May 20. OPO-LGW

Another transit day. Travel involves a lot of this inefficient use of time, waits punctuated by brief bursts of activity. 

Fortunately, we had access to the boat for much of the day. Even though we and our bags had to be out of our cabin by 9am, there were several groups who had transfers and flights arranged by Riviera who could stay on board, so the staff didn't mind us doing the same. We thought of going to see more attractions, but the only one I could think of was the Stock Exchange Palace and that felt like a palace too far. So after hanging around a while we walked down to the Atlantic Ocean and back. 

After some lunch I then walked up river as far as I could in the time available, then mid afternoon we took a taxi to the airport. And that was more waiting in a series of places... the duty free queue, the lounge, the gate, and sitting on the plane for a period before it went anywhere.

But really that all went pretty smoothly and uneventfully, and the flight was a bit over two hours, then an hour and a half or so back to Herne Bay.

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.

May 14. Porto to Peso da Regua

 Our cabin is very comfortable and I'm really hoping nobody notices the hole I put in the wardrobe door when I hefted our metal suitcase.

After breakfast we were treated to a bus tour of Porto. So we traipsed across the pier into the set of big buses - most people on this tour are pretty old and slow. From the accents so far I think they're largely English. Probably because it's a slow moving crowd we were just dropped at the cathedral and then the group walked the short distance to the train station and back. Well, most people did, Lynn and I wandered off because we've seen most of that.

The standard system for tour now is that you have a little radio receiver with an earpiece charging in your cabin and when you're on an excursion you wear it round your neck, while your guide has a transmitter. Lynn refuses to ever use one. It's pretty crackly and when the guide got further away I found I was listening to some other tour group entirely. Anyway, it was all fairly painless and we were back on board before the ship unmoored at midday.

Because we were moored right at the mouth of the river we had to pass through the town, which was pleasant.

In the afternoon the scenery was all steep valley walls and wild forest. After afternoon tea we passed through Carrapatelo Lock, which seems to legitimately be the tallest lock in Europe with a rise of about 35 metres. It looks like there will be a few more big locks to come. At the top there was very little room below the bridge that tops the lock. The bridge cabin at the bow, and a lounge at the back, both collapsed down to half height like a poptop caravan.

It was only late in the day that vines started to replace the forest. In the evening we stopped and were bussed to a winery, Quinta da Pacheco, for dinner. For the (unlikely) alert reader, this is indeed the quinta where we had lunch four days ago. The conversation and tendency to sing along to the music confirmed the passengers are mostly English.

A quirk of the Douro is that ships aren't allowed to travel at night, so we remain moored at Peso da Regua. This is why we get some time underway during the day and why during some excursions the ship will continue on while we're ashore.

13 May. Porto

 Today marked the end of our land tour and the start of our river cruise. So this is the plan for the next week:

This meant we had today free, and we took the morning to take it easy and get organised. At checkout time we ventured out and our first stop was the Livraria Lello bookshop, close to our hotel and reportedly an inspiration for Harry Potter (JK Rowling disputes this, but it's beautiful anyway). It was a bit of a circus with a 10 euro entry fee and long queues who were allowed in at timed intervals. The interior was crammed with adolescents. Many of the books seemed to hav unique, customised covers.

Next, I went up the Torre dos Clerigos while Lynn had a coffee. This required me to follow a convoluted path through the church and then battle the crowds up the narrow tower steps.

Can you find Lynn?

There she is!

We meandered around the city and stopped in a cafe to have a light lunch, then back to the hotel where we read for a short time before taking a taxi to the marina. The taxi took us to a place we weren't expecting, but luckily he knew better and the ship was there. When we got on our cabin was ready and we could unpack, find our way around, have a drink and dinner. Our cabin is compact but smart and the ship has only been in service for about a month.

12 May. Porto

 This morning, one of the tour's included activities was a tile painting workshop. Given my and Lynn's artistic abilities this went about as well as you'd expect. Fortunately they plied us with port, which assisted the process. Fortunately, this was the only thing in the week long tour that has not suited us, but it wasn't bad.

Lynn's tile front left

We had walked to the little shop where all this took place, so then we walked a little further down to the waterfront, where we were released to roam around. Lynn and I walked across the lower level of the Pont Luis and then took a cable car up the hill to the top and walked back across.

Then we wound our way through town, stopping for lunch and getting back to the hotel mid-afternoon. That gave us a decent rest before we went out to a final dinner with the tour group at a local Portugese restaurant.

11 May. Porto

 We got a lay in and a late start to the day, which let us wander around the hotel a bit. Then we were bused to the town of Pinhao, on the Douro, for the obligatory short cruise on a rabelo, the local wine boats. This just took us down river for maybe a 2 kilometers and back. 

Then it was a two hour drive to Porto - unfortunately delayed for about an hour as there was a local bike race blocking the streets. Anyway, we eventually got into the city and to our hotel.

We went straight out for a walking tour and to get lunch on the main shopping strip. Everywhere is more coloured tiles on old buildings.

Church of Saint Ildefonso

In the evening Lynn slept while I joined the tour group for a little more sightseeing, walking across the Pont Luis bridge to have a drink while the sun set. My the time we walked back it was extremely cold.

View from Bridge

View from Vincci Ponte de Ferro