We leave Evora mid morning on our way to Porto but first we look for the monolithe that our friendly guide Joao recommended. These are rock structures dating 7000 years ago…the oldest ones in Europe. There are no clear explanation for their presence but it is thought that they marked a place of gathering for spiritual celebrations. One always has a sense of awe when walking amongst structures such as these….

We arrive in Porto and check in our beautiful apartment overlooking the Douro River and just steps from the famous Ponte Luis.

We love the atmosphere at night, typical of european cities with their terraces full with tourists, sounds of live music and smell of local food – the perfect evening!

The next day we have a 3-hour private walking tour with Orlando – a local from Porto. We walk up a steep hill to meet him in the city centre…Porto is a granite hill, the city is built on a big rock.

Orlando explains that this makes any construction or digging very difficult, that coupled with the fact that one can easily unearth historic sites, development are often completely which stalled. The city is currently undergoing a massive metro contruction projects and there are sounds of jack hammers everywhere as well as traffic jams worthy of Toronto!

Orlando takes us to magnifient viewpoints of the city and river and explains the history of the city that has never allowed nobles to live or rule here. It is a city that was ruled by bishops and where ordinary people have lived – there are no castles.

Interestingly, It has the most beautiful McDonald in the world. For once the mega American company chose to maintain and respect the Art Deco of the cafe building that it took over. Beautiful stained glass!

Porto had very little moorish invasion so it has not influenced the city at all, unlike Lisbon. There are signs of Roman occupation including signs of the typical roman walls throughout old Porto. This is a city that is just starting to be reborn as it has been neglected for decades. There are fewer people who live in Porto and therefore several houses and apartments are abandonned. The impact of the dearth of tourism caused by Covid is evident. An interesting fact to me is that Porto decided a few decades ago to save its architecture by creating the bank of material. Any building in old Porto that shows signs of being vandalized – for example tiles removed on the exterior – will have all its architecture elements removed: exterior tiles, door knobs, roof tiles and more! They are then stored at the bank and when any owners no of a house in old Porto wants to renovate, they can come get all this material free of charge and reuse it. It is amazing all the material they have.

The small, narrow and hilly streets are also a treat – so beautiful with their cobblestones and plants spread out by the owers on the street. Orlando explains also that Porto had a serious heroin problem 20 years ago and the city decided to create centres to help with addiction as well as operating restaurant schools to provide training and employment to those looking to heal themselves.

It is a very religious cities with numerous churches spread out throughout but it also has a dark past of persecuting the jews and forcing them to become “new-christian”. Its cathedral is also the beginning of the Camino de Santiago trail and you can see the yellow arrow signs leading the hikers to Santiago – 248 km!

In the afternoon, we take old Tram 1 to the sea and the beach on Orlando’s recommendation. We enjoy a beautiful lunch on a sunny afternoon by the beach!

We then walked the bridge to Gaia to visit the Taylor Fladgate’s cave. Very information and beautiful setting – so much of this area’s culture and history is connected to this Port wine!

The next day, we are off to a special treat with a tour of Douro with Manuel. He repeats that he wants to show us the authentic Douro and its history, not the big producers who are all the same…and he does! What a day we had…

The drive to the small town of Pinhao (heart of Douro) was spectacular and showed promises of an amazing day. We begin with a boat cruise where Pasquale tells us tales of the development of the region and the hard working people who developed this trade.

Villagers who risked their lives to take the big barrels of port wine to Gaia on small viking looking boat on a wild river that could be very shallow as well as dangerous with rocks flying from the riverbanks. They began filling the barrel only at 75% to ensure that if the boat sank, the barrel would float up to the surface so the next boat could salvage them. This is before the several dams were built in the Douro to control the water levels.

Here, we also hear of the terrible worm that decimated the region and the clever solution to use american root stock to save the wine grape plants. History goes back to the 17th century and it is the oldest region to produce regulated wine. Here also they use nature to help protect their wines. They have rose bushes throughout to attract the bugs and warn the winmakers of a potential bug invasion. They use olive trees for the same pupose but also as boundaries between estates and between different varietal of grapes. They use eucalyptus trees along the riverbank because they repel bugs. We learned about the schists stones that are the secret to their wine grapes who attach themselves to these porous rocks which are a reservoir of water of sort. The roots grow stronger as they nagivate the rocky terroir.

We taste homemade parma from wild pig fed strickly on acorn, local cheese and olive paste as well as a delicious white port and tonic. Excellent!

Next we are off up the mountains to the top of the Douro valley. A treats as most tours only stay close to the river. The view is magnificent! It is a road that was named one of the most beautiful in Europe and no wonder why!

We are on our way to visit a small port producer who have been there for 100 years and meet the son who is slowly taking over from his father. we see the inside of a port barrel and taste several of their table and port wines.

The next winery is magical and beautiful. We are treated to an amazing lunch with excellent wines on a terrace overlooking the estate. Amazing Portuguese risotto! Who knew. And What a setting!

Again we meet the new generation taking over from his father but this time, it is the 11th generation, still living on the estate! He shows us a port that has been in barrel since 1848. He bottled 5 bottles 3 years ago and sold four but kept one ti show the color changes. A cool price of 4000Euros! He is so interesting and entertaining capping up a fantastic day with the other tourists in the group from Sweden, Chicago, Denmark, South Corea and Dallas.

One of the best tour we have had!