This tower stands out on the Porto horizon from across the city. I don't know if it's the highest point in the city, but it probably is. It was very visible from our apartment patio and I took a lot of pictures. David and I finally got the chance to see it up close and climb to the top - at the same time as the Red Bull air races were occurring along the river! Amazing view from up high.
Each morning was foggy until about 9:00 or so when it started to burn off. The streets were pretty quiet in the mornings too. Its kind of a slow rising city.
Finally, a close up. This is the Clerigos Church. The tower is 75 m high. It was designed by Nicolau Nasoni and was finished in 1750. He was an Italian architect that designed a number of buildings in the city.
240 steps to reach the top. David demonstrates how you handle people moving in the opposite direction on the stairs - press yourself into a corner on the landings! It was tight.
Looking out over the roof of the nave.
The top part of the stairs were even narrower. They had installed a metal set of stairs with enclosed sides, but you can see the original stairs appear to have been totally open to a multistory fall below.
You can see the smoke trailing from a plane that has just completed a loop. They were running a 'slalom' course at river level, having to pass back and forth between two 'gates' and weave between three huge inflated pillars on the water, then turn a 180 vertically and do it again. We could see the loops, but not the flight at river level.
The Se do Porto (Cathedral) square (upper left)
Pano view from the tower. It must be illegal to have any color roof other than red - ha!
We had the perfect view of the patio of our apartment (black arrow on left) and the Cathedral (red circle)
This was the last night with the festival of St John when all the lanterns were floating over the city.
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