Here we are on our long postponed due to Covid cruise on the Douro River in Portugal, We flew in on Lufthansa from SEA to Frankfurt, then to Porto. The overseas portion of the flight was miserable as we were in the bulkhead seats and could not access our carryon luggage. My feet didn’t reach the floor and the foot rest really didn’t provide much help. And then there is the misery of Frankfurt Airport with the shuttle busses from the plane to the terminal. The flight from Frankfurt to Porto was only 3 hours and much more pleasant,
First impression of Porto was - WOW what a lot of graffiti! There is a stunning mix of old and new buildings and some of the old ones are in horrible shape. Overall though, a charming city on the Atlantic. Our boat is very nice and the staff is wonderful, Our cabin is tiny with a small upper window so we spend most of our tine in the lounge. Dinner was fabulous. I had gyozia with”Chinese sweet chilly sauce”. As Matt would say, you know what they meant. Desserts are a forte and the Portuguese love their bread. The bar is wonderful with anything you can imagine. I had a port Negroni which was yummy.
The next day (Monday) we did a brief tour of Porto with a guided tour of the ornate Chamber of Commerce building, a trip to the seashore and a ride around town with it’s multiple bridges. Porto is on one side of the Duoro and Gaia on the other. In the afternoon we cruised up the river and saw a lot of homes, small farms but very few birds. It is quite green here but the weather is in the 50s and overcast with occasional rain showers. A lot like Port Angeles. Dinner was lamb shank with was huge with red cabbage and crisp polenta. Dessert banana splits. Went through 2 locks on the river. Tomorrow is Caldas de Aregos.
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