May 1, 2018 – Porto, Portugal

Portugal's second largest city, Porto, holds a place of great traditional importance. The town lends its name to the port wine produced in the region and throughout the nation. Located along the rocky embankment carved by the Douro River, the city boasts picturesque neighborhoods, fashionable restaurants and lively markets. Like Lisbon, Porto has a rich past; its historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site of narrow cobblestone streets brimming with romantic buildings spanning the centuries and a Romanesque cathedral. At the riverside, small barcos rabelos, boats once used to transport casks of wine, paint a charming scene. 

We are not docked in Porto, but a small port called. We took a tour to the city of Porto. We started out in the Ribeira district along the Douro River, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Here we embarked in a traditional “rabelo”, a specially built boat once used to transport barrels of wine. When we first got there the mist or fog had just come in, so it was challenging to see much, but it soon cleared and it was a pretty day, though in the low 50’s.

We cruised along the Douro River, and passed beneath some of the cities six bridges, admiring views of the historic districts narrow streets, houses and buildings draping the riverbanks, as well as the sellers of all the port wineries along the river. The wineries are not in Porto, but this is where they do the selling of it and where their warehouses are.

We then visited an ancient wine cella, Alamandro, for a tasting of the city’s world famous port, where we also served typical tapas from northern Portugal and this was  accompanied by the sounds of the fado music. Fado music is a form of Portuguese singing that is often associated with pubs, cafés and restaurants. Generally, in fado music, the singer will sing about the hard realities of the daily life, balancing both resignation and hopefulness that a resolution to its torments can still occur. It can be described by using the Portuguese word “saudade”, which means “longing” and stands for a feeling of loss. This loss is generally a permanent loss and of long-term consequences. Fado music often has one or two 12 string guitars, one or two violas, and sometimes a small 8 string, bass. And, they were wonderful, and the tapas were interesting.

Our last stop was at the Porto Cathedral, locally know as Se Cathedral, a 12^th century Romanesque building adorned with works of art by brilliant Portuguese artists. It was very pretty, but we have been seeing a lot of pretty churches.

Porto is a wonderful sea side city, but did not get any of those pictures as they were on the other side of our bus.

When we got back to the ship, we did have champagne and a cheering crew to greet us.

And now it is two sea days and we are then in Greenwich, England, the stepping stone to London. We will get there on 5/4 and be disembarking on 5/5. On 5/4 we have a tour of London and then will walk around Greenwich. On the 5^th we have another tour with Viking and it includes a tour of the Tower of London with a Beefeater. On the sixth we are on our own and then back home on the 7^th. I probably will not post London till we get home.