjacent Santa Clara Church, and then followed the 99 arches of the Santa Clara Aqueduct back to the Metro and home. Walking a mere 5 miles seems as if we were sloths today.

From the old harbor the Santa Clara Monastery (1777) 

dominates the skyline.

  

Vila do Conde, a caravel gets spruced up a bit.

Caravels were developed in the 14th century. These swift
sailing ships helped open up the spice trade to Europe. Can
you imagine being Vasco de Gama and setting off to find
India in one of these? 

Bronze of woman doing bobbin lace. Click here for YouTube
video of how they still do it.

View down to Ave River, Old Town, and the Atlantic from

the monastery.

From the monastery still, but we were impressed by the
symmetry of these pine trees. They look like the trees we
drew as a kids.

Santa Clara Church (1318). Adjacent to monastery. We noticed
lots of cars in the parking lot below the church and about five
men standing at the open door, so we thought we'd have a look.
We looked in side and saw people sitting in pews and I made
a motion to say, "Is it okay for us?" and he smiled and gestured
us inside. A few seconds later, I noticed the open casket in
front of the altar and Marie noticed prayer cards and a picture
of the deceased on a table just left of the doorway. We paid
our respects and made our way out before Mass started.

The aqueducts provided water to the monastery.

99 Arches still remain of the aqueduct. The

white wall to the right encloses the cemetery.

Someone's coat of arms just inside the
cemetery entrance.

On the Metro headed home.

Our Metro stop. Most of it is above ground. The Metro is
clean, efficient, and cheap—a fantastic way to get out of
Porto fast. I say out of Porto, because the central city is
very walkable and with 15-20 minutes of the major sites.

Stopped by the store on our home
and couldn't resist showing this
teeny-tiny jar of Skippy.