Porto: At The Mouth Of The Douro River

Our bus ride from Lisbon up to Porto (where we will start our cruise up the Douro River) gave us a good view of the Portugal countryside.   It isn’t like the central San Joaquin Valley because there are trees everywhere (pine & eucalyptus mainly).  Nor is it like Virginia because only the trees are green … under the trees everything is brown.

Perhaps the landscape that I’m familiar with that this is most like is the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California.

Along the way we stopped at a restaurant.   A Christening was happening at the same time … so we lunched in the same room with the celebrating parents …and helped them celebrate.  Portugal seem more laid back that way.

We also stopped along the way at Coumbria University … founded in 1290 and toured the library and spoke with some students.    Pretty interesting how the preserve the old books from insects.  Bats.   Yes, a colony of about 50 bats live in the library behind the books.  They fly around at night and eat all the insects.    Of course the tables must be covered each night and cleanup duty has been happening every morning for hundreds of years.  Tradition.     The reason given is that they can’t fumigate the old paper.   They also shut the library down if humidity gets over 69%.   Seemed strange to an Air Conditioning Contractor … but hey,  this is Europe, they do things differently here.

Porto is at the mouth of the Douro River and is most famous for being the port from which wine from the Douro valley is shipped to the rest of the world.   They are most famous for Port wine but grow all varieties.   Tomorrow we head up river.    Here are some photos of Porto.

Typical river boat with a load of wine. They are not used anymore since the advent of the highway and trucks but they served well for hundreds of years. Note the standing platform for the Tiller operator.

Here’s a more modern version. This is the Queen Isabel, our home for the next 7 days. Those are wine warehouses behind the ship.

The famous bridge between Porto and Gaia. It was built by a protege of Eiffel who built the tower. Cars travel the lower platform and trains the upper. Pedestrians can go on both.

Cathedral. Every city has one. Bigger cities have many. This is Porto’s largest.

Observing the tiles in the Train Station. Portuguese have always had a fascination with tile, using them to protect buildings from humidity. Early versions didn’t have fired glazes but when this technique was learned from China, many buildings got a facelift in the 19th and early 20th century.

Busy street and a smaller church

The lock is supposed to mean the new marriage will be permanent. The divorce rate in Portugal is the same as elsewhere, both in and out of the church. But it’s a nice tradition.

The Imperial McDonalds ??? Ubiquitous.