Two typical tourists today.

No real plan for the day, just to go out and see some of what Porto is offering.  We left a bit later to miss the rush hour on the Metro. The Station we use to get to the historic centre is the Sao Bento station which is also the main suburban train station for Porto.  Sao Bento Station was built at the beginning of the 20th century and is remarkable for its large panels of Azulelejo tiles – about 20,000 of them. The blue and white murals represent moments in the history of Portugal, and the multi-coloured panels depict rural scenes from the various regions. Azulelejo is a form of Portuguese and Spanish painted tin-glazed ceramic tile work used on the exterior and interior of all types of buildings. The Moors brought tile making to Spain and Portugal and after they left that tradition was retained and developed over many centuries.

Next stop was the McDonalds in Praca de Liberdade, considered to be the most beautiful Maccas in the world – the building that is, not the food. Prior to 1995, when McDonalds  moved in, it was the famous Imperial Cafe. The main features including crystal chandeliers and a huge stained glass window behind the counter have been retained. It was quite busy but most people seemed to be like us. Wandering in to have a look and departing without ordering anything.

From McDonalds we went up to the Cathedral and got the first stamp in our Pilgrim Passports, our Credencials. We are supposed to get two stamps per day on our pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Today we also got a stamp at our hotel. From the Cathedral we walked over the top deck of the Ponte de Luis 1 and down into Vila Nova de Gaia, the city on the opposite side of the Douro River to Porto. On the river edge this is very much a tourist hot spot and where elsewhere you pay 0.70 for a coffee, here we paid 2 Euro.

We went up a side street to see a street art installation called Half Rabbit. It is on the corner of a building, two stories high and made of recycled junk material. Over the road was a port cellar advertising cellar tours and port tasting for 10 € per person. We haven’t had any port in Portugal yet, so decided to have a look. From Marco we had an explanation of grape growing, Port making, the types of Port, the ageing, and finished off with a tasting of two ports, a white and a tawny. This took nearly an hour and was the highlight of the day. We were the only two on this tour so it was a very personal experience. This company was Quinta do Bom Dia, a small family business that has been producing port for five generations. They own 25 hectares of land far inland up the Douro River Valley.

Just along from the cellar was The Fantastic  World of Sardines. A large shop selling tinned sardines and also tinned octopus, muscles, cod and shrimp. This was all a bit mind boggling, thousands upon thousands of tins of sardines with all sorts of flavours. They had dozens of designs on the tins and tins for every year, so you can get a tin with the year of your birth on it. I like sardines, a good source of omega 3, but didn’t buy any here. These were more like souvenir sardines.

Next to the sardines was another amazing place, Casa Portuguesa do Pastel de Bacalhau.  A large two story high space with the walls lined with shelves full of old volumes, but definitely not a library. There was an elevated platform with a guy playing the Beatles ‘When I’m 64’ on an organ.  Made me wish I was 64. They were selling port wine by the glass with Pastel de Bacalhau. This is a cod fish cake filled with cheese. We had just had two glasses of port each so just bought some of the cod fish cake. There was a mezzanine floor where you could sit down and eat your cake, drink your port, listen to the organ and just soak up the wonderful atmosphere. It was pretty busy so we decided to go outside and sit in the sunshine beside the river.

Vila Nova de Gaia is on the south bank of the mouth of the Douro River. Ideal grape growing country is located far up the Douro River valley. Port wine was sent down the river on boats to Vila Nova de Gaia where the cellars of famous port wines were located. From here port was shipped around the world.

We walked back over the Ponte de Luis 1 lower deck and up through the city to get the train back to the hotel. A fun day for one that started off with no real plan.