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| D'Origem Winery overlooking the Douro Valley |
After a four hour drive to Miami, three hours at the Miami airport, an eight hour flight to Madrid, a four hour layover and a two hour flight from Madrid we arrived in Porto! Local time when we arrived was about 1:00 PM on Thursday.
Neither of us do very well sleeping on planes and these flights were certainly no exception. We both got less sleep than we usually do when flying, so we arrived a little bleary eyed and in somewhat of a brain fog. Our hotel, (Porto A.S. 1829) was just a few hundred yards away from the metro station which was fortunate since it was a little chilly and just starting to rain when we arrived.
Porto's population is just under 250,000 (about the size of Orlando, Fla), which makes it the second largest city in Portugal. The city is located where the Douro River, which originates in Urbion, Spain, meets the Atlantic Ocean. We're staying near the city center in the old town section which is called Ribeira. This area is fairly compact with several "pedestrian only" streets lined with restaurants, bars and small shops. There is a waterfront promenade area with more restaurants, bars and shops, as well as river taxi's and sightseeing boats. Across the river is the town Vila Nova de Gaia, which is famous for it's wine cellars. There are multiple bridges crossing the river but the most iconic one is the Luis I Bridge. The project to build this bridge was originally proposed by Gustave Eiffel, who designed a fairly famous tower in Paris. The bridge was actually designed by one of Eiffel's students, Theophile Seyrig. This is something I'm sure the guy making the impressive run on Jeopardy right now knows!
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| Me with a photographer growing out of my head and the Luis I Bridge in the background |
Feeling somewhat refreshed and almost human again Friday morning we took off on foot to explore. The weather had also improved, although it remained overcast and in the low 60's throughout the day.
During the day we covered a lot of territory on both sides of the river. We crossed over the top span of the Luis I Bridge to the Monastery of Serra do Pilar. The monastery, which is no longer operational sits on an outcrop overlooking the river and historic center of Porto. The Monastery, Luis I Bridge and Historic Center of Porto were all designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1996. The views were fantastic, and being high up, it was a great place to get oriented to both Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia.
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| Another view of the Luis I Bridge |
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| That's Vila Nova de Gaia on the left and Porto on the right (and us in the middle) |
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| A small part of the monastery |
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| Porto from the Vila Nova de Gaia side of the river |
Porto is famous for it's wine production, specifically Port wines. They are sweeter than those served with meals and are commonly referred to as "dessert wines". The grapes are actually grown and processed about 100 miles from Porto in the Douro Valley (more on this area later). Many of the wineries transport their wines downriver for storage in cellars which are mainly on the Vila Nova de Gaia side. We happened to be on that side of the river, the cellars happened to be on that side of the river, so off we went. We visited one of the largest and oldest wine companies in the region, Real Companhia Velha. The company was founded in 1756 and they actually have a bottle of wine on display in one of their cellars that was bottled in that year. Carlo, our tour guide shared with us that if you drank it now it would taste terrible and probably kill you, but it was cool to see. The wine tasting was fun, although I'm not a big fan of Port wine. Some of the aged Port's tasted pretty good while others reminded both of us of cough medicine.
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| Real Companhia Velha Winery They have a steel barrel tank at the far end that holds over one million liters, which is enough for every citizen of Portugal to have a small glass! |
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| Tasting Time! |
After a fun one hour boat ride on the Douro on what is called the "Six Bridges Tour" we crossed back over the Luis I Bridge on the lower level and explored some of the historic center of Porto. One of the feature attractions is the train station. The inside walls are covered with hand painted ceramic tiles that tell the story of the history of the city. Most all of the interesting sites in the city center such as the museums, churches, market and main plaza are in easy walking distance of each other, making it an easy and fun area to explore.
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| Inside the train station. The history of Porto in painted ceramic tiles |
Yesterday (Saturday) we booked a tour to go to the Douro Valley which is an amazingly beautiful and very large (over 61 thousand acres) region of Portugal where the vineyards are located. There were four couples, two from Canada, one from Denmark and us along with our "fast and furious" driver Felipe, who was very knowledgeable on all things wine (or at least he was very convincing). We've been in numerous wine regions around the world and I think it's fair to say, this was the most spectacular. The vines are grown on terraces all along the rolling hills and most are still harvested the old fashion way. Each cluster of grapes are hand cut from the vine by the women. They are then placed in baskets that when full weigh up to 80 pounds and are carried by the men up or down steep and uneven stairs to the wineries. Many of the small wineries still crush the grapes the old fashion way as well, by stomping them for hours. One of the winery tour leaders assured us that the filtration and fermentation process got rid of any undesirable foot nastiness and that the stomping process left your feet feeling extra clean and exfoliated! Below are some pictures from the Douro Valley:
Over the course of the day we visited two wineries, tasting numerous port as well as some very nice table wines. We had a nice lunch at a restaurant high up on a hillside over looking the valley and the Douro River. We also enjoyed a one hour boat ride along the peaceful river in a boat fashioned after the boats that were originally used to transport the wine from the valley to Porto.
It was a long but very fun day with some incredible views all along the way. It was a fun group that we enjoyed meeting. As these group wine tastings tend to go, the group gets more lively and talkative as the day goes on...…….I wonder what causes that?
It's now Sunday evening. We enjoyed the entire day in Porto seeing much more of the city than just the historic center. We took a streetcar line that runs along the riverfront from near the hotel to the end of the line at the mouth of the Douro River. This is where the beach begins. There is a long beachfront promenade that goes for several miles. Along the way we stopped at one of the numerous restaurants overlooking the beaches and ocean for breakfast with a view. The beaches were somewhat crowded and a few people were in the water, but based on their reactions when they were getting in I think the water must have been pretty chilly.
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| Riverfront Street Car The ride from the City Center to the end of the line (Beach) takes about 20 minutes and currently costs 3.50 euros |
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| Where the Douro River flows into the Atlantic Ocean |
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| A selfie along the beach! |
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| Old Man and The Sea...……..Portugal style! |
Instead of taking the streetcar back we opted to walk along the river and through several of the many parks along the way. One park had a small craft fair going on as well as a couple of Putt-Putt courses. We challenged each other to a Putt-Putt duel. I got trounced by 5-6 shots. Beaten soundly, fair and square. I was trying my best even if it was Mother's Day!
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| The winner of the Portuguese Open Putt-Putt Championship! |
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| Maybe I should have been watching the ball! |
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| A Sunday Craft Sale in the Park |
As we continued back towards the hotel we stopped at the Gardens of the Crystal Palace. These multi-level gardens sit on a hillside overlooking the river. There was a really nice Rose Garden as well as numerous other gardens and some nice benches in the shade, which is always a Tucker favorite.
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| The Gardens of the Crystal Palace |
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| Taken from the Gardens of the Crystal Palace |
We finished the day exploring an area close to the hotel but one that we had not walked through previously. We passed the University of Porto and the Livraria Lello Bookshop. A former faculty member of the University named J. K. Rowling is said to have written some of the early pieces of Harry Potter while sitting in the bookshop and that the Hogwarts Library is actually modeled after the bookstore. Having never seen the movies, I guess I'll just have to take their word for it. It must be true because the bookstore has become so popular that you now have to buy a ticket just to go inside!
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| The Livraria Lello Bookshop |
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| Clerigos Tower...….. Inaugurated in 1763, it's the most visited monument in Porto. 225 Steps to the top! |
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| In case you don't like what one pastor is saying...…..this is actually two churches. Igreja dos Carmelitas on the left and Igreja do Camo on the right! |
It's been a really fun three and a half days in the Porto area. It would be quite easy to spend a week or more here without running out of things to see and do, but for us and for now, it's getting time to head to our second destination. Tomorrow morning we'll be taking the train to Estoril, which is known as the Portuguese Riveria and playground for the rich and famous. I hope they don't mind us crashing their party!
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| Codfish Croquettes (Tasty) |
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| It's called a Francesinha. It's a traditional sandwich of Porto. There is ham, pork roast and fresh sausage between two pieces of bread. Cheese is melted over the top and it's then covered with gravy. It was really good but probably not too good for me. |
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| Pork steak with fries, salad and rice. Unlike mine, at least Beth had some roughage on her plate! |
