andrewmorrisey

Jun 14, 20223 min read

Leg 12 - We sail from Spain into Portugal to arrive in Porto

Porto Portugal – April 1 – 5

Wow. What a vibrant city. We have not seen so many people out and about since La Rochelle France. We stayed on the South side of the Douro River in the marina which has shops and restaurants (delicious cappuccinos) and the friendliest marina staff we have has so far on our journey who provided tips and recommendations on where to go and a coupon for a tour of the Churchill Port winery.

The food was amazing and several restaurant charcoal BBQ fish, squid, prawn, and pork to order. As a port city the hills up from the river were steep and mostly cobblestone which made for some tired legs at the end of the day biking around. Thank goodness we have power assisted bikes but there were some hills that were just too steep and bumpy that we had to walk the bikes up. Too funny was this guy on roller blades holding a beer trying to keep it all together coming down a cobblestone road trying to slow down at the bottom of the hill (and not spill his bottle of beer). The road eventually won.

The fordeck gal cleaning up the deck after leaving the Vigo Marina.

April 1st 1505 hrs - We crossed the border to Portugal. Time to take down the Spanish flag and raise Portugal's flag up the mast.

A 35 nautical mile voyage. Projected to be in Porto by 2030hrs.

Sailing up the Douro River with Porto on the left and Afurada on the right.

Arriving at 2000hrs with a perfect sunset to the West.

Day one of our adventures in Porto. Hmmm that bridge looks pretty high up. Very steep hill ahead???

Yup - steep hill. Thank goodness for the peddle assist with our EOVOLT bikes.

Overlooking the Douro River. The marina is in the far distance at the beginning of the river. The mornings were cool and afternoons on the patios were hot.

The Dom Luís I Bridge, or Luís I Bridge, is a double-deck metal arch bridge that spans the River Douro between the cities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia in Portugal. It was designed and built by Gustave Eiffel who is famous for his design and build of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Equestrian statue of Vímara Peres (died in Galicia, 873) was a ninth-century nobleman from the Kingdom of Asturias.

The cathedral was built in the XIIth century in Romanesque style. It underwent a number of improvements especially in the Gothic period and in the XVIIIth century.

A very long line to get into Livraria Lello & Irmao. Turns out that in 1881 was the founding of Sociedada Jose Pinto Sousa Lello & Irmao. The neogothic building erected in 1906. It is a two story bookstore.

Many of the church's use blue tiles.

This is hillarious.

Oporto Appeals Court

Where to next ...

... head south.

McDonald's not sporting the golden arches???

Our first Sangria, in Portugal not Spain.

And our first of many Portuguese BBQs. Grilled Sea Bass for Janine.

And Carne for me :)

Hmmm guys loosing one sock is the same as Granny loosing one of her stockings. This was beside our patio table at lunch. The old gal sat in her lawn chair across the sidewalk doing her knitting.

Thank's to the Porto Marina for a free port tour at Churchills. The grapes are grown and harvested 100 miles up the Douro River (beside the Spain boarder) and processed totally manually, like hand-picked, grapes removed by fingers and a dozen people stomping on the grapes for a full day. The juice is then sent down the river to Afurada and put in barrels to age into Port for 10, 20, 30+ years.