Porto day one and two

 Sarah and Madeleine and I shared a taxi to Gatwick. I flew to Porto by EasyJet and Sarah and Maddy to Montreal. After delays I arrived Porto an hour after expected and found the VRBO where a very helpful host Maria welcomed me and gave me a half hour introduction to Porto and how to get around. I had managed to get a three day Andante tourist pass for 15 Euros that meant that one could use all public transit - trains, buses etc for free for three days. You have to go to the tourist office at the airport to get the pass.

After a good sleep I started day two by finding a cafe for coffee and a croissant. Then I walked down to the Douro river.There were not many tourists around at 10 am.  The first adventure of the day was a 50 minute boat ride up and down the river around Porto. 

I took video but it will have to wait for downloading when internet speed good. I then crossed to the south side of the Douro river and went to a Port tasting and rode the funicular up to the higher level. Porto has very steep hills and this was a way of getting to the upper level again.







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Devastating news

  On the last day of the Alpine hike I turned on my cell phone (it had been on Airplane mode to save battery life) to hear from Penny that my sister and brother in law had been drowned when their car drove off a narrow bridge on their farm and they landed in the car upside down. The caregiver who was in the back seat was able to get out and call for help. The story was published by my nephew Phillip in Hello magazine. See:  Hello Magazine . Then the Daily Mail did a follow up story. See:  Daily Mail . They have left a wonderful family of four children and eight grandchildren. They have also left a wonderful six bedroomed farmhouse called Garrington near the village of Littlebourne, about five miles from Canterbury.  The farm is managed by my nephew who actually manages seven farms with different owners with shared equipment and labour.  There will be a funeral which I will attend before returning to Victoria.  Needless to for me it will take a little w...
Read more

Some Alpine hiking first

Image
About 15 members of the Vancouver Island Chapter of the Alpine Club of Canada spent the week of August 13th to 20th at the Wheeler hut near Rogers Pass in the Canadian Rockies. I joined ACCVI nine years ago at the age of 75 and have enjoyed going on summer camps most years since. Many of the camps have involved flying in by helicopter to sites usually at about 6000 feet (1800 meters) and pitching ones own tent with hiking/climbing each day. Twice I have been to Lake O'Hara in the Yoho National Park between British Columbia and Alberta. This year we were able to drive into the Wheeler Hut in Glacier National Park in the Canadian Rockies. It is at 1250 meters (4000 feet). The Arthur O. Wheeler hut is an alpine hut located four km southwest of Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park, British Columbia. Although not truly a backcountry hut, this log cabin is situated conveniently close to the Trans-Canada Highway in the Selkirk Mountains, west of the Rocky Mountains. It is often used as a ...
Read more

Off to Europe

  After two days at home and with Penny's help I am flying to London. This year the motivating event is the wedding of my neice Helen to her partner Simi on my sisters farm near Canterbury. Before this I will stay at the Reform Club in London to get over jet lag, then travel to Cambridge to stay with Penny's brother Nick and meet up with daughter Sarah and granddaughter Madeleine near Cambridge. After staying at my sisters farm with for a week I fly to Portugal to spend a few days in Porto and then return to the UK.   Since some devastating news on Saturday 19th August (see next post) I will be in the UK for a funeral before returning to Victoria.  Here is the remarkable history of the two people, Helen and Simi, who are getting married on September 2nd.  ​" We met on the dance floor 💃🏼 6 years ago and it might sound super cheesy, but it really was love ❤️ at first sight! After a 2nd date dinner in Brixton Market, we realised we were made for each other, both with ...
Read more