Porto 41:08.5N 08:39.7W
Seaflute
Wed 14 Sep 2016 12:43
this place. It’s a real gem and it’s a piece of cake with regular Easy Jet
and Ryan Air flights to the airport which is close to the city centre.
Arrived at the mouth of the River Douro on Friday afternoon after mainly
motor sailing from Baiona. Slightly rolling swell to start – on the nose
then over the beam, plus a cold but weak north wind which meant it was a bit
nippy – but the sun was out and Ian burnt his nose on lobster pot look out –
which was an intensive, critical and challenging exercise for all aboard,
some are very hard to see, they are almost camouflaged and very tricky
little things to avoid.
Stayed in Douro Marina on the south bank of the river in the fishing village
of Gaia, overlooking Porto. Very warm welcome, guided in, helped with
mooring lines and provided with fresh rolls every day for breakfast. Even
the Wi-Fi worked ok!!
Gaia is a traditional little fishing village where the women still use the
communal hand laundry (a series of baths starting with soapy water through
various rinsing sections, looks a bit like a giant contemporary water
feature in a mansion) and hang their washing out on the quay side – the
guide book says that washing machines are installed in every house, but the
local donas (ladies) still swear by the daily ritual of stone washtubs and
good old-fashioned elbow grease at the lavadouro público. This is where they
come to wash their whites, natter and sing – a social gathering with
abundant soaping and scrubbing – and they do still, all dressed in black –
then hang em out on the communal washing line – can we see that working in
the UK???
Ate at a delightful restaurant on our arrival – a little place with tables
on the pavement and a BBQ for the food outside. Savoured the Vinho Verde
which was delicious as were the grilled prawns, sea bass, sardines and
steak. TOP TIP this was the best meal of our stay here and because it was
away from the main Porto centre a lot cheaper.
Porto itself was a delight – not visited by tourists much until given World
Heritage status on 5th June (Ian’s birthday) 2009 and now they are flocking
here.
The port wine lodges are on the south bank - Cockburn, Grahams, Croft,
Sandemans, Ottleys, Dows etc ….we all sampled (free) wine - Liz and Ian from
the very new lodge – Churchills – set up by John Graham of the Graham port
family (white port is definitely a favourite now) and Dave, Lindy and Tom at
Taylors. Note the saying “visit a port wine lodge a day to keep the doctor
away”.
Porto itself is a mix of old and new. The old town includes steep, narrow,
medieval alleys and stairways that eventually reach the hulking, hilltop
fortress of the cathedral towering a good hundred metres over the river. The
alleyways have tall houses either side, some with four or five floors but
often only a window wide, dilapidated or brightly coloured and most with
washing hanging out!! It is a lived in town and all the quainter for it.
There is a plethora of churches and monasteries, mainly gothic and all with
plenty of decoration inside – and endless tours being guided round so not
tranquil places for contemplation. The cathedral was founded in the 12th
century, but largely rebuilt a century later and then extensively altered
during the 18th century. This is where King John I married his beloved
Philippa of Lancaster in 1387 and where Prince Henry the Navigator was
baptised in 1394 (see history below).
Even got a tram system too – they have restored the Edwardian trams to
transport people from west to east long the north bank either inside, or
hanging on outside if the inside is full.
HISTORY: Porto put the ‘Portu’ in ‘Portugal’. The name dates from Roman
times, when Lusitanian settlements straddled both sides of the Douro’s
banks. The area was briefly in the hands of Moors but was reconquered by AD
1000 and reorganised as the county of Portucale, with Porto as its capital.
English-born Henri of Burgundy was granted the land in 1090 and it was from
here that Henri’s son and Portuguese hero Afonso Henriques launched the
Reconquista (Christian re-conquest), ultimately winning Portugal its status
as an independent kingdom.
Dom João I (King John) married Philippa of Lancaster (daughter of John of
Gaunt, second son of Edward III) in Porto in 1387 and their most famous son,
Henry the Navigator, was born here. Henry’s explorers travelled around
Africa for a sea route to India and British wine merchants –forbidden to
trade with the French – set up shop and their presence continues to this day
with all the port wine lodges.
Over the following centuries Porto acquired a well-earned reputation for
rebelliousness. A mob of angry women attacked the minister responsible for a
tax on linen in 1628 (too right!!). A ‘tipplers’ riot’ against the Marquês
de Pombal’s regulation of the port-wine trade was savagely put down in 1757
and in 1808, as Napoleon’s troops occupied the city, Porto citizens arrested
the French governor and set up their own, short-lived junta. The British
helped drive out the French and the Porto radicals were at it again, leading
calls for a new liberal constitution, which they got in 1822. Wine profits
helped fund the city’s industrialisation, which began in earnest in the late
19th century, when elites in the rest of Portugal tended to see trade and
manufacturing as vulgar. Today, the city remains the economic capital of the
north.
FOR GREG: Has its own microclimate which means that the mouth of the Douro
and thus Porto tends to have lots of low lying fog and mist which slowly
clears during the day – so it can be a pea souper at river level and bright
sunshine at the top on the hill.
GEOLOGY: Still in the Iberian massif with loads of granite.
Bye for now
Ian & Liz
