Porto

 6 April

So we had this bonus extra day in Porto until everyone arrived, how to spend it was the question?  I suggested we take the metro out to the beach and have lunch there.  Heather, Richard, Dean, Esther, Tania, Russell (who had arrived late the night before), Simone, Lucy, Greg and I set out to Matosinhos.  I had had a terrible migrane headache the night before (probably a combination of being  dehydrated from flying - despite drinking lots of water! - and a few drinks from dinner) so was feeling a bit under the weather and we missed the stop we were supposed to get off at, and had to walk a long way past the port into town!!  Ah well, we all needed to stretch our legs after all the flying we had done!  We found the beach - it was quite warm by this time.  The sandy part of the beach was huge - the water was about a kilometre away!  It was funny to see the girls in their sexy g-string bikinis and socks, as the sand was obviously very hot.  Of course the water is notoriously freezing, the Atlantic averages around 18 degrees and at the moment it is 14 degrees, so it was only surfers in wet suits in the water!  We wandered down the sunny promenade, until  we were all ready for lunch.  Tania checked trip advisor and found a restaurant for us - Meia-Nau.  They were able to fit us in (luckily we were early by local standards and we had to guarantee we'd be done by 2.30!) and we had the most delicious lunch for 25 euro each.  The girls all had sangria, which was delicious. but I stuck with water because of my headache!!

Back at the hotel, everyone was arriving!  We all met in the bar at 6pm and I gave a little welcome speech.  We split up into groups to go and find something to eat - something that was more challenging than we might have hoped.  Big groups are not easy!!  We found a restaurant - everyone had a good meal but my sardines were inedible, I should not have chosen them as they aren't in season and were obviously frozen (and consequently mushy).  Luckily I'd eaten lots that day so I was fine!

7 April

We met our guide, Xavier (pronounced Chev-ier) who led us to our bus.  We went on a tour around Porto while he pointed out the sights to us.  Then we stopped, and walked around the city taking a million photos  - there was a a photo op at every twist and turn!  What a beautiful city.  Old, new, crumbled, restored, it has it all, set on the Douro river.   We learnt that the Portuguese , especially those from Porto, are a very amazing people who are responsible for a lot of the world's wonders.  All this time I didn't know!  Xavier is very proud of Porto and its many proud denizens and achievements.  Even as far back as  Henry the Explorer! We walked for about two hours then had a boat cruise up and down the Douro river so we could admire more beautiful views and the six bridges joining Porto and Gaia..  Having worked up an appetite on our walk and river cruise we had a delicious lunch at  Robelos restaurant.  The meals we are being served are HUGE!   Then our next stop was a visit to the  Ferreira Port Cellars. This cellars has been continuously, and  proudly, owned by Portuguese.  Renata, the professional photographer, joined us for this bit and we did some group photos while learning about the production of Port wine.  Then we got to taste two delicious ones, a smooth white port and a ten year old red port, which inspired a few purchases!

We didn't try out Fado on our last trip to Portugal so I thought it would be a good idea to include it on this itinerary.  We went into a cellar like room and had some good food (risotto for the vegetarians, but plenty of meat for the meat eaters!) and listened to two passionate singers and their accompanying guitarists sing sad and soulful music.  We all enjoyed the guitarists but obviously Fado music itself is an acquired taste.  The female singer enthusiastically spread out CDs for purchase on our tables.  Jack bought one and inadvertently Thomas bought two, at 20 euro each - he wanted one signature but she signed both :-)  He is now determined to become a Fado fan....!

8 April

We started our day with a walk around  Dom Jesus, a stunning church set high on a hill above Braga.  The 500 odd steps up have stations of the cross as you ascend,  Luckily we didn't do the steps (apparently the bus couldn't get to the bottom, we were happy about that.  The church as the most amazing diorama  of the crucifixion of Christ.  It was all set in beautiful gardens.  The wisteria and orange blossoms smelt amazing.

Then we went into Braga for a wander around the old city.  A stunning city, dominated by a huge cathedral built in the 11 century, the oldest cathedral in Portugal. It was built by King Manuel 1st of Portugal, and traditionally all the sons of Portuguese kings were baptised there.   All of Braga was decorated with purple, as it was Easter.  Playing through speakers all over the city was Gregorian chanting which made it very atmospheric.  We had a beautiful alfresco lunch in Braga before continuing onto Guimaraes. 

Another stunning town surrounded by mountains.  We started at the beautiful castle which is austere and imposing.  I loved it.  Just down the hill was a palace (or mansion, depending how you looked at it) originally owned by the Braganza family.  It had been deserted and fell into disrepair, but in the 30s and 50s work was done to restore it to its former glory, and it looks pretty gorgeous now.  The furniture is not true to the period of when the building was first constructed, but come from other palaces in Portugal.  The tapestries are copies of the originals, safely stored away, but even the copies are quite stunning.

We wandered down into the main city and walked through a beautiful square full of people eating and drinking in the sunshine.  Onto another square, and we thought Xavier was being cruel to us - even more people relaxing with a cocktail on a Saturday afternoon!  We were delighted when he gave us 30 minutes to enjoy an aperol!  We rejoined the bus and got back to the hotel with 30 minutes before our bus to the restaurant!  This restaurant was by the sea, in a ritzy area called Foz do Douro.  Di's luggage had arrived, so she was able to get changed into something fresh!  Another lovely meal, with chicken for the main course (a nice change from cod fish for many!) and a delicious asparagus risotto for the vegetarians.

9 April

We had to wait for our bus this morning - it was delayed nearly half an hour, but we still made good time into the beautiful Douro Valley.  It is heavily cultivated with grape vines and olive trees.  We stopped at the  Qunita de Pacheca  winery which immediately captivated us with the wine barrel units they had for visitors to stay in!  then we met our winery guide, a lovely man who's name sounded liked Oool!  He was so passionate about the winery, the grapes, port wine - he told us stories of his grandfather, who raised him - we all adored him and could have listened to his stories for ages!  We then went into the winery to see how they preserve their wine - including the foot stomping area! - and onto a special room set up for us for lunch.  It looked exquisite, big brunches of  flowers,  lots of wine glasses and lots of cutlery!  We sat down to a really beautiful four course meal with accompanying wines and of course, a  30 year old port to finish the day.  Wow.  It was so amazing and I couldn't resist buying some bottles to be sent home as my souvenir of this wonderful weekend!  Unfortunately Deb and Jack missed out.  Deb had come down with Covid and was feeling terrible.  She'd missed the day before too.  Lucy also had it but powered through.

Our last night together as a group!  Mandy, Norm, Fiona and Peter had their own plans but the rest of us made our way to eLeBê  for dinner.  It was exactly opposite Flow, where we'd had dinner on our first night in Porto!  We had the upstairs area just to ourselves with a gorgeous waiter - I didn't get their name but they were delightful.  They came and told me they had 19 steak, 3 vegetarian and one fish meal - what did we want for the extra meal?  I said steak.  Suzy and I decided to share the fish and veg meal - both delicious, the cod fish was in a pie with prawns and a cream sauce, and the mushroom risotto was also fabulous.  But first Suzy had an evil plan - she went up to Dean and said he had her meal by mistake, and offered him the fish.  This was very funny as he'd made it very clear that he was fed up with cod and the look on his face and he protectively held his plate away was hilarious.  We laughed and laughed!  The whole evening was lovely.