Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1899-12-02
A FLYING TRIP THROUGH
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.
Sights and Landmarks OF One OF the Oldest Cities in Eu
rope-ln the Footsteps OF Antiquity
Special Correspondence.

Special Correspondence
Oporto. Portugal Nov. 20.-You may
think II an easy matter to do" the
sights Of a compact city Of only 100, 900
until you have tried It In oporto, and
found more WEAKNESS OF the flesh, and
especially Of the feet, than In any
notwithstanding you ever encoun.
tered. While the horizontal streets near.
est the quay are wider, well built and
comparatively level, most OF the others
are totally impossible for wheeled We
hlcles, being either too narrow, or al
most perpendicular or full OF deep
holes and gullles. worn into the origin
al pave Of the Goths and Romans and
never repaired since their long past
day Up and down the stony alleys
you toll, in the damp and chilly autumn
weather. jostled of the footwide side
walks By the motley throng, which re-
CARDS you, II at ALL with unfrlendly
stares as representatives. of the dreadful
nation OF Yankee porcos," (pigs) OF
whom these people have chiefly heard
during the last year or two, through the
woes Of their brothers across the Span
ish border At every step you are i'm
portuned by beggars In filthy rags, In
whose outstretehed hands you discern
unpleasant probabilities OF smallpox
plague and leprosy-whlle their owners,
with fawning lips and hate In their
eyes. call upon Nossa Senhora and all
her saints to reward you for mllreis
bestowed.
Talk about following in the footsteps
OF antiquity In this old, old city OF
eighty odd churches, are several whose
foundations were laid more than
thousand years ago. The Oldest build
Ing In Oporto is the chapel Of Cedo
Zelda, built A. d. 500, by the yisigoth
King Theodore, and still not altoge-
Their a ruin. Next In quaintness of ar
chitecture, though not In age, is the
Tore dos Clergios, Clover Of the
Clergy, a small church built about
TWO CENTURIES AGO.
with the highest tower in Portugal--an
odd, square splre Of something over
two hundred feet. which has served
since time out Of mind as a landmark
for sailors far out at sea. The church
OF NOssa Senhora ga Lappa--a fine Cor
TInfhtWn aNlfGA ~ ancient date Ia host
known to the reading public through the
bad pun which generations Of tourists
have perpetrated concerning Its da-
Lappa-dated condition. The great
cathedral was a noble edlfice away back
In the dawn Of Portuguese history. but
has been atroclousy modernized by
nineteenth century vandals. You may
spend many pleasant and profitable
days exploring these dim sanctuarles
and tracing therein the earmarks OF
changing religions. Some Of them
speak OF the days Of Moorish suprem
acy, when the turbaned hOrdes of Ad-
dull Hassan oveTran the peninsula;
others OF the brief but brilliant reign
OF Almansar de Cordova, which began
In the year 800; others OF the French
and Gascons. whose turn came in 9ss;
and others OF rolicking King John and
the later and gentler Pedros.
There used to be an incredible num-
Der OF converts in Oporto; but they were
mostly destroyed during the mem
orable seige Of lSi7 which nearly an
initiated the city and wiped out a third
of its population, and others have more
recently been appropriated by the gov
eminent 10 secular uses. on the high
bluffs Of the east bank OF the Douro
stands the famous convent Ia Sierra,
which az one time was said to be be-
yond compare with its wealth Of cary
ing, quaint arches and Moorsh-Alham-
bra courts. was converted into barracks
few years ago; and now horses
MUNICH scant rations in the Cloisters |
where monks mumbed their Ave Mari |
as. while understood. under-fed Portu- |
guese soldiers play cards In the long re-
fectory and "cuss" with superabund-
ance Of his their hard lot Of hunger and |
inactivity.
one OF the handsomest structures in
Oporto is the archbishop's palace, stu
ated on jutting rock so high In air |
that II reminds you OF Mahomet's cof
fin, suspended between earth and |
heaven. and you marvel that IL has not
dropped of long ago. upon the house
not in high favor with
HIS WORsHIPFUL HIGHNEsS
just at present, and II is useless 10 try
10 obtain an audience: but you may be
glaciously permitted TO view the grand
stairway-a famous work OF art which
stands about third In the stairways Of
the world, reckoning that Of the new
library OF Washington
at the head-which leads 20 the arch
episcopal apartments.
Next In point OF beauty, IL not OF
costlIness. is the English factory house,
Of white granite with deliberately
wrought facade. 1t comprises on
scale all the appurtenances
NJ an up-to-date club house. with ball
room. refreshment hail, library. read
Ing rooms, card rooms, etc: and here
The large but lonesome English colony
spends It's leisure hours
The new "bolsa," or exchange once
the monastery Of sac Francisco, is one
81 the most beautifully decorated
structures In Portugal The walls and
iloors Of its grand salon are entirely
covered with inlaid devices in the raT-
81 woods OF Brazil highly polished but
N their natural colors-pale greens,
lark reds, rose pink. browns. grays.
worry white. and ebony, curioasly inter-
mingled. There are suites OF lofty
apartments. all deliberately decorated.
,plcndid glass covered court got With |