Keeping in touch with George and Shelly: Post Camino Wanderings: Porto, Portugal.

The Riverfront in Porto.

Well, we have completed the Camino. Having lanced a painful, infected blister, my foot pain level was returning to tolerable. Shelly and I now prepared to leave Santiago and tour through Portugal and Southern Spain. First stop: Porto, Portugal.

We left Santiago via bus and headed south, traveling through fine looking, wooded countryside. Eventually, we came to the outskirts of Porto, which turned out to be very vast, indeed. Our bus stopped at the airport, then it was another rather unremarkable 45 minutes to an hour to get to the center of town!

The square just outside our hotel.

Thanks to Booking.com, we had a decent room in the center of old Porto. Believe me, that's where you want to be. The newer parts of town aren't all that fascinating. The old town has lots of interesting old architecture and sights to see.

A parade of students!

One afternoon, when we were getting something to eat at an outdoor cafe in the square pictured above, we witnessed a giant gathering of college kids taking part in some sort of public ceremony. As I understand it, these were underclassmen who now attained the right to become upperclassmen, signified by the donning of a robe. So all these kids were marching through the square along a sort of parade route, whooping it up. I think there might have been some drinking occurring, too! Anyway, that provided us with some entertainment while we enjoyed our dinner.

Blue painted tile is a traditional decoration in Porto.

Old Porto.

Porto is set on the Douro River, and the Douro wine region is to the east. This is a very old wine-making region and has led to the creation of a unique product, Port Wine.

It so happens that Porto is where Port wine was developed. The English, way back in the late 1600's, needed to insure a steady supply of good wine, due to sketchy relations with the French. They came to their ally, Portugal and developed the fortified wine we now call Port. I never cared much for Port before I became educated about it here! We visited a few Port "Lodges" and toured one, Taylor's. and enjoyed some samples. I found my favorite was Taylor's "Late Bottled Vintage", (LBV).