Arriving back at São Bento station after a week in Pinhão, neither of us were quite prepared for the grandeur of the station. You might be wondering why as we'd left Porto by train the previous weekend, but as our apartment in Bomfim was closest to the next station along the line, we'd headed there instead. That station was nowhere near as spectacular, but it was less distance for MOH to drag our luggage, see I really am good to him!
São Bento station is central to the old part of the town and was built on the site of a Benedictine Convent which had fallen into a state of disrepair. The first train arrived here in 1896 but the station wasn't inaugurated until 1915. There are approximately 20,000 tiles in the mural which dates from 1905-1916 and each of the central panels represent work scenes of vineyards, harvesting, the wine shipment down the Douro and work in the watermill.
And when I was looking at the beauty in front of me, I knew nothing of that.
Take a look, they really are amazing.
I wonder if in years to come our tube and rail stations will have people like me taking pictures of them, and being in awe of their beauty? Who knows, stranger things have happened!