Porto

Another tease.  Viking runs river tours of the Douro River Valley, so I guess they want to entice us to come back.  We had only a few hours here and it definitely calls for a few days, at least.  When I get home I’m going to start planning a trip to Spain and Portugal.  Please excuse the quality of the photos because, except for at two brief stops, all the photos were taken from the bus window.

The port where we are docked is outside the old city.  The new port building is pretty spectacular, Guggenheim-like and covered with glazed tile.   A Portuguese dance troupe greets us as we disembark.  

The bus follows the shore from the port area, passing a busy beach promenade, on the way into the city of Porto.  It’s May Day, equivalent to our Labor Day, and everybody is out walking, running, biking…., but not swimming.  The water doesn’t get much warmer than 65 degrees.

Porto’s old city is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  It’s an old fortified city, but not much of the city wall remains.  I think that the designation is due to the incredible number of granite buildings of high style.  These, along with the many facades of glazed tile, make for photo ops around every corner.

Tile facades

We stop for some independent strolling and shopping.  The guide heads down toward the river, saying there wouldn’t be much shopping in that direction.  Bob goes that way and I go uphill in search of small souvenirs (no room left in the luggage.)  Turns out that downhill was the better choice.  The riverside was busy with vendors and people celebrating the holiday.  On the upside-Portugal has gelato. 

J. K. Rowling was living in Porto when she started to conceive of the world of Harry Potter.  University students are known for dressing in all black (ironically, I guess.)  This became the uniform of Hogwarts.  The train station here was the model for the train station in her novels.

Portugal, and more famously Porto, is known for its port wine.  The fortified wines of Portugal came into being out of the necessity to make a wine that would withstand shipping.  The natural fermentation is stopped and a brandy-like alcohol is added, increasing the alcohol content and resulting in a longer shelf life.  Only those ports made in Portugal are allowed to call themselves “port.”  The hillsides of the city of Villa Nova de Gaia, across the river from Porto, are where all the port from the region is sent for fermentation and storage.  The cellars are built into the mountainside on this cooler side of the Douro River.  

We cross the Ponte Luis to Villa Nova de Gaia for a tour and port tasting at one of the cellars, Burmester.  We tasted a ruby, aged in stainless steel tanks, and a tawny, aged in oak barrels.

Back on the bus and retrace our steps back along the shore to the ship.  The housekeeping crew is lined up along the gangway to welcome us back with glasses of port.  I had to take one of each. 

Sail away.  Boo Hoo.