Well, here we are in another country, Portugal.
We couldn’t have picked a better place to arrive than here, we both really liked Porto. It’s a relatively small marina where the marinara comes out to meet you once you have called up and helps you tie up, nice touch. By the time we got sorted out with registering and getting settled in we ate on board and had an early night after another 9-10 hour sail.
Next day we decided to be typical tourists and went into Porto from the wee village where the actual marina is. I was actually quite surprised at the basic facilities we so easily take for granted at home that are not available here for the locals. Walking into Porto through the village there was a communal area where they would take their washing to hang to dry after washing in the local “wash house,” which was a big square room with large stone baths where they washed their clothes, bedding etc., and back breaking work like they did in the old days. Once I seen this it explained why, when the lovely lady in the marina showed me the laundry room with a large washing machine said I could see why she was so excited when it arrived
Porto is great! It’s got such vibrancy about it and such a mixture of, well, everything.
Walking in from the marina along the Rio Douro
The cable cars made us feel like we should have our skis with us.
We crossed the upper span of the bridge in the background which has fantastic views.
The railway station with tiled historical scenes.
We both love Port, so that was obviously something we wanted to sample, the port houses and the tours. We visited two, only for comparison purposes you understand.
You just can’t leave empty handed!
Lunch was definitely next on the agenda, to soak up the port if nothing else. Fish, fish and more fish is the main food here. I’m in heaven!
We had been a bit apprehensive about Portugal and have heard so many stories about the bureaucracy when entering each port re boat safety standards, tax, light dues etc. If Porto is anything to go by it looks like there won’t be any problems, everyone has been really helpful and couldn’t do more than enough for you. Hopefully this will be the case in all ports.
