JUNE 6-8, 2018
June 7
6 June was a travel day that was part of our drive up the coast from Lagos.
Our flat is just south of Porto in Madelena which is an easy bus or train ride from the old city. We were lucky to arrive with a car so that we could get our initial groceries and other supplies
Seems as we were departing the car and packing stuff into bags here and there, I put my 1L water bottle into the same bag as my camera. Once inside I discovered by bag was soaked! So was my camera. I quickly dumped everything out and tried drying the camera with a towel.
I wasn’t able to dry it enough as when I tried to use it the next day, it wouldn’t turn on. After dropping the car off and finding our way into the city, we ended up in the small but terrific train station São Bento. This is when I learned the camera wouldn’t work so I went the entire day using my very old iphone!! It was better than nothing, but I really missed a good camera. Additionally it was turning into a bad day for weather. It was probably our first day in months of grey, cold and rain. We ended up at a café on the river next to a gas heater and chatting with a couple from New Zealand for a couple of hours. We had a nice time.
We decided to find the antique 3euro tram that runs along the river for a little sight seeing in the rain. What we didn’t expect was having to get off the tram and wait 5 minutes while the conductor flipped the catenary connector – in the rain…. I had my poncho, and Thom had his hat, but it was a day of being damp!!!
After the tram ride we found the interesting church, and very ornate, Church of São Francisco. The Church of St Francis. And then we went back to Sao Bento for the train to Madelena.
June 8
Still grey and raining but I wanted to get into Porto and get a new camera. Hoping for a replacement Nikon B700, not that different from my P500, we went to FNCA, found via google. It probably wasn’t the best choice as their products were expensive!!! And worse than that, the Nikon they had was the P900 – a very fancy, large lens, wifi, camera!!! But it had incredible zoom features which is the criteria that I really wanted. My P500 was a 32x digital zoom. This P900 – a whopping 83x optical zoom, or the equivalent of a 135 24-2000mm lens!!! Yikes. And the optics are terrific…. I suppose replacing a camera that’s 7 years old with an upgrade is not that difficult to justify….. And I added all the extras I could – spare battery, hand grip/strap, UV filter, lens cap tether, starter memory card as I of course left them at the flat, and fingers are crossed I can gt the 83euro portion of the VAT tax back.
We wandered some after the camera purchase which consumed the entire morning. My salesman was terrific young man with great English!!! He asked if we’d had a Porto specialty, a sandwich called a Francesinha. This is warmed, covered with melted cheese and a spicy beer and tomato sauce. We located a restaurant serving these and it was really good!!! Also it was nice and hot which was perfect for a cold, wet day. It was starting to brighten a bit so we were hopeful for an improvement in the weather. We decided to book an all day cruise up the Douro River into wine country and departure was an early 8am, prompting our first trip on the bus to get to the quay where the boat was docked.
JUNE 9-10, 2018 – Douro River and travel day
All day excursion!!! Starting at 8am we boarded a 2 decked catamaran with about 100 others. We were served breakfast as we started up the river where we were to arrive at Pinhau at about 4:30. We spent most of the day on the open deck admiring the views. The weather was mostly OK with a few moments of bright, warm sun.
In addition to spectacular views that got better and better as the vineyards appeared before us, we passed 3 large dams with locks that were lots of fun. The one with the greatest lift, took us up 35 meters!!! The gate/wall structures on either end were substantial and quite fun to see. There was one portion that actually dripped great amounts of water that had us all scrambling for cover. I was especially interested in handing the new camera into a well sheltered gentleman to keep it dry.
After a nice day on the water we disembarked in Pinhao onto a bus that took us to a winery. We had a nice tour and a taste of their muscatel. It wasn’t a long stop as we still had a 2hr drive back to Porto.
We found the bus back to the flat, arriving tired and barely hungry at 10pm. And then we had to get up and out early the next day to make our way to the airport where we decided to pickup a car for the coming week. We decided to drive up the coast to the northwest edge, the town of Caminha, on the border river with Spain.
June 10
After driving up from Lagos in the Algarve, with 2 overnights, we’ve been 20 min south of Porto. We’ve been into Porto each day on spite of the cold and the rain. Had a great 2 hr conversation quayside with some Canadians on Friday, next to a big gas heater. Still didn’t get dried out!! Yesterday was a wonderful long boat ride up the Douro River into incredibly steeply terraced wine country. We had a few minutes of sun on the way, but the views were spectacular anyway. Had some wine tastings, but now wish we’d done more to learn about port. We bought a bottle of dry white at a winery after having a little bit with lunch on the boat. Back to our flat about 10pm and now getting ready to move on. We’ve rented a car for 5 days to drive up the north coast and into Spain. We will come back to Porto to fly to the Azores on Friday where we’ll be until 21June. That will be Thom’s last stop on this worldwide tour. He’s anxious to get back to the US, partly out of concern for pending summer crowds in Europe. I don’t mind….
But I get to join up with friend Anne Purvis in Bordeaux France. We’ll journey by train to Castelsarrasin where we’ll get a Le Boat canal boat for two weeks and travel to Le Mas d’Agenais on the Garonne in SW France. It will be the two of us and a 43′ boat!!! should be fun, and there will be lots of locks. After yesterday’ 35meter lift I’m ready for anything!
After our cruise we may stay in France longer, still TBD. And then to Weymouth UK for a rest. Hoping after that to get in a nice BMW Convertible and the two of us drive around SW England and Wales!!! Not sure yet when I’ll head back to the US!!! having too much fun……