126 A SPRING TOUR IN PORTUGAL. 



source of considerable danger to all who venture near, 

 and has been the scene of many fearful shipwrecks, and 

 the loss of innumerable human lives within a very short 

 distance from the shore. A good road connects Foz with 

 the city ; and, as it is well shaded with an avenue of lime 

 trees, and is the only flat ground near Oporto, and conse- 

 quently the general rendezvous of those who rode and 

 drove ; as, moreover, it follows the bank of the river, where 

 the constant arrival and departure of ships of all sizes 

 afforded ever-varying objects of interest, it was our fa- 

 vourite evening walk, and we generall}^ found ourselves 

 strolling along the outskirts of the city in the direction of 

 Foz ; and in addition to the other attractions which J have 

 mentioned, in these same suburbs we found the most pic- 

 turesque samples of old Portuguese houses, though in 

 dilapidated condition, which we had met with in the entire 

 country. 



Eeturning now to the eastern end of Oporto, and re- 

 crossing the river by the suspension bridge, over which 

 we first entered the city, let me conduct my readers to 

 another admirable point of view, viz., the ruins of the 

 Serra convent, to which a steep path conducts the pedes- 

 trian, ascending immediately from the bridge. Here we 

 find the monastic buildings literally knocked to pieces, 

 the stonework demolished, the iron window bars torn and 

 twisted, and the marks of the cannon balls over the whole 

 face of the convent, just as it was left after the Miguelite 

 attack for so complete was the demolition of this rich 

 and splendid monastery, that it was at once abandoned to 

 decay, and it remains a monument of its former magnifi- 

 cence, and the cruel vicissitudes it has experienced in 

 troub'ous times. From the terraces and gardens sur- 

 rounding it we have not only the view down the river 

 westwards to the sea, together with Foz and the broad 

 oceai , such as we may see from most of the heights of 



