Entre de Rios to Porto

Sunday April 14 Entre de Rios to Porto. 

Porto

Today we head to the big city of Porto by sailing through the last lock which drops us down 43 feet and arrives at Vila Nova de Gaia across the river from Porto. It's where the ship moor and the port warehouses are for the port to age. We take a cable car to walk across the Dom Luis bridge designed by Eiffel, one of a number of bridges that span the Douro River in Porto.

Dom Luis bridge

Porto is the second-largest city in Portugal after Lisbon and has a population of 287,591 with the metropolitan area of Porto, it has a population of 2.3 million It the only Portuguese city besides Lisbon to be recognised as a global city. It’s history goes back to 300 bc. It was a roman city, occupied by the moors and then by christians. Port wine dates back to the 13th century. The city has a magical feel. We also visit the cathedral and the train station which has wonderful tiles displaying Porto history. We end the afternoon with a port tasting at Calem the oldest port cellar in Porto.

Calem

We finish our day with a wine paired dinner from West Wines, the last dry creek winery dinner for this trip. Tired from our day we skip a special tradition called the tuna show. A tuna is a group of students in traditional university dress who play traditional instruments and sing serenades. It originated in Spain and Portugal in the 13th century as a means of students to earn money or food. Nowadays students don't belong to a "tuna" for money nor food, but seeking to keep a tradition alive. Oh well next time.