Porto

 

We arrived this morning in Leixoes, which is the cruise port for Porto. Another beautiful crystal clear day. Again this morning we ordered room service, and our butler set it up for us beautifully. We headed out at 8:30am for our included tour. It's about a 30 minute drive into the city, and being a Saturday not much traffic. Some lovely sandy beaches and suburbs along the way.

 Porto is a very charming city built on steep banks above the Duoro River. There are many tiled and colored buildings, and granite buildings as well. Many old warehouses and port offices line the River. We had a little drive around, and then a short walk in the old town before heading down to our river cruise boat. We had an approximately  1 hour scenic cruise under 6 of the 7 bridges of Porto. The bridges are of various styles, ages and functions. The most famous are the bridges designed by Gustave Eiffel, and by one of his students. The river has quite a current, and along with the very popular river cruises there were rowers, kayakers and sailors. Near the mouth there is a fishing and boat building village.

 Once we disembarked we walked to our bus to transit to the port cellar. This is a huge industry in Porto, and has been for many hundreds of years. We had a quick tour through to learn about port and how it's made. Then a tasting of white, tawny and a late harvest port. By far I preferred the white port, and I bought a bottle to bring home (9.5 EUR) Our tour ended back to the ship, and we had lunch on the outside deck. Then we took the shuttle back to town for another visit. More traffic now, as there are lots of people out on the beach. The Ribeira which is the old area down by the river was packed with people as well. So many people out for a walk, having lunch, shopping or playing on the river. We stayed for a couple of hours watching the show. It's turned quite hot again, about 25C, but luckily with a breeze most of the time.

We were feeling pretty tired by the time we got back to the ship. The two Colleens and I stopped off at the Dolce Vita lounge for a restorative cocktail. Then because it was such a lovely warm evening and sunset time we decided to go to the outdoor Pizza restaurant on the top deck. Afterwards down to the Show lounge for a Fado performance. Although I really enjoyed it, my eyes kept closing. So time for bed!