Once again ... 7:30 am trip to the espresso machine to retrieve macchiatos back to the room, quick stop at the restaurant for berry yogurt and a cup of coffee, then onto the bus at 8:30 for the (last) morning tour. We rode the busses to the top of the hill where we could look out and see the entire city of Porto.
The iconic steel bridge between Porto and Gaia looked beautiful as usual this morning.
From the viewpoint of the cathedral of Porto we were able to look down into the communities. One thing that has gained our attention is how many of these historic buildings are dilapidated and totally falling apart. Under the UNESCO historic restrictions, the outer façade of the building must be maintained in its original form. It can be repaired and renovated, but it must maintain the same look and feel as the original building. Individuals and local governments spend much money on programs to restore these buildings. The interiors can be fully modernized, but the task is difficult due to the narrow and strange footprints of many of these buildings.
We toured the cathedral.
Like the others we have visited in France and Portugal, the interior is overwhelming and beautiful. Here the amount of gold leaf everywhere you looked is staggering.
Our next stop was the train station which is famous for its tile murals. The tiles tell the story of the region, its industries, its people, and its modes of transportation through time.
Things are not always historically accurate, as illustrated by this street art of a cat peeking around a building.
We walked from the cathedral back to the river, stopping to do a little shopping along the way. Once at the river we took a river taxi to get back to our ship on the Gaia side when it was time for lunch.
Alice has once again drunk a ship dry!!!! To complement our fish and chips we ordered a German Dunkel beer from the Food and Beverage Director, who then disappeared. We sent the bar manager looking for him to see what happened. Just like on our Norwegian cruise where Alice emptied the ship of Norwegian amber, it appears she is about to that again on this ship. They had apparently ran out in the dining room and he sent people to look for the last two bottles that were upstairs in the bar. We laughed about it and he suggested we may want to notify our next ship in advance to order a couple cases extra so they will be prepared for her 😏.
This afternoon we just had to walk across the pier to our final excursion, a tour of the cellars of Ferreira, a major port producer. There facility covers much of the hillside where they age hundreds of thousands of liters of port wine in oak barrels and casks. The company was created in 1751.
The historic buildings that make up the winery are connected by roofs built over what use to be the roads that went between the buildings.
Besides being a working winery it is a museum of the lives of the Ferreira family including the matriarch of the family, Dona. She can be associated with much of the philanthropy and community service of Porto. Exhibits included many of the letters and production records of the winery dating back to its beginning.
A 3-D map of the Douro Valley provided a good background for discussing the production and logistics of winemaking in the region.
The tour ended with a tasting of some of their finest ports: a white port, a ruby port, and a vintage tawny port. We have tasted several ports during our voyage, and these were some of the best. Like us, these wines just keep getting better with time.
We are now back in our cabin packing our suitcases. We have a farewell reception at 6:30, dinner at 7, and then we will attempt to get a couple hours sleep before we have to put our bags out at 2:45 am and depart at 3. While it has been a fantastic trip, we are ready to come home and see our children and grandsons.
See you all back in the Pacific Northwest!
Daily Step Count: 9,280 steps including walking all the way through Porto and touring Ferreira.
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