Beautiful City Porto

Whether by accident or design, generally speaking, European countries have honored their history and heritage by preserving historical town centers and olden cities as they were or near as they were when first built ages ago.  Most very early first town structures were built of wood but eventually replaced or restored in stone after having been destroyed by fire, war, floods, or other disasters.  In many instances, the “newer” stone structures are hundreds of years old.  In US cities, there is a tendency to demolish the old and dilapidated to make way for the new.  Not so here.  Although some of the ancient buildings still standing are gutted with only the outside walls remaining most have been made livable again with new interiors and added necessary conveniences like electricity and plumbing.   Often, shops and restaurants occupy the ground floor of these buildings and floors above are apartments.  Some older people here have lived in the same apartment all their lives.  Among the throngs of tourists, old men smoke and play table games in the park and old women bring out chairs in the heat of late day and sit together on the sidewalks chatting as they’ve probably done for years.  Merchant houses on the river’s edge in Porto share walls, a yellow house next to a brown one, and that one next to a blue one, and are hundreds of years old.  Walks, alleys, and stone steps are common ways for people to get where they need to go in the city.  Many quaint streets and narrow cart paths are just as they were centuries ago.  In our travels and as big cities go, Porto and Gaia seem to have done an exceptional job in preserving their past.  And the result is glorious; gazing at the city across the river, the merchant houses are reflected in the river and at sundown when the light is just right, the colors of the houses become crisp and brilliant.  At night when the lights come on, the city is golden.

In the past few days, we toured historical Porto, walked along the riverfront past a small fishing town, past a marsh estuary on the river, and on to the point where the Douro meets the Atlantic.  The beach there is lovely there with its soft sand and giant dark boulders where people lounge in the warm sun.

Oh, have we enjoyed delicious food these past few days!  The Portuguese love good food and good bread.  They take pride in their cuisine. A person could virtually eat their way through Portugal.  Whether at a fine restaurant or a streetside café the food is always delicious.  And restaurants are abundant here.  If there is a blank space on a street, in a nook under a bridge, outside a hotel, in an alley, in a small tunnel, a cluster of umbrella-shielded tables will be found.   And they are always occupied.  I’ve remarked to Stan many times, “I think all that people do here is sit at tables, drink coffee, wine, or beer for hours and chat all day long.”  The tables are always full.   We try to do as the locals and mix in.  Sometimes we have a café and sometimes we sit and have an ice cold cerveja in the afternoon.  We had luscious gin and tonics at the very special and stunning Majestic Café in Porto a day or so ago.  This elaborately decorated café in Art Nouveau style in downtown Porto has served fancy guests since 1922.  It has been and may still be a favorite gathering place for artists, poets, writers, and students and teachers from the nearby Porto School of Fine Art.  J.K Rowling is said to have sat many days at a table at the Majestic as she penned one of her H. Potter stories.

The weather in every place we have visited in Portugal so far has been near perfect.  The people here say it is unusually hot right now.  We find daytimes are quite warm but certainly fine to us.  The refreshing breezes pick up in the evenings and the temps cool to the 60s.  It is very nice!

The Douro Riverfront is Porto.  And this beautiful river is a sight to see.  Long replica Rabelo boats ferry sightseers up and down the river; water taxis make quick work of a crossing trip from Gaia to Porto and vice versa, and pleasure crafts zip around the wide river.  River cruise ships exchange passengers on the Gaia side on Saturdays and Sundays.  Most people cross the river on foot via the famous double-decker arched Dom Luis I bridge.  We walked both ways, once on the lower level and back on the upper level.  Views from this bridge are uncanny and the air that moves there over the river is fine and sweet. 

Both sides of the river are places to be.  The Porto side of the river is has restaurant after restaurant with fields of tables and umbrellas.  And under tented tops, vendors sell hats and everything imaginable.  Everyone needs a hat here as the sun is powerful!   In these stalls, tourists buy souvenirs, leather belts and purses, cork hats, shoes and purses, embroidered fabrics, sunglasses, jewelry, art, and more enticing stuff than I can name.  One of the things I like best here though is watching the many street performers.  We’ve heard talented singers, some with very unusual style and song.  We have heard and watched violinists, a musician playing a beautiful saxophone, another playing guitar, and we’ve seen a string quartet and more.  I wish I could share a sample of all these sounds.  I cannot help myself from stopping for just a few moments to listen to each one and appreciate their art.

Vila Nova de Gaia, our side of the river, is similar to the Porto side.  It has restaurants and shops but here on this river bank is where the famous port wine cellars and wine museums are found.  Point of interest:  Porto has absolutely nothing to do with Port wine.  All Port wine is grown and produced upriver in the Douro River Valley but it is aged here in Gaia in wine caves.  There is a story that explains it all.  In 1255, King D. Afonso III created Vila Nova de Gaia from Gaia, the small village located directly across the Douro River from Porto. His goal was to entice commercial trade away from Porto because only the Bishop and the Catholic Church were benefitting from the heavy taxes they levied on merchants and traders there.  Port wine traders gladly opened up their Port wine cellars in Gaia, much to the dismay of the Bishop of Porto.  They carved their cellars into the rocky hills which gave them an unexpected gift of access to ample water, humidity, and temperatures perfect for aging delicate Port wines.

On our walk back “home” we stopped to sample a glass of Port with a cod cake at lovely Casa Portuguesa do Pastel de Bavalhau in Gaia. Looking like a lovely, tall-ceilinged library, the attraction is the freshly made cod cakes filled with melted cheese and a sample of Port. At certain hours of the day a classically trained soloist and organist entertain the guests.

Tomorrow, we will stay on this side of the Douro and see both the historical and newer parts of Vila Nova de Gaia.  It will, without a doubt, be another up and downhill trek.