Porto

Last year the Gairs crashed a lovely wedding with Alice in Porto, Portugal. We had a tour, tasting and dinner at Graham’s Port Lodge in Gaia. We drove up through Portugal Sunday and Maria thought we could stop on the way. Luckily, She changed plans and decided to make a day trip instead. First, we were too late on Sunday...and secondly, the “parking garage incident” would have been even more tragic. Melinda is already having nightmares about that night. Imagine if we had been hours later...shudder.

We are staying about an hour and a half north of Porto. Graham’s let us park the car at the lodge before our tour and dinner reservations, so once we found the place, we left the car and caught a bus into town.

Maria wanted to show Melinda the train station. Melinda was all, “what?!?!” But then Melinda saw the entire interior covered in painted tile. She understood. The São Benito train station is a masterpiece. We then headed to the Majestic Café (Art Deco from the 20’s) for a snack, saw a pretty church, and wandered a bit before heading back with the bus to Graham’s.

Graham’s was how I remembered...a great tour, fantastic tawny ports, and we stayed for a four hour dinner at the Restaurant. Ah, Porto...you are a lovely city. We are now trying to figure out how to fit that bottle of Port (pictured with Maria) into our suitcase. I mean...Maria read that each adult can carry one bottle home!

Next up...some wine and a Celtic ruin.Read more