02/06/2016, WONDERFUL OPORTO.

I love it and wish we had stayed overnight in the port,as sometimes the ships do.Parts of Oporto are quite run down,paint peeling on so many buildings,old and new. I have heard a lot of people say how awful it is letting this lovely city go to rack and ruin.But to me there is great beauty in the shabbiness. The clothes waving in the wind on the clothes lines and on some strange contraptions hanging out of the windows .That to me is life. There are beautifully designed buildings,simple,stylish,elegant, in very exclusive parts where the rich and famous live, but nothing can compare with centuries old houses,they breathe joy and life,and sorrow and death,the natural order of things. I love you, OPORTO, I love you in all your shabby, grey, lived in glory.