11-04-2024

 

We slept well last night.  The bed is comfortable and no extraneous noise disturbed us. The bathroom is on the small side … the shower is approximately 3 feet square and the controls were fairly obvious (no labels or instructions – It’s always an adventure as no two are the same anywhere).

 

They have a 24 hour coffee shop with cookies and water and ice.  The coffee machine grinds and dispenses a variety of servings from espresso to lattes. At 6 AM there was no line.  At 7 AM there was a considerable line. At 7 AM the doors to the restaurant open for breakfast.  We ate with Brian and Donna and Karl.  They have an omelet station with 3 pans.  There was a considerable line at 7:30. There was also the standard European fare as well.  Cold cuts, beans and great bread.  Alas they do not have a gelato station for breakfast.  I am hoping for one at lunch.

 

Our tour organized at 8 AM and we were packed and ready to go.  A bus took us to the top of the St. Catherine bridge and dropped us off on the Gaia side.  We had great views from there.

 

 

 

Shirley on the Gaia side of the St. Catherine Bridge overlooking Porto

 

 

 

There were some vintage boats there that race once a year.  These were boats that brought the port wine down from the valley above to be stored here in Gaia for export.

 

 

 

Port Wine boats (the Sao Gabriel is in the background)

 

One of the boats has been sunk and our guide (David) did not know why, but that it was a recent happening).

 

We crossed the St Catherine Bridge that was shared by pedestrians and trams. Once on the other side we passed some neat street art.  There were many examples – both good and bad.

 

 

This picture greets the walkers as they enter Porto

 

We walked up hill to the Cathedral Square where the Portugal portion of the Camino starts.  

 

 

Shirley at the start of the Camino (Our guide David in the background)

 

We did not go in the Cathedral but proceeded apace to the next stop, the iconic Porto Train Station. Some 20,000 blue tiles decorate the lobby depicting many scenes of historic significance as well as cultural moments in time.

 

 

Inside the train station

 

 

The detail is amazing!

 

After we exited the train station, dodging the Metro construction, we made our way through sections of the city to the Market. On the way one of the locals caught our tour guide to warn him of a suspicious character in a yellow hoodie following our group. Yes, there are pickpocket artists that target tour groups.

 

 

The avenue neighborhood watch(person)

 

 

A pedestrian zone

 

We walked past many familiar shops (Pikalino), and some unique shops.  All interesting but our guide David kept a steady pace, a fairly aggressive pace. Once at the Market we had a WC break and then half our group went for a wine and sardine tasting demo. Our group had free time for 30 minutes and so Shirley and I went to the tile shop across the street and stocked up (again).

 

The Tile store

 

The Market is the cleanest, brightest European Market we had been to. There was a unique knife store there where a third-generation knife maker made custom knives.  We saw some very nice examples of his art.  When it came time for our group to do the demo, we loaded up on white wine and walked to the tinned sardine stall where a (third generation) proprietor hawked his wares.

 

 

Sardine demo – surprisingly tasty 

 

 

 

Meat case at the Market (30 Euro’s a Kg for a tomahawk!)

 

 

Resting at the market

After the Market we proceeded past the City Hall square and down and down and down to the river level.  On the way we say more interesting architecture and tiled buildings.

 

 

Interesting architecture 1

 

 

Interesting architecture 2

 

 

We finally made it down to the river – it was fairly steep in places – but we managed to keep up with David across the lower level of the St. Catherine bridge. The Gaia side of the river front was chock-o-block with eateries and tourist stands as well as fleas marketing wares. We were back on board at noon.  

 

 

Our Route (thanks Brian!) 

 

At 12:30, the doors opened for lunch.  There was a queue by the time the doors really opened at 12:35. It was a buffet with tasty bits of this and that. Cornbread encrusted Hake, Croque Monsieur, veggies, salad and desserts. (Alas, no gelato for Paul at lunch either.)

 

At 2:15 we heard the drill for the excursions.  These did not jibe with the ones advertised.  There were a few more that cost between 49 and 249 Euros. They do these excursions very loosely it seems to me.  We had to fill out a reservation form and then turn it in for the limited space tours.

 

Miriam, our tour guide did a masterful job describing all the various options and highlights of the offerings. We filled out our wish list and got the ones we wanted.

At 4:45 we entered the tallest lock in Europe. At 5:30 we exited. It was quite a deal.

 

 

The tallest lock in Europe (we are at the bottom)

 

We have a “formal” dinner tonight and so we will put on the dog a bit. And we did. But we did not take a picture (we both looked very nice however).  After dinner (Lamb, bream, steak, salmon etc. and a banana split for dessert) we repaired to the lounge for the fado show.  In the words of the queen of Fado - Amalia Rodrigues, “Feeling fado is what really matters. Fado is not sung, it just happens. Fado is felt it cannot be understood or explained.” Shirley took a few video clips.  I thought is like Portuguese blues.  The singers put a lot of feeling in the words (which, of course, we could not understand). The guitar work was classic.  There were 2 – a classic and a Portuguese guitar (12 string, tuned high) where the artist did a lot of finger work while the classical guitar kept the melody and rhythm. There was obviously a lot of tradition.

 

 

The Fado show

 

They were selling CDs for 20 Euros.  Shirley spoke with the singer after the show for a time and thought she was very genuine. 

 

 

 

Shirley and the Fado singer

 

After a nightcap and some more chit chat we were ready for another good night’s sleep.  11, 239 steps all told today.