Porto

Porto  Portugal arrived Tuesday Sept 13, departed Friday Sept 16 –

We used every transportation method, taxi, plane, metro and train, all except boat, to get from Barcelona to Porto, but made it late that night on Tuesday Sept. 13. The Lisbon airport is very close to the metro that runs right to the train station which is wonderful but only one of the ticket machines was working and taxis won’t take you to the train station because it’s not worth the fare.  Anyway, after many twists and turns, we arrived in Porto around 9:00 p.m.  It was a very long day.  I have to give huge kudos to the Lisbon and Porto train stations for having elevators and escalators that work.  That was a huge plus in our book and gives Portugal the best train station award!

Porto, as the name implies, is the distribution center for port which comes from the Douro Valley.  The city was originally settled by the Romans and was also under control of the Moors.  It is a fascinating city that is built on steep hills that run down to the Douro river.  Many of the homes and businesses are covered with beautiful tiles.  Unfortunately, it is obvious the city has seen better days.  There are beautiful buildings which are abandoned and you know they were something in their glory days. The city’s main industry now is tourism and a high end shoe factory.  

The first morning, Wednesday Sept 14, we got the lay of the land by purchasing a ticket to take the tourist train, port tasting and boat cruise.  The tourist train wasn’t as good as some others we’ve been on because they did 5 languages over a loud speaker so consequently you didn’t get a lot of info.  Plus, Cham and I are pretty good with figuring out where we are, but the hills made it really confusing. We were on a tour with a geologist from Canada yesterday and he said it really was like San Fran.  Very steep hills that run down to a river and it has a huge fault running through it.  That was an interesting fact.  

We went to a port house which was an interesting tour.  Neither of us knew very much about port. In a nutshell, it is fortified wine that has been aged in these tremendous casks and the grapes are still mashed by people stomping on the grapes. As one guide said, it sounds like fun, but you really want to be finished in 15 minutes.  Most shifts are 3 to 4 hours.  I think we all have visions of Lucy and Ethel and it’s not quite like that.  The harvest starts in two weeks. There are tours groups that offer you the chance to pick and stomp if you want the experience.  Actually, they’re having a very hard time getting laborers to work the harvest because the wage is low and the work is very difficult.  I am publishing a lot of pictures because it’s honestly some of the most breathtaking scenery I’ve ever seen.  The vineyards are built on these incredibly steep cliffs and pretty much everything has to be done by hand because the vines were narrowly planted and they are so steep.

The Douro Valley was the first area to have demarcations for wine.  It was established by the king in the 1780’s.  This particular port house was founded by the king. We asked if the royal family still owned it and were told it was a private owner.  On a tour yesterday, we found out that yes, descendants of the Portugal  royal family (now deposed) does still own it.  Excellent port.

We decided to eat lunch before catching the boat.  We walked across a huge bridge, which was a challenge well met by Cham, and proceeded to the waterfront. It was full of tourists, restaurants and port houses.  We ate several typical Portuguese dishes, empanadas for starters and then cod dishes. I’ve always wanted to try them and they were excellent.  Ironically, they don’t have cod in Portugal, they import it from Norway. Historically they are very close to the British and the Brits brought cod with them and the Portuguese have made it their national fish dish.  After lunch we had a lovely port tasting at Cruz Porto and proceeded to cross the river to catch the boat.  We hadn’t noticed a low passenger bridge under the massive bridge we had crossed.  The second crossing was much easier. We then took a boat tour which went under the 6 bridges of Porto.  The bridges are massive and the current is very swift.  The Douro starts near the Pyrenes in Spain and runs to the ocean.  We also saw 4 river boat cruises – two Viking and two French. It’s obviously a very popular tour.  

After the boat tour, we did some people watching.  It’s a huge university town and there was also an important soccer game being played that night so the beer and the boasts were freely flowing.  We noticed a bunch of people running towards something so we did the only logical thing and decided to run to it also to see what the excitement was all about. It turns out 4 young Netherlanders decided to get into a tuktuk tour car when the guide was away.  It looked like their story was that when one picked up his backpack, he inadvertently released the break and it started rolling down the hill.  Truly, thank God it hit a car because if it hadn’t, it would have hit a number of people eating outside at a restaurant.  They did the logically bad thing by running away. The tuktuk driver was chasing them as well as the owner of the car.  They chased them to the top of the hill where someone had alerted someone who stopped them and the police came. We would love to know if anyone was charged, but it looked like as long as they were paying for the damages, no one was going to be charged.  It was amazing to watch them work this all out on the street as opposed to the police station or the judge.

Yesterday, Thursday Sept 15, we took an amazing tour down the Douro Valley. It was Cham’s birthday and he thought it was a wonderful gift.  As I mentioned earlier, the Douro Valley is stunning.  We were with a couple from Calgary, Canada, and another couple from Norway.  Our guide and owner of the company was a young father of a two-year-old.  He is actually a civil engineer who was working in Ghana where he met his wife. She got pregnant and they decided to move back to Portugal.  He wasn’t able to get a job in his field and now his license has lapsed.  I got the impression the past couple of years had been very difficult but he had decided to jump on the tourism bandwagon and try to make a go of it.  We had a wonderful political discussion at lunch which was very interesting because he’s the one who brought it up and that’s usually a huge no no with those in the guide industry. Everyone we have met on our trip is very anxious about and interested in the U.S. Presidential, much more so than other years we have visited Europe.  

The day started at Fonsesca Port house.  Afterwards we went on a boat cruise. It was on this cruise that I had a puff sighting!  I am claiming it was a puff although it was really a very fluffy white feather.  The flora in the area doesn’t sow in that fashion so I guess a feather which looks similar is the next best thing.  I was having a great discussion with Mary Beth from Canada when the weather blew down the aisle, floated in a circle around me and then hovered a little bit in front of me, like, do you see me?  I attempted to catch it, but it slipped through my fingers.  All I could do was smile.The views of the Douro River Valley were some of the most beautiful we have ever seen, as a matter of fact one of them was voted by the BBC in 2014 as the most beautiful view in the world. Also it was incredible to see the vineyards planted on such steep slopes. The photos really do not do them justice.  

We ended the tour by going to this astounding monastery.  It had just celebrated its anniversary celebration last week.  Guilliam said the Virgin is brought in on a cart drawn by two oxen.  All of the steps are lit and the faithful climb the stairs on their knees praying for a miracle as they do.  At each landing is a beautiful tile wall.  I hope you will enjoy the pictures because it was a beautiful sight.  The gentleman from Norway was pretty incredulous because the area is in such good shape.  He found it hard to believe that residents who probably don’t have a lot and live in a poor country would contribute to this. I told him it takes a lot of faith. I’m not sure he got that.

We are now on a train headed to Lisbon where we will meet people from Lynchburg tomorrow. It’s hard to believe this is the final leg of our “world tour.”, really just a tour of part of Europe. In the great scheme of things, we’ve had very few challenges and those we have had have been easily overcome.  We’ve met wonderful people, seen beautiful sights and sites, and have learned about ourselves as a couple and as individuals. I will never forget this fabulous adventure and we are very blessed to be able to do this.  As we get into the Portugal/Spain tour, I will depend on Declan’s blog site although I will certainly add to it.  I hope you enjoy the many pictures.  I had too many favorites to choose from!