Porto, Portugal -- A Statue, Two Museums, and a Bookstore

 We had far more opportunities to dig into culture in Porto than we had time, so we picked our top three. First up was this bookstore (you who know us well, know that we generally manage to visit a bookstore in every port, but this one, the “Livraria Lello,” was unusually famous. It was said to be where the inspiration for "Harry Potter" came from. Those words made for tourist magnets all over England when we were there, and apparently here also. The next day we got tickets to go inside. It truly was a pretty bookstore; and we learned they’re backing off the Harry Potter association, though the damage may well have already been done. Got away for less than 100 euros (unusual for us at a bookstore, I know, but we’re continuing our cruising tradition of going to local independent bookstores and buying books about the places we visit.) This trip netted us books about the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755; Portuguese navigators in the renaissance; a picture book about the gorgeous blue-and-white tiles we found all over Portugal; and Michelle Obama’s latest. And a couple of selfies…

Author friends: this is the famous bookstore where Rowling is said to have gotten the inspiration for the Harry Potter series. People line up and buy a ticket just to go inside! I wish you the same for any bookstore that carries your books. (And yes, we’re going too, but not right now, and the price of the ticket can be applied toward a book purchase.)

  

We’re in the wrong part of Portugal and the wrong time to see an actual cork harvest so we did the next best thing — there’s a whole museum devoted to cork here in the city! Portugal provides 50% of the total world supply of cork. At this museum we saw how it’s made into wine stoppers, but also surfboards and engine gaskets and architectural materials and special effects for movies (explosion debris, for one thing) and clothing probably a few more that we forgot.

There's a museum near the cathedral devoted to stained glass! I got a photo of it's spiral staircase to contrast with the unique staircase in the bookstore, but the artist in this museum is the same artist who created the stained glass visible behind our heads in the bookstore selfie!

Finally, a few more pictures of Porto, and the scariest statue I've ever seen. 

looking back at Porto from the opposite side of the river, in Gaia

Fun mural, in an otherwise unexpected random street corner

Random street scene, you can't see how steep the hill is. And I'm glad we don't have a car to deal with here!

Cathedral (again, you can't really see how steep the hill is.)

More of the amazing tile work. Sadly there has been some theft of old tiles that have been pried off the buildings at street level and sold to unsuspecting people and now many buildings only have tile facades on the higher floors. 

And finally, the scariest statue I've ever seen. This is the court building, with the traditional statue of lady justice in front. Except, this statue isn’t the traditional one. Here, justice is not “blind.” And she’s holding a sword, not the impartial scale of justice (that’s down by her side in her left hand, a bit hard to see in this angle.) The statue was erected during the fascist dictatorship here and was meant to intimidate “enemies of the state” because justice would be weaponized against them. On 25 April 1974 this government was overthrown by a military coup and Portugal transitioned to a democracy; the holiday is celebrated every year. (Ironically I started this post with the statue, and started it on 25 April!)