Arrival in Porto

We have been in this wonderful city so many times, but it almost feels like home now. We pulled up beside the Viking Osfrid, and immediately were taken to our stateroom. I looked across the river and saw the cathedral we visited during our last trip here. We had come early in the morning and the church was closed, so we wandered on the steep streets leading down to the river.

There we saw the iron bridge across the Douro river. It greets us again today. For its construction in the late 19th century a contest was held. Gustav Eiffel, designer of the Eiffel Tower, and his student both submitted plans for a bridge. When the student’s design won, the teacher got so angry he vowed never to speak to him again. Dozens of port wine warehouses and wineries line the banks of the river, and offer wonderful wine tastings and ambrosian feasts featuring their sweet delights. When we went wandering on these streets we found tiny alleys and passages that remain untouched since they were built following the earthquake of 1755.

I will never forget that day when the early morning silence time stopped for us and we found ourselves wrapped in a time warp. Neither time nor place mattered, and we just immersed ourselves in the beauty of a a precious Portuguese village at dawn. It is these priceless moments, not the grand tourist attractions, that keep us traveling. Porto is our place. It is not so important that we are back in Porto, but that Porto is inside of us in our hearts.Read more