18:04:14 05/12/2022

We arrived in Porto from the Douro valley, driving was at first a bit of a challenge through the valley as the roads are narrow and along the edge of the valley walls.  Once we were out of the valley driving was quite easy.  We took the A series highways for most of the way in to Porto.  Arriving in Porto we dropped off the car at the airport and were met by our driver Antonio.

Antonio gave us a tour of the city, starting when he picked us up at 10:30am until he dropped us off at the hotel at about 5:30pm.  We saw the waterfront, the beautiful beach they have here right in the city.  Aparently this is something that is missed by most people visiting Porto.  We then made our way into the city center, driving along the waterfront.

Porto is split by the Douro river, one side sits Porto, the other side is Gaia, very much like we have Halifax on one side of the harbour and Dartmouth on the other.  The river here in Porto has 6 bridges crossing it, these are dedicated to specific methods of transport, one for highway, one for pedestrian (a decommissioned train bridge), one for trains, one for city trams, and two are part of the highway system.  This makes crossing the river very efficient.

Antonio took us over to Gaia, to a port house where we did a tasting; Churchills.  We were given a brief tour of the port house, where we saw the vats, the barrels, and given a description of how they produce their port.  We were then given a tasting of three of their port wines, a white, a ruby and a tawny (10 year).  All were very very good and if we had room in our bags, or if they shipped to Canada (they do not - very disappointed) we would have purchased the 750ml bottle of each, but since they don't we only bought the 250ml bottle of each, which will be great for gifts.

After the tasting, Antonio showed us a little more of Gaia on the way to a little local restaurant for lunch.  Where he brought us had a number of different restaurants, and some including ours were cooking the fish over coals in BBQ's right on the street.  The smell was awesome.  The were cooking everything from cod, and shrimp, to monk fish and octopus.  We started with the mussels, here they are served cold with olive oil and red and green sweet peppers.  The main was a grilled cod dish, which took 30 minutes to cook over the hot coals, served with potato's and onions, and a number of other veggies.  This  was a salted cod that they reconstitute, then grill.  This seems to be the way most restaurants cook their cod.  Once we were done, Antonio picked us up to continue the tour.

Antonio, then took us on a whirl wind tour of the city, driving from one location to the next and stopping where a walking tour made most sense.  We started with a great view point in Gaia where we could see both sides of the river.  The facility used to be a covent but now is used by the military.

We then crossed the river into Porto, and were taken to some of the major city squares, shown some of the larger churches, those that would not be within walking distance of our hotel.  We did visit some churches, and monuments that are special here in Porto.  Pictures will tell a far better story.

At the end of the tour Antonio dropped us off at the hotel.  We were both quite tired, so we rested for a bit, got some easy dinner (McDonald's) right next door to the hotel, then took a walk along the waterfront.  

The waterfront here is lively, far more than what we experienced in Lisbon, perhaps the only other place that seemed to be as lively would have been our first day in Nazare.

After the walk we went back to the room to get some rest.