On the Rio Douro

A beautiful sunny day dawned and I decided to behave like a real tourist and tackle the hop on hop off bus and six bridges river cruise.

Porto has two sides. It's a UNESCO World Heritage listed cityscape including the Luis I Bridge with the two levels of train and road, the Italianate monestary and the river setting itself. Porto looks beautiful from the river and the riverside runs all the way to the ocean. You could walk, ride or electric scooter for miles or take a tram. There are gardens galore and historic sites, churches, alley ways, cafes and port wine by the barrel load as well.

Yet everywhere there are old ruined buildings. Old stone buildings crumbling, decrepit factories on the riverfront, lines of falling down homes up the cliff faces. It would make an excellent set for an apocalypse movie. You think in these times with the value of the land on which these buildings sit, that they would have been replaced with modern homes (although the cliffs and heritage issues would provide some challenges) . I'm not conversant in the current or past economic situation in Portugal except to compare with how obviously lucky we are at home. The gift of travelling yet again. There is also building work everywhere and cranes in every direction so maybe that investment has started. Porto is certainly a city of much future potential and has been historically, and is currently, a popular destination for retiring or escaping British subjects.

The photo of the statue of the people looking out to sea is a memorial to a storm when 150 local fisherman were lost.Read more