the charming train station

[writing this post after a huge caramel frapuccino feels so so good!!!]

so, how are you today? here it’s hot hot hot! again, there’s a heat wave upon us and everyone is trying their best to find some sort of way to freshen up! mine was that frapuccino mentioned above! i really need to have some time to learn how to make a delicious iced coffee recipe… with condensed milk of course! so what do i have for you today? a fabulous trip! come with me! i’ve been talking over and over about porto (or oporto for those who don’t live here, i’ve been always saying the city’s name in portuguese, but i know that in english it’s actually oporto!), but though i don’t want to bore you with my ramblings about that city, i must say that i found it so charming, that i couldn’t really help myself in taking hundreds of pictures that day! and when i started editing them, i knew i had to write a post exclusively dedicated to the train station – são bento train station! i had heard about that train station, but i had never visited it, until that day! oh my goodness…

the tile is amazing, the whole entrance is covered in tile, just like you see above and below. it’s incredible… the colours, the stories, the details. everything was touching! i felt like i was a complete foreigner and stood there with my mouth open appreciating and embracing all of this. and then i thought about those who work there, that may have lost the ability of appreciating this beauty, because… well, they go to work there every single day, so… but i did a little research (as i love to do for this blog!) and i found out that these tiles were hand painted by jorge colaço between 1905 and 1916, the most famous tile painter in that time. just imagine that person up there painting all this… whow!

and another thing that i absolutely love is clocks! and clocks in train stations are usually pretty, this one was no exception! i loved the date engraved as well on the other side of the station.

the fact that part of the station is actually outside adds a lot of charm, because you get in the building, feel amazed by all that tile, pass this entrance door (below, left picture) and see that part of the station doesn’t have a rooftop, allowing you to see some houses on the hill and as some of them are all covered up in ivy, well, that is absolutely a treat!

every time that i was on this city, i would be working quite near this station, and my hotel was not that far either. but though i had always heard that the station was really pretty, i had never been there. now that i was inside, i know what people usually talk about when they say the station is pretty! it’s not pretty, it’s quote beautiful and charming in all its details! i actually decided not to go by taxi or subway, to the other train station that would take me to lisbon, but i went to this one and straight to the other! this is such a pretty place to leave behind!