Portugal: Porto and Pinhao. We had an easy flight from London to the Portugal city of Porto. Porto is located in the northern region of Portugal. It is a thriving modern city with a beautiful historic district located on the Douro River. We arrived at our hotel which was located right in the heart of the historic district which was perfect for exploring. All the sights were within walking distance. The only issue was that all of Porto was uphill. Or up stairs. Including our room which was on the fourth floor with no elevator so we got our workout! Upon arrival, we were starving and the hotel manager directed us down to a restaurant on the waterfront. We ordered roasted veal and when it arrived, it was a bit of heaven. By far the best meal we have had so far. After a good night’s sleep, we headed toward a bookstore I wanted to see that was advertised as the “most beautiful bookstore in the world”. I tend to geek out on bookstores so I was looking forward to a quiet visit. Not to be. Evidently, the bookstore is one of the top sights to see in Porto and people were everywhere. After attempting to figure out their online ticket ordering without success, which line we were supposed to wait in with no success and what the overall process was supposed to be, we gave up. We went for gelato instead so we will just have to live knowing that we will never see the most beautiful bookstore in the world! We spent the day exploring cathedrals, castles and amazing architecture. I apologize that the pictures won’t be labeled well but after awhile, all the buildings blend together and I can’t recall their names! After exploring Porto, we hopped on a train and headed out to the Douro Valley which is the region of the world where port wine is made. I generally do not like wine but quickly discovered that I do like port. In the small town of Pinhao, there were at least 30 wineries so we thought we would have an easy time getting on a tour. Not so. After several attempts to schedule online, we decided to walk to one of the wineries and had luck getting an afternoon tour and tasting. We learned all about how this particular winery made their wines and ports. They were a small winery and they still stomped the grapes! They had 10 men that would show up at harvest time and stomp the grapes for 4 HOURS nonstop! On the second day, they would stomp for 3 hours and then 2 hours on the last day. The guide said that their feet would be a lovely shade of red for months after the harvest stomping! We also did another tasting in town and we preferred those ports to the ones at the winery. Bill decided it was probably because of the stinky feet residue! We have had a difficult time finding “real” food in Pinhao. Since the town runs on port, most of the restaurants serve meat and cheese boards instead of a complete meal. We love meat and cheese boards but after having them for the past two days, we are ready for a real meal! We leave tomorrow morning for Lisbon via a 6 hour train ride so we are looking forward to a quiet day with some beautiful scenery. Ratings for Northern Portugal Overall: 7.5 Points of interest: 6 Ease of communication: 9 Ease of transportation: 8 Friendly people: 8 Food: 7 (a little lower due to difficult to find full meals outside of Porto) Cost of living: 8 Weather: 9 (finally had a day of showers!) Bill’s favorite thing: Bishop House/ Porto Cathedral Sally’s favorite thing: Architecture and beautiful tiles So, bill here again, with a few more random thoughts.. First up, something very few people we know will or may ever experience. Visual pollution.. Spending most of our time in the islands, where signs are just not in use.. At least govt issued streets signs etc.. when we return to the states, or in this case london, there is a sign for something every 50 feet.. After a while it really becomes quite a distraction. The us is bad about it, and london/england is the us on steroids.. Its just messy.. Its as if no one can find his ass with out a govt sign.. Next up: more road stuff: cobblestones, england purports to have lots of them, plymouth even touts itself as having the greatest concentration of them in england, well, neither of those has shit on porto portugal.. Every street and sidewalk in the historic zone is cobbled.. With so many of them, someone finally got smart, and they are all approx 4” cubes of granite.. Most of the streets are straightforward and lots of curves and designs on the sidewalks.. But lots, and i mean millions upon millions of them, everywhere. Perhaps you can tell from some of sallys pics.. This does make repairs fairly easy,, just remove the bad ones and replace with new ones.. And last today. A tirade against a man and his ideology…Karl Marx is buried in londons highgate cemetery. He was in a smaller grave, but then they moved him and gave him the largest ‘tombstone’ on the eastern side of the cemetery..sally has posted a pic.. It absolutely disgusts me that anyone would celebrate this assholes life.. From everything i have read, he was a useless rotten human being and father.. Rarely holding a steady job and interacting with his family.. The marxist philosophy is directly and indirectly responsible for millions of deaths in the 20th century, see, hitler, stalin, mao, and pol pot to name a few, its also responsible for impoverishing hundreds of millions more.. And is the seed that sprouted the evil -isms that caused this.. Sad to see that his history is celebrated at all and glorified by many these days, even here in the states.. He should be buried under a rock in some nondescript place, rotting in the dustbin of history instead of looked up to at all. All for now,..
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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