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| Looking up and down the Douro River from our cliffside hotel rooom window at the Eurostars Porto Douro. Note the long white building with a short, round tower above the river in the right photo - this is the Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar, and you can spot it in other pictures. | |
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We arrived at the airport mid-day and proceeded to pick up our rental car. It was a pretty reasonable experience, certainly better than some I have had in the US. I had reserved a car that could hold our luggage in the trunk, not wanting to temp thieves with anything on the back seat. It was a tight fit. It might not have made any difference, as the rear windows were tinted.
Driving to the hotel was easy, traffic-wise, but navigation was hard because we weren't used to their design for transitioning from one road to another, and we missed some turn-offs. It was also hard to see where to stop for the hotel, as it's basically built into a cliff! But they have a parking garage and we managed to get settled.
Travel Tip: If you want to drive in a foreign country, check their requirements before you go. To drive in Spain, you need a license, but you may be able to cheaply and easily get one at your local AAA Travel office, depending on where you live.
It was raining but, inspired by friluftsliv, we put on our true Pacific North West-er and set out on our planned walk along the coast. We got an Uber to the starting point, the Jardim do Cálem and, umbrellas in hand, followed the path along the Douro River. We saw a few other people out and about as well. The street passed Jardim do Passeio Alegre and as turned north past the Forte de São João Baptista de Foz, we headed into a strong wind.
We continued along the beach for a ways but the umbrellas were no match for the sideways rain and we started to feel cold and uncomfortable. We heading away from the beach and up the hill to find the restaurant from our plan. But it was Sunday and most of the restaurants we saw were closed.
We headed back toward the beach and a tiny spot we had seen that was open - Bar Tolo. This place had only 4 tables, with a few more outside (tented in, but we opted to warm up inside). There were 2 more upstairs floors, each also offering a tiny dining room. We found friendly service and a delicious fish soup, just what we needed. We also had some bread, the roast beef salad, and a bottle of wine.
There was a fellow using his laptop at the next table, and after a bit, he laughed and told us that the winemaker of our bottle was sitting outside on the patio. He came in and we chatted for a bit and swapped info. We told him if he comes where we live, we will show him around Washington wine country. Who knows, maybe it will happen!
Warmed, dry-ish, and fed, we braved the weather again to visit this little grocery and picked out bread, cheese, fruit, snacks, and more wine, to make a light dinner in our room. The wine was amazingly inexpensive - I think we decided to pick the most expensive bottle just to try it, as it was only about €13. We Ubered back to our hotel for hot showers and some NFL football via laptop. And our cheap wine was pretty good.
Observation: We saw in Spain and Portugal both, neighborhoods all have these small grocery stores. They are like 7-11s in the US, except filled with actual groceries, fresh breads and cheeses instead of garbage snack foods.
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Cool stone wall at Eurostars hotel entry. |
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| Beach seen through buildings in the Foz District. | Chapel and cemetary seen through gate in Foz District. |
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| Heading up the Escada dos Guindais... |
Still...
climbing... |
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...Until we are above the bridges over the Douro River! |
In the morning, the rain had let up but the skies were still threatening as we set out on a walking tour we had planned. Remember that our hotel was right on the river. A couple blocks away, we followed the path given by Google maps, up some stairs. And turning the corner, more stairs. And then more, and more. Finally we were higher than the big bridges spanning the Douro River. We definitely got a workout first thing that day, up the Escada dos Guindais.
The first stop was the Igreja Santa Clara, a small-ish, Baroque style churh filled with elaborate, gilted woodworkings. It had been recently restored and re-opened and we chatted with some of the student volunteers that had been working on it. Of course the rain started pouring down while we were inside, so we spent a little more time there than we might have otherwise.
Next along our route was the Sé do Portal, or, Porto Cathedral. We did not go inside this one, and there was scaffolding up for exterior refurbishment, but there were views from the plaza out over the terracota tile rooftops of Porto. If you do go, you will see Romanesque, Baroque, and Gothic elements as well as portraits in paintings and in tilework.
As we consulted our map with the walking tour laid out, we realized that the next site was way back down by the river. So we decided to short-circuit to the next spot that was at the same altitude we had climbed to and hit the lower-lying attractions along the way back. We still managed to find everything but we had to ad lib the route.
Travel Tip: If you are putting pins on a map to plan a route, make sure to also look at the topography or terrain view. The next stop that appears closest in 2D might result in quite a different walking experience in 3-D.
We headed to the very cool Rua das Flores, a shopping street that was very crowded and yet intimate at the same time. We wandered up and down for a bit, then headed up a steep and less busy side street in search of some well-earned breakfast. We found it at the lovely Chocolataria das Flores, a pastry shop that also had a breakfast and lunch menu. The lady working, maybe the proprietor, did not seem to have a lot of English and we have no Portuguese but we made selections understood and were treated to a delicious meal. We enjoyed comparing travel notes with the couple at the next table, who were visiting from Portland OR.
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| We had a tasty breakfast at Chocolataria das Flores. |
We wandered down and back up Rua des Flores, admiring the architecture old and new, the tile-fronted buildings, the shop windows. At one end we found the Igreja da Misericórdia, with its Rococo façade. At the other end of the street, we went inside to admire the tile murals of the Saõ Bento a train station operating since the 1890s.
It's a good thing we fueled up, because our next stop was a climb up the 75-meter Torre dos Clérigos - 240 steps. You can make your way all around the top for views of the whole city. We didn't have advance tickets but we got lucky and got entry with the group that was going about 10 minutes later. When it was time, they directed the long line of visitors up an initial couple flights of stairs, passing a lookout into the chapel then arriving at a museum level. We started to look around here but then realized that we should right away proceed up the climb to beat the crowd of our large group. The air at the top was refreshing after the climb and it was a beautiful day for the view.
Climbing the tower was totally worth doing, but there are some glitches in the system. It was a little confusing how to get the tickets, as the line for the tickets and the line of ticketholders head in the same direction. They send a lot of people up at once, and the line extends down a hot, stuffy hallway and into the chapel (there was even a service while we were in line and it felt very intrusive). The climb up the tower gets very narrow, as they all do, and there is not really room for people to pass. This created a deadlock situation at the top with people waiting for an opening to descend while there was no space for anyone to leave the stairway onto the deck, or even to move around it to the next view. Other climbs like this that we went on later have lights that tell when it is clear to go up or down, and this tower would really benefit from such a system.
 
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| Views from the Torre do Clerigos, and Freda Kahlo vase by
Pablo Picasso from the museum level. You might notice some landmarks from other photos. |
With tired legs, we continued our tour past some University of Porto buildings and the Fonte dos Leões with its winged lions. The Igreja do Carmo sports more blue and white tile murals on its exterior. The Jardim da Cordoaria, formally known as the Jardim de João Chagas, anchors this neighborhood of Cordoaria, which also includes the courthouse and the busy Hospital Santo António. We followed the street to the Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis art museum but it was closed. We continued to the Jardins do Palacio Cristal and rested our weary feet, amused by the various chickens and peacocks roaming about. We wandered the various gardens built into the hillside and thought we had found a way back down toward the river, but it was walled so we had to climb back up to get out. We followed some steep, zig-zagging streets until we neared the river.
We eventually worked our way to the Palácio da Bolsa, a neoclassical building with an impressive interior courtyard. It was built as a stock exchange and to house the Porto Commercial Association which (I think) still operates there. It also serves as an event and conference hall. There are tours offered in several languages but unfortunately we had not bought advance tickets and the next English tour was already sold out. We were sad not to get to see this; it looked really interesting.
We followed the street along the river and were lured by some music to stop and have a cold beer. It had become a warm, sunny afternoon, so we relaxed and people-watched under the shade of an umbrella before returning to the hotel to clean up for our next activities.
Travel Tip: Drink the local beer. Did I say this already? I will probably say it again. It's light and refreshing and super cheap! And you can even get a small glass. Also, pretty much everywhere we went, they had the local lager and its companion non-alcoholic version on tap.
We were approaching the foot of the Escada dos Guindais, the stairs from our morning climb, when we spotted the Funicular dos Guindais, literally around one building away. Oh, we could have saved ourselves some trouble. But I wouldn't have changed anything about our walk.
For our evening, we had a reservation at Caves Calem for a tour, port tasting, and a performance of Fado, a traditional vocal and guitar music of Portugal. Fortunately the Ponte Luis I bridge has a crossing near river level as well as up high like we were in the morning, so we were able to go on foot. We crossed the bridge and walked along the waterfront. There were lots of boats moored, some bearing the names of the Quintas - winemaking estates - up the Douro valley. In the mornings you can see these boats all heading to work, likely carrying tourists for wine tasting day trips.
The south side of the river has a gondola cable car that will take you from the river up to the rest of the city on that side, but we did not have time to try it. In fact, we didn't get anywhere on this side of the river so that will have to wait for another trip.
There were also plenty of restaurants around with outdoor, tented seating, but as it was around 6pm and the rain had returned, most of these were full. We squeezed into one and had a quick glass of wine while we were waiting for our port tour. They were so busy that we had to just leave our money on the table and scoot - we hope they weren't offended.
Observation: Everywhere we went, we had to explicitly ask for our check when ready. It is not at all like in the US where when the server thinks you are done they will drop the check for you. So don't feel shy to ask, and don't take it as a sign of bad service when you have to.
The Caves Calem building was dark and somehow managed to have a modern and ancient feel to it at the same time. The tour gave some history of the grapes and of port and how it's made and the differences between ruby, tawny, and vintage ports. It had beautiful and informative displays, including a section of the stone terrain that is only broken into rocky soil at the surface. The port tasting was of a ruby, a tawny, and a white (which I didn't even know was a thing). I tend to like tawny ports the best.
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Boats moored alongside the south side of the Douro River. White and ruby port and the Fado show at Caves Cálem. We certainly got in our steps and cardio this day. |
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The Fado performance was quite good and lasted longer than the token song or two I expected. You can hear an example here. The first song (at the time of getting that link) was in Caves Calem but it starts a "radio" so the other music may be unrelated. As far as an activity goes, Caves Calem is definitely touristy and commercial but I would still recommend it; I am glad we went.
We hadn't made any dinner reservation, so we wandered around for a bit looking for a place to eat. There were sevaral spot along the waterfront that seemed temporary, almost like they were built in those school trailer classrooms, but nicer looking. Things were pretty busy but we could see open tables through the windows at one of them. It turned out to also be owned by Caves Cálem, called Uva by Cálem". I don't remember what we ate there but it was very good. I generally don't have dessert and I'm not very into chocolate, but I did let the server talk me into trying a dark chocolate ganache sort of thing served in a cute little mason jar, and I'm not sorry!
We had ordered a bottle of wine and when she opened it, the server didn't like the way the cork smelled. In our taste, we could tell it had gone over somewhat but honestly, if we had opened it at home we wouldn't have loved it but also probably wouldn't have poured it out. She brought another bottle and left the two corks and a taste to compare and there was such a difference. It was a good education.
It was dark as we walked back, but we felt perfectly safe. We made some plans for the next day's drive up the Douro Valley then fell into to bed, exhausted.