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.