After five days in France, Tim & Jeri fly into Porto from Bordeaux. We arrive before John & Katie fly in from LA via Zurich, but the good news is that Porto airport has only one terminal and so we easily meet in the baggage area. Soon we are in the car heading to the Pestana Vintage hotel where we are greeted with a glass of…port. A quick walk to a small restaurant called the Wine Box and we have tapas and drinks. Bed beckons.
Our Camino walk starts in two days so Tuesday is a chance for us to stretch our legs and explore Porto. We walk along the river to the funicular railway and then walk across the alarmingly high (about 150 feet) foot/rail bridge to Gaia, home of the region’s Port Cellars. Given the fact that there were no railings down on the quayside you might think the Portuguese are somewhat blasé about health and safety but mercifully the bridge had railings. We took a long gondola ride down to a small market in Gaia but it was too early to eat. Tim dislikes heights so he was enjoying every minute. We walked back on the high bridge to visit the cathedral where we posed for a picture at the Camino marker; 248 kilometers to Santiago; although we are only walking half of that. The cathedral was a strange mix of familiar and unfamiliar. The elements are like other European cathedrals, with its cruciform construction: nave, side isles, transept, and quire, it is at first glace the same as all gothic cathedrals, but the ornately carved and painted woodwork is almost garish and the tiles are amazing. After a nice look around and a climb up the tower by Tim and John we searched out lunch at a little place called Look Sharp and had our first port tonic. Made with white port (who knew!) and tonic water with a sprig of mint and a twist of lemon it is refreshing and not too sweet. Food was great; chicken tikka, watermelon gazpacho, udon noodles, grilled chicken with couscous. It reminds you that Portugal has long been exploring the world!
After lunch we walked to Gazete Azulejos for our tile making class. Our teacher Diana was informative and funny. There were 10 of us altogether and, after a short history lesson, we were tasked with creating two tiles. We wrapped up the evening with a lovely dinner at Vinhas D’Alho high on the quay overlooking the Duoro river and a few of the six bridges. We leave tomorrow for Baiona where we will at last begin our Camino. Porto has been a lovely interlude, and we look forward to visiting again!
Some links;
https://vinhasdalho.eatbu.com/?lang=pt
2 Responses
Wow, are those your tiles? They look amazing!!!
Yep! We did use stencils though. Will pick up the finished tiles in Porto at the end of the walk.