Portugal 2024

Today was another travel day but before we caught the train to Lisbon at 2:30, we awoke at a leisurely pace and packed our bags before leaving them at the manager's office for the timeshare so we could explore a little more in Porto. We walked to one of the many bridges in Porto and walked to the other side of the river and then took a step hike down a road to get to the lower level of the bridge. After looking around for a bit, we decided to go back across the river and have a glass of wine. The four glasses of wine were the most expensive we've had since we've been here, 30+ Euros. This is because we were in the main tourist area. If you are off the beaten path, the most it would cost is about 10-15 Euros. We finished our wine and then made our way back to pick up the bags and Uber to the train station. We boarded the train and made our way down to Lisbon. We had a very nice "goodbye for now" chat with Janice and Bill. After making our way via Uber to the hotel,...

Today we awoke a little early to walk down to City Hall to catch our tour to the Douro Valley. On a side note, I met some firefighters that had a display in front of City Hall in an effort to increase their wages. They are like Americans and cannot strike. After a few minutes, we met up with our guide Alex and 3 other couples for a 1.5 hour van ride to Sandeman winery for a winery tour and porto tasting. They are the largest producer of port wine in Portugal. The tour was very interesting since this is their harvest season so we really lucked out. We got to see a delivery of grapes starting the process of fermentation. I am not a big fan of port but one of their wines was not infused and tasted very good to me so I bought a bottle to share with our shipmates during our arrival dinner tomorrow night. After the wine tasting we loaded back in the van for a short trip on a very winding road to the Douro river for a short boat excursion. We were able to view the vineyards and big houses on ...

We had an early wake up call to catch the train to Porto. The train ride was about 6 hours with multiple stops but was as fast as getting to the airport a few hours early and going through security. After getting to Porto, we grabbed an Uber to the booking.com house we rented. It is a very nice place in the center of Porto. Then we walked our butts off checking out the city. I would encourage folks to visit if you ever come to Portugal. As we were working our way back to our house, we found a nice wine bar and enjoyed a couple of nice glasses of wine and the owner was very engaging and thankful. After the wine we worked our way back to the house to get cleaned up. We had reservations at a very small but excellent restaurant. The food was amazing and the company was even better. We had an uphill walk back to the house and I was in bed by 9:30. Here are a few pics from today. First class in the train. Our room in our house. A sausage and cheese sandwich. A nice little wine bar. The owner...