Oporto

After arriving in Porvo de Varzim and spending a day doing the washing I decide to reward myself with a day trip to Oporto. By Train - only 6 Euro return in a very modern Metro. The line runs to the station at Trinadade which is in the North of the city. Up the bank, by up I mean UP. Oporto is in a steep sided, high sided river valley. The port warehouses are across the river on the South side. I do my usual trick of just walking about - not quite aimlessly as I know to go to the river. This exposes me to the ambience of the place.



 Signs of the British influence perhaps, though it has no door, it being hot, damned hot in the Summer here

 hills
 hills

 down
 down
 down
 and I get to the river, the port warehouses have signs on them which I can see! there are about a dozen different warehouses though I am most intimately familiar with Taylors, Cockburns, Dows and Grahams.
 Having got to the river using my innate sense of direction I then panic thinking I have to climb back up again to use the bridge - but there is a lower deck, thank God.
 Lovely boats, I see video of men rowing bigger ones of these in the tour later on.
The buildings are superb
 Then I climb the hill and enter the Cockburns warehouse - they arrange an english tour in 30 minutes and I browse their little museum
 There commercial manager wrote this little ditty - to promote the drinking of Port!
 Actually Cockburns advertising through the twentieth century has been excellent - funny
And then Filipe gives me a personal tour. A most excellent guide who not only knows his stuff but has a real genuine passion for Port. Currently training as a Civil Engineer but he must soon decide what path his career must take. We talk engineering stuff as I am most interested in the coopering of barrels. Is it still an optimum design? I think so. Cockburns is the only warehouse with an active coopering section (6 men)
 No bevel on the edges which is interesting (to me)
 Where it all happens, pity I came on a Saturday
Lots of Port. Ruby is kept in the big barrels, Tawny is put into smaller barrels on the right. Interesting discussion follows on ratios of surface area to volume and the differences in evaporation between the two.
 Are you thirsty yet
 The tasting! Cockburns only make one white port "fine white" which I really like, so sweet it is like a desert wine but stronger! I dislike the Tawny Ports in that they resemble sherry, which is ok, but you are better to find a sherry you like. The special reserve Ruby is superb, I buy a bottle of this and the fine white for the boat!
 And homeward bound. I had though to visit the Design museum but it is 5 miles away and I am missing my afternoon sleep. I also have a long climb ahead of me to get back to the Metro (I could have used a different Metro line but I opt to see more of the city - well worth a city break in my opinion.
 Yes but who waters the flowers?

 Inside the (main) train station - not the Metro.
I cheated here, this church is actually in Varzim. it is amazing.

That's all for now. tomorrow I move South again - to Leixoes where I hope to anchor for a day or two. The route to Lisbon involves 4 or 5 stops all 30 miles apart, though I need to enter some of them on a rising tide near high water.

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