Tuesday, 28 May 2019

Porto and the Douro Valley

Prep here

Travel Guide to Porto

We drove from Coimbra up to Porto. Motorways have tolls, but are very good.


Porto is a lovely city, probably the best place we have been in Portugal. It would not be a silly decision for someone to decide to base themselves here and enjoy the city and the Douro Valley rather than travel all over the country.


We decided that our focus would be port, a drink named after this city. The port trade was largely opened up by British companies, exporting port to Britain at times when Britain and Portugal were allies, and France was the enemy. Port is a wine with about 20% alcohol, created when wine spirit is added to wine to stabilize it for the journey. 

We attended a tasting at one of the port companies, Graham's. We also toured the Doura Valley, where the vineyards are.


Arrábida Bridge over the Douro River at Porto


Porto


Plenty of graffiti, some pretty good. Painting on the end of a derelict building.

We stayed in an AirBnB in the 'Art District' Quite funky in a sort of avant garde way. 


A sign in the front of a restaurant in the Art District.

Porto is a very hilly city. A tuk tuk is a convenient way to explore without too much climbing.


Tuk tuk


Driving up the Douro Valley.


The Douro Valley is one of the worlds great wine growing areas, in particular providing grapes for a lot of port. 

It also is rated by Avis as containing the World's Best Driving Road. Seemed like a good reason for a road trip!







The world-famous El Camino passes through Porto on the way to Santiago de Compostela.


Camino Trail marker


A penitent pilgrim


Porto Leixões Cruise Terminal


From above

2 comments:

  1. Glad you enjoyed Porto and the Douro Valley. It is a lovely drive up the N108. Struggling to enjoy Lisbon. It seems that the more tourists a place gets, the more surly the Portuguese become. On a brighter note, haven’t been thrown out of any more museums!

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  2. Glad you enjoyed Porto and the Douro Valley. The N108 is a beautiful drive. Struggling to enjoy Lisbon. It seems that the more tourists a place gets, the more surly the Portuguese become! On a brighter note, I haven’t been thrown out of any more museums!

    ReplyDelete