Ermesinde

8/4 Our short visit to Porto, Portugal’s second-largest city. We docked at Leixoes, a few km from the city itself but it was all built-up anyway, driving through on the bus. We just took the included excursion which was okay though difficult for all excursions because of it being an Easter holiday so lots of visitors as well as major roadworks going on building an underground train network I think so all credit to the bus driver because the streets are narrow, several turned into one-way, and for some reason there was a lot of double-parking in the streets so I think the driver had to hold his breath and hope for the best in some places. The guide was Porto born and bred, very good.

We took the scenic route into the city along the waterfront, lovely beaches and blue sea. Stopped in a central square so we could have a 20 minute walk around which was good because I wanted some cough mixture and there was a pharmacy right there. We were beside a small green park with a small bar, grass and very old olive trees, apparently the site of the city’s medieval olive grove that has been preserved – with a twist! Underneath is a new, small shopping mall, partly open to the sky where they’ve made a cut in the olive grove. Quite strange, but it was pretty all the same. We walked past the entryway to a public building with a huge stone ball suspended from the roof, pleased it didn’t fall on Pete.

This mall led to another square and to the famous Lello and Irmao bookshop which was where JK Rowling started writing the Harry Potter books. There was a queuing race outside and dozens lined up to go inside, numbers very strictly policed, I wasn’t tempted, but the photo cribbed from the history talk shows how lovely it looks. The guide talked about whether the books used elements of the bookshop in descriptions, and also said that the students from the nearby university could often be seen wearing capes around the square – did that translate to Hogwarts perhaps?

We carried on driving but it was hard to see much out the bus windows. And it was a bit hard to hear at times because of certain yappy people on the bus who had loud conversations over top of the commentary. So annoying. The guide gave us the city’s history, pointed out important buildings, and apologised again for the roading situation, but you just take it as it is. We could see a few of the tiled buildings, he pointed out that a lot of the tiling has been added in later years (20th century) when people realised they helped keep out the damp. The cathedral is apparently very ‘imposing’ and beautiful but we didn’t go near it, and the railway station is completely covered inside by tile stories. Didn’t notice many police around other than two officers on horseback in one street. Around the city there are traditional ‘English’ Gentlemen’s clubs still in use. I was interested that the guide kept referring to classes, both in the past and present day; a lot of references to upper, middle, lower classes which struck me as a bit odd. And it made me pleased to think that in NZ we don’t really have that huge divide, maybe to a small extent but this was really obvious.

We saw some of the old city walls, some up high but many along the Douro riverfront with deep and high arches leading into back streets or big courtyards, apparently some would have been entrances to warehouses and named accordingly e.g. ‘coal street’ etc. Across the river you can see the big port (alcohol, not shipping) company warehouses and other buildings, mostly English names.

There are six big bridges over the river, we could only see one side of the famous bridge built by Gustave Eiffel before he headed to Paris to see about a tower. The metal bridge in the photo, you can see a round tower at the top of the cliff, this was used by the Duke of Wellington as a base – I couldn’t quite work out if it used to be a monastery and was converted to barracks for the Duke, or was built as barracks and is now a monastery. Never mind. About half the group went their own way but the rest of us stuck with the guide walking along the riverbank then back through some small narrow streets to the meeting point, much more interesting to hear about the area’s history and more about Porto than to wander aimlessly in tourist territory surrounded by fridge magnets and handbags and cafes, learning nothing much.

Back ‘home’ we were greeted by a parade of ship’s crew holding red umbrellas, chorus of ‘welcome back, welcome back’ and loud music, odd but fun all the same. Rushed to the theatre in time to hear most of the talk on the age of discovery and global exploration from early times through to Columbus, Vasco da Gama and so on. We went to a later one supposedly about ‘Fact or Fiction: Falmouth and Literary Cornwall’ which sounded quite wide-ranging (think smugglers and ‘Rebecca’) but it turned out to be just Poldark which was okay but not as expected. I had a much-needed sleep after that.

We had booked (for free) at Manfredi’s Italian restaurant for dinner, one of the two ‘posh’ restaurants, and we had a delicious meal and wine, great waiter Enzo looked after us, from Peru. The people next door asked about how long he’d been on the ship, conditions etc: this was his second trip, Viking had better accommodation, food, conditions and great pay – he was making as much as, for instance, a doctor, would make in Peru. Has a wife and 7-month-old child back home, very proud to show us their photo.

Then it was time for the 9.15pm show, songs and stories from Assistant Cruise Director Francesca, who had a magnificent operatic voice but also crossover so very entertaining with a variety of songs and she was well worth listening to.

Back in our room we found the Easter Bunny had visited – or was still there: a chocolate bunny in a basket and some eggs.Read more