Last Full Day in Porto

It was finally hot. So what did we do? We walked all the way down to the water’s edge, all the way back up on the other side of the bridge to do an errand, down again to visit the Port place and then across the bridge again to climb up to our place. It is comical. We looked longingly up the rails to see that the funicular wasn’t running. There were trams, buses and trolley cars - all requiring a climb up or down. Porto people are tough.

First stop was the Crystal Palace Garden that housed a small museum with incredible items including gorgeous textiles, furniture and shells. Of course, we took impossibly narrow avenues and stairs to get there. We were rewarded with some spectacular views of the bridge and personal gardens squeezed into plots next to ancient houses.

There were a zillion tourists out along the river soaking up the warm/hot sun. We stopped in to the Museum of Port and watched this super interesting movie about the men in the 1930’s or 40’s who moved the port barrels from the grape-growing area down the Douro river. The currents getting the boats back up river were intense. It showed just how much physical labour was put into getting this precious cargo to the storage areas in Porto.

Lennart and Kirsten don’t really like port and neither does Sheryl. I like it if it is a good port. Sheryl scoped out the best place to go, and I bought a delicious half bottle of 20 year old white wine port, and we purchased a 10 year old red wine port to taste back at the AirBnB. I fear I am the only one who will enjoy it…

On the way back home, Sheryl and I dipped into the photography museum. There was a small but painful exhibit of photographs from the war in Ukraine. Heartbreaking. I couldn’t look directly at some of the images as they were of both murdered civilians and dead Russian soldiers left behind by Russian troops. The photos were housed in what looked like an old prison with bars on the windows and hefty iron gates.

I’m a little sad to say that we were all too tired to figure out dinner, so I used UberEats for the first time. Wow. That is dangerously easy to use.

Tomorrow we head out of town in a rental car to visit the northern edge of Portugal. I hope the driving is not as complicated as the hill climbing.Read more