JUNE 30, 2018. WASHINGTON TO NEWARK TO PORTO
Emilia and Dave kindly took us to the airport a couple of hours early. Our flight was delayed half-hour at a time until it became clear that we should take an offered alternate flight. We finally caught a flight at what we thought would be at 7:45PM for a 30 minute flight, but which actually landed at Newark at 10:20. Fortunately, and unfortunately, the plane in Newark to Porto was just as late. We eventually got off the ground around 11:40-something, ate dinner around midnight and got whatever sleep we could. Joe woke me up 30 minutes out from Porto—I didn’t even hear breakfast. Got a last minute coffee and we touched down in Porto around 11:30 AM. Caught a cab with a very nice driver with whom we managed to communicate in a mix of Portuguese, Spanish and English. Arrived uneventfully to the Porto Sheraton. Room not ready, so walked in light drizzle to the restaurant recommended by the front desk Cufra, a busy place with white paper covers. Had a delicious meal of fish: me with a whole sea bass, and Joe with 4 whole fat sardines. Tons of food. An interesting green purée of undetermined veggies, cauliflower, carrots, salad and dense brown bread. Oh, yes and a Euro 6.5 bottle of Vinho Verde: a light white with a hint of effervescence. Delicious. Given that Joe isn’t drinking much, I almost polished off the bottle singlehandedly, and got back to the hotel with Joe’s help. Drunken bath, soccer on TV and not being able to stay awake. Then hour nap while Russia pulled off a surprise upset over Spain and sent them home, going to the knock-out round.
July 1, 2018. Porto
Slept 10+ hours; had breakfast in the hotel came back and cleaned up the room. Then out to see some of Porto. Took a cab to the old town and stopped at the statue of Henry the Navigator. We peeked into the Palace, then headed down to the water. Pretty, old river front. Walked up steep steps and eventually found the cathedral. Heavily guilted interior that looked like it needed some upkeep. Out on the plaza, we looked down again at the river and then walked to find a restaurant. We found a lovely, small place, Impar Flores, and had tapas of “Gambas with Garlic”, smoked salmon and a cheese plate. Another glass of white wine and a yummy caramel ice cream dessert. From there we grabbed a cab back to the hotel. The cab driver was streaming the Mexico-Brazil game on his phone. He was very nice, but English not so good. Back in the hotel and a rest. Decided to stay in the hotel for dinner and ended up waiting an hour after ordering linguine with bolognese and a calzone (which were very good once they finally arrived). While waiting, and waiting and waiting, we discussed plans for tomorrow. Joe brought up Fatima where 3 children had a visitation from the Virgin Mary and discovered it was about 2 hours away by car. Road trip! Back in the room, Joe got busy as only he can do and booked us a car. Very late to bed.
July 2, 2018. Porto
With no alarm we work up after 9 feeling beat and decided that an all-day field trip to Fatima was not in the cards after all. Joe in his wisdom had booked so there would be no penalty cancelling. So, another late breakfast. As we were leaving for more exploration of old Porto, we ran into our friends from Bethesda, Jean and Don who had just arrived. They decided to walk with us toward town. Don was pooped after their trip and they were hungry, so they stopped to eat about half way and we continued to retry to find the Livraria Lello, purported to have inspired J. K. Rowling’s vision for Hogwarts. Not so easy to find, but after several bumblings back and forth between paper map and GoogleMaps, we finally came upon a large crowd which led us to the line to get in. Not worth it. Proceeded up the street to the church of Carmo. We paid 2.50E each to see the “hidden house”, supposedly the narrowest in Porto, where clergy and guests stayed and worked. Entrance also included entrance into a smaller guilted version of the cathedral we had seen yesterday and then a tiny crypt that only held “silverware.” From there we walked down through a park and watched one of the quaint trolleys slowly pass through. Walking on down through the narrowing streets, we saw more evidence of what must have been quite a celebration of the birth of St. John (S. Joao). Neighborhood streets are festooned with red, white and blue garlands and other decorations. As we continued down toward the river we ran into the restaurant we had originally reserved for today, but cancelled due to our aborted plan for a road trip to Fatima. They had a table outside and we had a tasty and beautifully presented lunch with a good recommended red wine from the Dao region, which we will visit on the boat. After lunch we headed in another completely confused fashion to the Ponte Luis I. Eventually we walked across the bridge past a young man in swim trunks standing on the railing with a large crowd watching from the shore. Come to find out, he jumps for money while his buddy passes the hat. A very funny spectacle. Lots of teasing and waiting before the jump. We walked along the south side of the river past lots of kiosks selling nice stuff and kitsch. On the other side of the road are all the wineries that make and sell the famous Port wine. Back across the bridge we took the funicular up the steep, steep river bank, and fussed around again about how to get to the train station to catch a taxi. Before long, we just grabbed one off the street. Back in the hotel, we changed, rested a little, then went down to get our Santana tour packet from Jan where we ran into other acquaintances from previous trips. Off to a nearby grocery store where we bought sushi for dinner in the room with the England-Colombia soccer game. Tomorrow the McCready Madness begins with a chaotic guided/unguided tour of the city before embarking on our boat.
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