May 19. Guimaraes, Porto

 The last day of our Douro cruise. This went with the usual routine, cruising further west in the morning, back through a couple of locks. However we had to use this time to sort and re-pack our clothes, which was a drag.

The good thing about the timing is that I think we've reached the end of our patience with organised tours. Well, I have, Lynn never had any patience for it. The guides talk incesantly in the bus when I want to listen to my podcasts and Lynn is reading. Then they talk in detail about every picture and piece of furniture, things we'll never remember, just to give the impression they've earned their money.

Anyway, we went to Guimaraes, another pleasant town, this one with a castle/palace on top of the hill (again, not much different there).

We walked down the sloping paved streets and through a few squares into the centre of town and then wandered for some of the afternoon, stopping for a coffee.

Eventually we were back on the bus. By this time the ship had made it to Porto, at the marina near the river mouth where we got on, still about an hour from Guimaraes.