There are many ways of getting to Porto. You can take a boat down the Douro River. You can fly in to Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport from places such as London, Paris, Geneva, Lisbon or Madrid. You can drive your own car. We arrived after a five-hour bus trip from Santiago in northern Spain. You can use any of these methods or you can be one of the lucky ones who take a train and get off at the Sao Bento Railroad Station in central Porto. But if you do choose a method other than train I would like to recommend that you join the lucky ones and visit the Sao Bento Station sometime during your Porto visit. You will be in for a treat!
Click on any photo to see a larger version of that photo.

King John I and Philippa of Lancaster arrive for their wedding in 1387. Philippa was the well-educated daughter of John of Gaunt. Geoffrey Chaucer was one of her tutors. One of the sons of John and Philippa was Prince Henry the Navigator.
Sao Bento gets its name from a monastery that was demolished in the 1890s to make way for the railway station for which construction began in 1900. In 1905 Jorge Colacao, one of the most celebrated azuelejo artists of his time, began painting his tiles. Eleven years and 20,000 tiles later Colacao completed his project in 1916.

Some of the scenes depict famous events in the history of Portugal while others paint the story of daily rural life at harvest time around the city of Lamego in the upper Douro Valley east of Porto. There is a festive period in Lamego that starts in late August every year and ends with a great religious procession in mid-September.

The procession of Nossa Senhora dos Remédios (Our Lady of Remedies) in Lamego, a city in the upper Douro Valley.
Just a few more posts on Porto and then we’ll move on to New York.
Simply beautiful.
That’s a lot of tiles . . . I’m assuming they were painted after they were installed, but I can’t tell. It would seem crazy to do it the other way (paint individual tiles first).
Wonderful photos!
They’re beautiful and so are your images of them.
Used to live in Porto. Rue de Boavista and Foz and Gaia. My favourite city with Dublin
So beautiful! Thank you for this special tour.
Hi
I went to this station a few years ago and it became the most beautiful inspiration.
Can I source and share this photo on my blog?
When introducing this station, I want to show people the picture together!
Yes, you may, Soy. I’m glad you liked the photo.