41:11.148N 008:42.311W
Whisper
Noel Dilly
Mon 27 Aug 2012 20:00
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"R&R in Porto - 27th August"
We have had a wonderful day" lost in Porto". We set
off from the Marina to find the local Tourist Information
Office. We found it but it was closed. We discovered why further down the
road, Portugal time is one hour earlier than Spain so it was only 9 am and not
10 am! We had a local map given to us by the marina office so found our way to
the Metro. This is a tram car which occasionally goes underground. We had fun
fathoming out the automated ticket selection but succeeded. A nice Portuguese
young man who spoke excellent English asked if we needed any help and was most
useful in directing us to the right area for the Port Cellars. The train was so
modem and clean that it looked as if it had just come off the production line,
all the terminals were smart and clean. Eventually we reached our stop and
emerged into a street akin to London's Oxford Street. We looked about for a
Tourist Office and eventually we stumbled on one and decided to take an open
Yellow Bus Tourist trip where by we could hop on and off for the next 24
hours! It took us around the city before heading up along the river Douro, here
we jumped off and could see all the famous Port names on the buildings
along the south bank. We crossed over via a
narrow metal bridge designed by the architect who had also designed the Eiffel
Tower. It had two levels the lower was for cars and pedestrians, the
upper was for the trams and also pedestrians. The river was alive with
tourists riding on the modified barges which once carried the barrels of port
wine down the river from the vineyards to the caves where the wine was
left to mature at the correct temperatures. The Ruby port wine
ferments in huge oak vats holding 75000 litres whilst the Tawny port wine
matures in much smaller casks. The casks are made from oak and can be used
for up to 60 years after which they are often passed onto the Scots to use for
whisky maturation.
We had intended to visit the Warre's Cellars but
learnt that Warre's, Cockburn's and Graham's are all owned by the same family.
We headed up the narrow high stone walled street to Graham's, there was no
pavement so we were cautions as buses and cars hooted their way around the
narrow bends. Finally we arrived, our guide was a charming Oxford student,
working in Portugal to improve both his Portuguese and Spanish. We thoroughly
enjoyed our tour of the cellars and also the wine tasting, our table in front of
a large picture window overlooking the Douro river made the experience quite
delightful. It seems the Portuguese hare a sweet tooth and enjoy their port
wines with desserts like Creme brulee, apple tart and also cheese. Camembert and
Brie were both mentioned but not Stilton! We were even more cautious
on our descent back down the hill having enjoyed four different samples of port
and decided that lunch was probably way over due. Once down on the river bank we
found a rather nice modem glass restaurant right on the river
front over looking the river boats, all with famous names of the great port
wine cellars. It was most enjoyable watching the skills of the boatmen as they
manoeuvred their craft in the rivers strong current whilst enjoying the scenery
of old houses, church towers and palaces climbing up the rock face to the
city beyond. We knew that we had a long climb up the steps to the
Metro, which by now being full of port and lunch seemed rather arduous, so we
were very relieved to find a funicular railway to carry us to the summit on the
other side of the bridge. A short walk brought us to the Metro where a lady
working for the Metro assisted us in purchasing a ticket for our return to
the marina. We also discovered from her that we should have had one ticket per
person, we thought we had purchased one single ticket for two people this
morning, but it was a 2 way ticket for one person. Luckily we are not in jail
this evening but safely back on Whisper. We really did enjoy being tourists for
the day and have had great fun finding our way around this vast
city.
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