Our Stay
Our first full day, we started after breakfast, by crossing the Douro River using the high-level deck of the Ponte Luís I bridge also used by the Metro to Mosteiro da Serra do Pilar a Former monastery dating to the 1500s, set on a hilltop & notable for its round church & cloister, before returning to the north bank of the Douro.
Next stop was the Porto Cathedral at least the outside from here we wound our way through the narrow stairways and laneways down to the river then bac up the hill to the level of the apartments we thought, but one wrong turn had us heading even further up the hill, past the town hall before turning right and finding the Mercado do Bolhão and spotted what looks like a Norfolk Island Pine at the Porto Baixa Shopping Centre before heading down the hill to the apartments and purchasing tickets for the Seven Bridges Boat Trip for the following day.
In the evening we again gathered for drinks before going to dinner.
The day of the party was also the day we chose to do the Seven Bridges trip, we were told that it would leave on the town side of the river, but look as hard as we could we did not find the boarding jetty till almost lunch time only to find that the boat could not use this jetty as it was occupied by the Navy Training Tall Ship, so we needed to cross the river using the low level of the Ponte Luís I bridge only to then needing to wait for the crews to return from lunch, the wait was worth it being first in line I could choose the best place to take photos from.
Being on this side of the river at a low level also allowed us to explore a little more, this proved interesting. Returning to the town side of the river my Sciatica was playing up so we chose not to walk up the hill but take the “Funicular dos Guindais” - Mountain cable car which started just near the bridge and ended almost at the entrance to our apartments, time to rest up before gathering in another two bedroom apartment for pre-party drinks and moving on the restaurant and a booking for sixteen people.
In the morning we had booked what we originally thought was to be a boat trip on the Douro River further up river, this turned out to be more of a car trip, wine and port tasting trip, this was a little disappointing at first but it turned out to be a fabulous day ending up with lunch at the tour company owner’s home. A real home cooked lunch in all it was well worth the cost.
On our last full day we had heard of a building that had rooms inspired by The Alhambra in Granada this intrigued us so we had to explore this building, it appeared to be one we had walked past a number of times the “Associacao Comercial Do Porto” (the Commercial Association of Porto). The tour was conducted in different languages at different times we had to wait our turn for this whirlwind tour our guide was in quite a hurry which unfortunately made the whole thing feel rushed I know we would have liked more time in each area not to be as once the tour was finished we were NOT allowed to return to areas covered so briefly (Like Eiffel’s office used during the construction of the Ponte Luís I bridge and the now disused Commercial Court Room) and we were ushered into the obligatory gift shop.
Leaving building I was intrigued to locate the tower we could see from our rooms the one used in Harry Potter movies this was in-fact the “Clerigos Church and Tower” yet another church but certainly not the last! Finally a quick visit to the Mercado do Bolhão before returning to the apartments and one last drinks gathering, and preparing got the next train trip in the morning to Madrid changing trains in Spain at Vigo where a taxi is needed to also change stations (Mind the change in Time Zone Spain is one hour ahead of Portugal).
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Welcome to Herman and Carolann’s Travels to Europe
Portugal Trip 2023