Once we arrived in Porto, we took a bit of a break and got settled into our hotel - a Sheraton, using points (so we say “free”), and with a Club Lounge where we could eat breakfast in the mornings and appetizers and WINE in the evenings (saved hundreds!!).

The next morning we took a long walk to find the riverfront. This is an amazing city! We found a street (by chance) that took us down toward the river, and past an amazing old church, that was totally covered in beautiful tiles. Then we walked around the corner and found another, and another. These places were incredible.

The riverfront was beautiful as well. From the Porto side we looked across to Gaia, the town on the other side of the river, where all the old Port House used to be located (today, many tasting rooms). We found out that they were originally built on that side of the river because it was more shaded - cooler. We took the river taxi across (2 Euro each), a little bit like the Vancouver, and visited a few shops. Then we took a short, 50 minute cruise on the river - a great way to see the city from the water. You could see the advertising for Sandeman, Taylor’s, Dow’s and others, and also the old boats that would bring the barrels downriver in the past.

After our tour we were a bit hungry (thirsty?), so found a place on the river for a bite to eat. The food was good, but the ceramics were awesome - “had to have them”! Our waitress was having a bad day when we first got there - (aka - “No soup for you!!”) but by the end, she loved us (Tim), and we ended up going home with some nice souvenirs! We also met a nice young couple from Hong Kong - they we having a tough time communicating with the waitress at the beginning, but when she saw us trying to help them, she warmed right up, and gave them a free drink in the end as well!

The next day we did a bit more walking (including to the local “Mailboxes Etc.”, to send some souvenirs to Seattle). Needed to burn off a few calories (again, hundreds), so we did maybe 6 miles of walking this day. Luckily, we had booked yet another AirBNB “Bar Crawl”, as we were soon starving (thirsty!). We have yet to be disappointed in any of these, and this was no exception. Our host was Thiago, and he was wonderful. And we were joined by two wonderful young ladies from the U.K. On just a short holiday. Five stops later, we were all full, and very “happy”, having tasted many local foods, and wines!

After a “day off” to take care of some addition chores, it was time to take a tour of the Douro valley wine region. We had booked (through Trip Advisor) a “small group” tour. There were only 7 of us in the van, and our driver/tour guide, Ricardo. He was a great young man, and again, full of local knowledge as we drove for about 90 minutes from Porto to our first stop in Regua at Quinta de Marrocos. The “story” that we heard from Susanna, our hostess, was that all the poor people from the town across the river needed work, but the business people had no work for them, so told them, “maybe you should go to Morocco” to find work. They were not well educated, but knew Morocco was across the water in Africa. So they went “across the river” and started a winery and called it “Marrocos”.

We also heard a story from our driver, Ricardo, about how the Sandeman logo was created. Basically a combination of a Spanish hat (a Cordobes hat) and the black cape is really the robes worn by students in university in Portugal.

Anyway, Susanna was lovely, and also showed us all around the farm and the winery. And, get this - they still stomp grapes by foot! We MUST come back for this experience!! Can it be true? Check out the two videos.

The winery was awesome and the views incredible. Now we head further up river to visit the town of Pinhao and take a boat on the river to see the valley. Again, amazing views of this region, both from the water and then from the top of the hill where we had lunch and visited an olive oil mill and winery as well. They say the BBC rated this as one of the most beautiful views in the world, and we could see why.

Our final full day in Porto, we decided to take a cooking class to learn to make the famous Pastel de Nata - the pastry that went into my stomach many, many (too many) times on this trip to Portugal! This was a great class - just two hours - with a great group of people interested in the same thing. A family from the UK, a couple from France, and a couple of body builders (I think one was a body double for “The Rock”) from Australia, and a young lady from Toronto. Interesting people you meet when doing these experiences. The class was fun and informative, and our host Joanna was awesome - showing us her grandmothers recipe to make these amazing treats.

After eating the fruits of our labors, we headed back to the hotel, but first one last walk through the downtown district, and past the bookstore where JK Rowling was inspired to develop the moving staircases in Harry Potter. As I understand it, she actually spent quite some time in Porto, and would write while up in the second floor coffee shop of this bookstore. Now, there is a line-up about a block long 10 hours a day, to have 10 minutes inside. Quite a place for sure - check out the video.

All in all, a brief 7 days in Porto was great, but not enough. We missed several parts of the city and area that we definitely would like to come back to see, but we also really enjoyed the time we had here.

Now, the countdown begins for the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona!

Check out all the pictures and videos on Porto by using the icons on the left.

All the best, and Happy 4th of July!

Tim & Eileen