Saturday 19 May 2001

We take the 4:42pm train from Rotterdam to  Schiphol/Amsterdam Airport. The train journey goes without a hitch. Our flight to  Porto via Lisbon is delayed by half an hour. We fly with TAP Air Portugal. Our ticket tells us that we are flying to Porto  (via Lisbon), but in Lisbon it turns out that we have to transfer to another aircraft. As we are half hour late, our transfer time has become a bit tight. We are met by a ground stewardess, who escorts us quickly to our connecting flight. From then on it is only half an hour's flight to Porto. We arrive there shortly before midnight. The luggage is already rolling off the conveyor belt as we enter the baggage claim area, but, as it turns out, our suitcases are not there. The aircraft is empty, they tell us, and there is nothing left to do than to file a lost luggage report. We then hurry on to the Hertz desk to collect our rental car just before closing. It is a Seat Vario, the estate version of the Seat Cordoba we were supposed to have. It is a bigger car so we can't complain.  We drive into town and after some searching, due to the awful signing, we arrive at our hotel, the Holiday Inn Garden Court. Finally at 1am we get to sleep.

Sunday 20 May  2001

We call TAP first thing in the morning to find out whether our luggage has surfaced. We are told that it has not even been located. Our trip does not stop however and after breakfast we set out to discover the city. We pass a pet market close to the railway station. The interior of the railway station is a sight in its own right, decorated as it is with blue tiles, azulejos as they are called here.  We visit the  Igreja dos Clerigos a church with a bell tower, which you can climb. We do that and are rewarded with a fine view of Porto and Villa Nova de Gaia on both sides of the river  Douro. After this visit we walk on to the Cathedral (Sé) of Porto, standing robustly on a hill, overlooking the city.  It is a sober romanesque building. Next to it is the Archbishop's palace.  We descend from the Sé into the Ribeiro district. The old working class quarter of Porto, with its narrow cobbled streets full of laundry hanging out to dry and curious old women leaning out the windows.  The descent takes us to the banks of the river Douro. This is the scene for the better part of Porto's nightlife. Many restaurants, café's and bars. After a light lunch at a side walk café we make a boat tour on the river passing five bridges. The most famous of them all is the Ponte Luis I, built at the end of the 19th century by Gustave Eiffel, the same of the tower in Paris of that name. After the boat tour we visit the merchants exchange. An interesting building on which no cost or effort has been spared to show off the wealth of the city's commercial class of the 18th and 19th centuries. 

We go back to the hotel for a break and to call TAP about our suitcases. The number is engaged most of  the time, however, but at 5:30pm we get a call: the suitcase have arrived!!. We only too glad.  Early evening we drink an aperitif at a "gay friendly" café (Café na Praça), before we walk down to the Cais de Ribeiro to have dinner at "Chez Lapin". Busy and popular restaurant with excellent food and good service.  An attempt to explore Porto's gay scene ends at a closed door. 10pm turns out to be too early according to Porto standards.

Monday 21 May 2001

We take the tramway to the  tramway museum. For a long time Porto did not have a tramway, only a museum. But recently this line was reopened with vintage tramcars and elsewhere in the city work is underway (especially in front of our hotel) to build a new network of trams and underground trains, that is supposed to be ready in 2003. Unfortunately the tram museum is closed on mondays, so we have to return with the same car that got us there. An exhibition on architecture in Rotterdam and Porto (both cities are cultural capital of Europe this year) would have been nice, but closed as well. In the afternoon we cross the Ponte Luis I to Vila Nova da Gaia on the other side of the Douro. On the quay there are a large number of Port houses  with their cellars in which the Port wine  is stored to mature before it is bottled and shipped.   We visit two houses. We start at  Calém, one of about five houses of Portuguese origin (most have English roots). We get a free tour with lots of information on the production process, the different varieties, colours and tastes. The tour is concluded with a tasting of a white and a red port.  Of course we end up in the shop where buy a bottle. We then go on a further 50 metres to Sandeman . Sandeman is much bigger brand and it shows in the way the visit is organised.  The groups are bigger, the presentation slicker and the setup more commercial. You pay an entry fee, which can be redeemed against the purchase of a bottle in the shop after the visit. The  guide is dressed up in the characteristic Sandeman cape and hat. After yet another tasting we take the bus back into downtown Porto.

At night we dine again on the Cais de Ribeiro (declared a protected city scape by UNESCO,  by the way), this time at Canastra. Good food again, but somewhat less atmospheric. We get acquainted with the Portuguese custom of serving all kinds of nice titbits of food once you sit down, before you even have a chance to order anything.  The snacks, however, (ham, olives, paté, melon etc) are not on the house, but you can refuse them if you do not want them. After dinner we walk back to the hotel and have a beer at the grand café  Majestic, which has a charming Art Nouveau interior.

Tuesday May 2001

We start off with coffee where we ended last night:  in Majestic. Then we pack our things and go on our way to Mesão Frio, a small village up the river in the Douro valley. The village is in the middle of the wine growing region for the production of Port wines. In Mesão Frio we will stay overnight in a Pousada. Pousada's are luxury hotels, most of them located in castles, former convents, palaces and other stately homes. Two years ago we already got to know the Paradores in Spain - a similar phenomenon.  De Pousada in Mesão Frio (Solar da Rede) is housed in a manor with a vineyard. The vineyard still belongs to the Pousada and the Pousada produces its own port, which is served in the bar and restaurant. From our room we have a breath taking view of the Douro and the valley. After a short break we have a simple lunch in the village itself, after which we drive in the direction of Pinhão, the epicentre of the Port wine region. We visit the   Quinta de Panascal (vineyard) where the grapes are being grown for the port house of Fonseca Guimarens. From the main road a large sign points us there with the promise of only 1500 metres left to drive. But after more than 2 km on a rough dirt road we are still not there. Just as we are beginning to wonder whether to continue we see the farm.  We are able to guide ourselves around the place with  help of an audio tour. The Quinta is beautifully laid out on the banks of a side stream of the the Douro. The tour is concluded with a tasting of red and white port.  We drive back to the Pousada, where we cool down in the pool. In the evening we have a great dinner in the Pousada's restaurant.