DAY 7 - Porto (a cold Atlantic swim)

We embarked on what our guide yesterday said was a 5km walk (more like 7.2km) to the beach with Meg, Zoe, Sean, Laura, and Jez. The walk along the Douro River was quite nice and included a small workout at the park where Scott relived his primary school years on the monkey bars. It was blowing a gale by the time we got the somewhat rocky beach (this is definitely not the best beach, but certainly the closest). After a few minutes of hesitation and waiting for someone else to jump in, almost all of us took the plunge into the cold Atlantic water (Bar Meg). Meg thought better and decided to enjoy some sun baking on the beach. After this, we grabbed a quick drink before grabbing an Uber back to town (this was somehow cheaper than public transport). Once back, Meg went back to our apartment for a lay down while the rest of us went out for lunch. Scott, Jez, and Sean had a Francensinha sandwich, which was far better and more traditional than the one Scott grabbed yesterday (this included pork leg instead of steak). We all reconvened after a quick refresh for a visit to the Port cellars along the Duomo. We visited Sandeman Cellars and can confirm Port and Tonic is our new go to. From here, we ventured back across the river for our 6 bridges river cruise. Once back, we travelled back up to the top of the bridge via cable car to view the sunset from the middle of the Luiz I Bridge. This was absolutely beautiful despite the weirdness of the crowd clapping the sunset. We had an early night in anticipation of another big day of walking tomorrow.Read more