Return to Portugal and the stormy seas

After a brief sojourn (one and a half days!) in Amsterdam I flew south to Portugal. In the teeth of the gale!
The boat bounces and tugs and groans and squeaks ... I feel just somewhat seasick ... so, off to Braga and a quiet bed!
Braga is beautiful, despite the lowering clouds and sudden sharp hail falls! In between, there are streaks of brilliant sun and wonderful buildings and gardens to discover. Also much music and artistic creation going on. We attended a delightful performance given by an actor accompanied by musicians, telling a fairytale to classes of schoolchidren (held in one of the old university halls); the children laughed and clapped and there was general merriment.
We had an excellent unpretentious hotel near the cathedral, which we duly inspected (old, built upon a former mosque, on top of an ancient Roman foundation...). Below, part of the stunning organ, and two of the remarkable carvings which adorn it...

I

A satyr posing in the carving decorating the cathedral of Braga




Hoping for better weather, we trained back to Porto, and had a most interesting journey with no fewer than 23 stops between Braga and Porto central station, providing us with plenty of time to study the vast variety of faces in the train...

In Leca da Palmeira, where our boat is moored, the sea had quietened somewhat. The marina is awash with flotsam and jetsam, and to use an expressive Italian word: sporcissimo, meaning, utterly filthy.
Photos below (for the record!).

But the walk along the seafront compensates for all: the sea and the rocks and the pebble-clouded sky and the crashing waves (now reduced from nine metres to about four!!).

And sleep is a rocking as in the treetop, but no boughs break (we hope).

Poor Stroemhella
 in the filth...










So now we know how much yuk there is in the sea... it's very depressing. But look how beautiful it can be: