Porto & the Douro Valley

This week's adventure took us up north to the Douro Valley - the primary wine-growing region of northern Portugal.

The Douro River begins in Spain and runs 557 miles through Portugal to Porto. The Douro Valley surrounds the river and is made up of terraced vineyards, cherry orchards, olive groves, little villages, and beautiful views - everywhere!

We took the train from Porto to Régua for a five hour cruise down the river.

I can’t imagine how hard it must be to farm land these steep hills — but there are quite a few people who have been doing so for centuries!

Our cruise also included a delicious lunch.

(We were told that the wine was also very good.😁)

There are five locks on the Douro River. We went through two.

Once back in Porto, we spent the next 24 hours revisiting some favorite sites from our Christmas visit in 2019.

Most photographs of Porto show the city as you view it from across the river. Tall, rectangular buildings in pastel shades line up along the water’s edge, and terracotta roofs gradually slope up the hill. This is the Ribeira district, where, years ago, goods shipped along the river were unloaded for transportation across the city.

Statue of John the Baptist in the Praça da Ribeira.

São Bento Railway Station is Porto’s answer to Grand Central. Built in 1903, it’s still a busy working station, but there’s more to it than timetables and tracks.

Back to the Livaria Lello - the 'Harry Potter' bookstore - with its beautiful red carpeted curvaceous wooden staircase.

(The most beautiful bookstore I've ever been to, for sure!!)

One thing that Porto beats its eternal rival Lisbon for is bridges. Porto presently has six bridges across the River Douro whereas the capital has just two spanning the River Tagus.

We didn't, but you could, hop on board one of Porto’s 100 year old vintage trams. 

(We can do that in Lisbon, after all.)

One place we didn't tour in 2019 was the inside of the Church of Carmo. It is one of the oldest churches in Porto. Besides the church itself, we saw the Hidden House (the narrowest house in the city), the catacombs, a museum and many relics of Christianity.

More churches in a city full of churches.

Back to the most beautiful McDonald's in the world. The food is still the same - for better or for worse - but they do also serve soup.

As appealing as the McDonald's menu was, we opted to return to our favorite restaurant in Porto - RC Restaurante. 

This is the Moov Hotel where we stayed.

Ahhhh, Porto, thanks for a wonderful weekend! 

You didn't disappoint.

Church of Santa Engrácia “Igreja de Santa Engrácia”

 

After seeing this massive white dome overlooking the city for months, we finally decided it was time for a visit.

(Hey, I even made my own sketch of the dome on the hill!)

 The Church of Saint Engrácia was built in 1682, but became the National Pantheon in 1916. Its large dome was only completed in 1966, making it the monument that took the longest to complete in all of Portugal. There’s even an expression in the country for something that takes forever -- “a job like St. Engrácia.”

The interior was inspired by St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and is covered by polished multicolored marble. 

The church was never actually used as a place of worship. 

There is no main altar like a church, but there is a pipe organ in the center of the front that is said to have been built in the 18 century. Apparently it was brought in from Lisbon Cathedral.

Some of Portugal’s most famous citizens are buried here.

 

A highlight of the visit was taking in the magnificent view of the city and the Tagus River from the rooftop terrace.

I'm glad we hiked up the hill to visit Santa Engrácia.😁