pass the porto, please.
It’s important to note that Porto and London are in the same timezone. I, however, assumed that Porto was in the same timezone as Bordeaux - hence, I arrived an hour earlier than I had expected, which meant my shuttle was an hour after I arrived. I would suggest always checking the timezone before you travel. In Porto, I stayed at Casa do Conto, which I highly recommend. Even though it was a 10 minute walk from the downtown area, I opted for a relaxing evening in after an afternoon of traveling.
The next morning I sipped an espresso on my balcony overlooking the garden, after which I had breakfast at the hotel. I checked out of the hotel around 11 and wandered to the old part of town. First and foremost, I bought my ticket for the train. A train ticket to Regua (2 hours away) was only 10 euros! I wandered around the windy streets of Porto, most of which are cobblestone. Note: it’s not that easy to pull your suitcase along cobblestone roads.
Going to a restaurant by myself is not something that comes naturally to me. But I am learning [one because I must eat and two because well it’s good for me to be outside of my comfort zone]. I had lunch at a little restaurant, Grow Food House, that had a few tables outside for coffee. I sat in the window and watched as people walked by. I opted for the raviolis and a glass of white wine. The waitress brought me some bread and Portuguese olive tapenade which was delicious. The raviolis came two ways - two were made from beetroot, and three were fried/baked dough. Both were equally scrumptious. After devouring the entire plate, I sipped an espresso before heading to the train.
Once on the train, I settled into a window seat, ready to watch the countryside fly by. After two stops, we switched trains. Not because we were scheduled to, but because there must have been a problem. Note: I don’t speak Portuguese, so when everyone started to move, I crossed my fingers that I was getting on the right train. Thankfully, it was. There had been a number of fires in Portugal as well, so you could see the burn marks across the landscape as we rolled by. Once in Regua, we drove up into the hills to get a view of the region - everywhere you look, there are vineyards, terraced across hills with little villages popping up here and there.
I stayed at Quinta do Tedo with family friends and was able to see their facilities through a tour and tasting. What’s amazing to me is that they still paint some of their bottles by hand! And they plow by horse! His name is Tedo, after the river that runs along the property. I slept in a house at the top of the property, which meant I wandered through the vineyards down to the winery for my meals. Peaceful is the only way to describe it. What I love about this region is that there are olive trees alongside the vineyards - creates an idyllic setting.
One afternoon, we went to Regua, where I wandered around to find an espresso. When planning a trip, I suggest trying to find destinations with similar climates - London was rather chilly, but Portugal was quite warm. Needless to say, I did not have quite the right clothes for a warm climate, thus there was some schvitzing in Regua during my walkabout.
There are two roads that run along the Douro River (one on either side), and there is a definite difference. Quinta do Tedo is on the more frequently traveled since and thus the road has two lanes. The other side - not so much. We found this out when we ventured to the other side in search of good lighting for photos. The drive was quite hysterical - I was essentially crossing my fingers that we didn’t run into another car at certain parts - the good news is there isn’t much traffic there. And it was worth it.
