//Porto – June 2019
Picture the WorldJuly 9, 2019

Porto – June 2019

Late in June, we took a train to Porto for a few days. It had rained the day before, and clouds still filled the sky over the fields outside of Lisbon. It takes 2 1/2 to 3 hours by train. The train was clean and comfortable enough, but the tracks must be washboards. It was more like bouncing around in a Cessna than riding a train.
We stayed right on the River Douro, with views up and down the river (above and below).
Across the river, the 400 year old Monastery of Serra do Pilar still looks sharp.
The old houses along the river not so much.
Once settled, we walked the backstreets of the old town and worked our way up toward Portugues de Gema, a little Portuguese-food restaurant (duh). Porto was in its second day of celebrating its saint, and the decorations from the nights partying were still up.
High on the hill above historical Porto sits the Cathedral of Porto. Started in the 12th century, still under construction in the 16th, it was being regularly modified into the 18th. I’ve worked a few projects like that.
From the heights of the cathedral, we could look down and across the Douro to Nova de Gaia, the town across the river from Porto (but not Porto) where, ironically, all the old port houses are.
Up the river are three of Porto’s seven bridges.
Below us we spotted a funicular.
Being in lazy-tourist mode, we opted to take the easy way back down.
At the lunch restaurant we had asked them to pack us some bread and cheese and a bottle of wine to take back with us. Before dinner, we sat on the rooftop terrace and watched boats go by below. And drank the wine.
We took one day and rode with a small tour group the 45 minutes or so it takes to get into the heart of the Douro wine-growing region, the source of all port wines.
Vineyards start appearing almost as soon as one leaves Porto.
We stopped in the little town of Peso de Régua (above and below).
We headed well up into the terraced hills to Quinta de Santa Julia, a winery that has been owned by the same family for over 500 years (above and below).
From the heights, the terraced vineyards seem to go on forever.
Not a selfie, but nonetheless proof we were there.
The winery sells its grapes and makes its own reserve wines, olive oils, and preserves. We’re not generally fans of drinking during the day, but we had a taste.
Then lunch. When we post a picture of a restaurant’s view instead of its food, that tells you something about the food. We had a great view for lunch.
We visited a port winery after lunch, Quinta de Marrocos, with its steeply terraced vineyards (below).
We tasted ruby, tawny, and white ports.
Later, at the popular little riverside town of Pinhão,
we took a short tourist-boat cruise up the river (below).
The view of the vineyards from the river was idyllic (above and below). However, it would have been better on a sailboat, without the boat’s Diesel engine hammering away beneath us. They did ply us with more port, though, probably to dull our hearing.
Back in Porto, we enjoyed dinner along the river. People in Lisbon told us the food in Porto is much better. Except for the lunch on the hill in Régua, we have to agree. Everything we had, especially the seafood, was terrific, both better prepared and more fully flavored than in Lisbon.
We spent one day in town, mostly on the Nova de Gaia side of the river.
We found our way through the port-makers warehouses to Cockburn’s.
It’s one of the few working port houses left. Now that port is no longer shipped in barrels, of the 40 or so coopers they originally employed, seven remain.
They have over 90 million liters of port in barrels.
We tasted some.
Michele ordered ahead and we had a picnic lunch waiting for us in their little grotto. We had tasted port, ate too much, and had wine with lunch. There went the day.
So we took the cable lift up to the old monastery (below).
And sat in the hilltop park and enjoyed the afternoon and views.
Dinner was sea bass and a steak for me. Simple. Delicious.
That’s not to say Lisbon isn’t good for seafood. Here the photographer took a picture of the menu at Sea Me, where we had dinner after we were back. Yes, this is their menu.

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