Day 33 – Porto

Raining, raining, raining – we take a ride on the top of a tourist bus and wind around the city, across the bridge and port 'caves' area. All rather fascinating. Some observations: old women wearing short frilly aprons, the short stature of many Portuguese people, lots of young people smoking, prayer gatherings and marches, the food all seems to be yellow coloured, there is graffiti absolutely everywhere...


Around noon we return to the hotel to wait for the arrival of Rose from Germany. Now Alan has three wives instead of just the two!


Back down in the port area we take a tour on the Douro River under the five bridges which span various parts of the city. As we pass under one of the highest bridges I joke with Rose about hearing the splash of a jumper from the bridge. Less than a minute later my joke is in actual fact a grim reality. Just as we have passed under the bridge a man has jumped but we are all looking forward at the scenery ahead and don't see him. The captain of our ship stops the boat and circles around looking for the body, police boats speed to the scene, sirens sound along the roadways. When it becomes obvious no body is going to surface our tour continues. We are all quiet for a while.


Back at the port we have a quick bite before heading over the bridge to the port lodges. We visit Graham's for a wine tour and port tasting. Alan buys a bottle of the 10-year old tawny.


Food critic Sue describes our dinner experience:


“Deciding to eat off the tourist track we choose a restaurant up a side street. The waiter is a character and steers us through the menu. Once again we stick to a seafood theme. After Alan's grass soup he and I have octopus, which is is rather unusually served as a tentacle curled on the plate, and in my opinion a bit tasteless. Lee has seafood rice and Rose cod brago with 'blown' potatoes. Dessert is the highlight of the meal – after being shown the dessert menu we are told there is nothing available apart from pineapple or orange with port. The pineapple is plucked from the display on the counter, sliced and served with ruby port.”