Friday 21^th September – Póvoa De Varzim

41:22.309N 8:45.914W

Today we took the new ‘Metro do Porto’ from Póvoa De Varzim to visit Porto, about 30km away. 

Wow, we were so well looked after!  As we tried to figure out the ticket machine (which gives language options in both Portuguese and English), the guard indicated that we should follow him to the office.  There we were met by a lovely lady who spoke fluent English, asked what we would like to do and sorted us out with an ‘All Day Ticket’ which covered the Metro, the buses and the Funicular lift - the equivalent of our commute into London with a TravelCard except it cost only €5 for 24 hours travel (less than £3.50).

So, an hour later we were in the middle of Porto with all the maps and guides she had given us to read on the journey.

We had a great day – we were delighted with our day ticket as Porto is very hilly and so we hopped on and off buses to get around. 

We first visited Vila Nova de Gaia - the area where all the port wine lodges are.  We only just resisted the lure of a pizza at the local Pizza Hut and instead tried one of the local (if seedy) roadside cafés.  This proved a mixed experience - my chargrilled sardines were superb but Richard wasn’t convinced by the meat rissoles.

After lunch, we visited a couple of the port wine lodges - Taylors and Croft.  It was fascinating to see the many barrels and vats of port wine maturing, and to understand the nuances of ruby vs tawny, lbv vs vintage, and ‘wood aged’ vs ‘bottle aged’.  The fact that they included complimentary port tastings was of course an added bonus.

With duty served, we went for a ride on the Funicular do Guidais which takes you vertically up the side of the hill next to the Ponte De Luis I Bridge and visited the Cathedral.

The Ponte De Luis I Bridge is on two levels – the lower level is for cars and pedestrians – the upper level is for the metro and pedestrians with a strong head for heights.  We went onto the top of the bridge to take a couple of photos but resisted the urge to walk all the way across as it was getting late (plus you can see through the holes right to the lower level, and it’s a very long way down).

After a full day we were pleased that the metro back was an ‘express’ and so we were back at Póvoa in 45 minutes.  When we got off the train, we found that the wind had built during the day and had increased to the point where we were having to lean into it to walk along.  We are now cooking dinner and listening to the wind howling outside.  The anemometer is showing over 20 knots at the moment but is protected by the mast as the wind is from behind so it is probably a little more.

We have internet access here so we will upload some photos tomorrow.