The Pantzers parlay Portugal

June 27: Porto

Yes, yes, yes…. there was NO blog yesterday, as blog writer took a short rest!

Here I am, ready to embark on a hop on-hop off bus, Porto style. The bus took me through the old town with its narrow streets (it’s amazing how those buses negotiate the streets), lots of construction going on as they are building another metro to cater for all the tourists coming here, so traffic really bad. And then we headed to Foz, a seaside resort at the mouth of the Douro river where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. A completely different feel – wide streets, large houses, lots of parks.

Hopped off bus for a visit to the Jewish synagogue and museum.

There are around 1000 Jews now living in Porto. At the time of the Spanish Inquisition, there were 75,000 Jews in Portugal, where the Jews were protected by the lords, and they were joined by some 120,000 Jews who fled from Spain.

In the evening, we went to a lovely Japanese restaurant called Yakuza(as one does in Portugal!), which has just opened in Porto.