Porto
Layover
After a solid nights sleep I thought I had woken up too late to take pictures of the sunrise through the old Porto bridge. Thats what the iPad told me. I thought, oh well, I’ll just have to go back to sleep then :-). Sadly it was an hour earlier (my phone was correct) and I could make it. I’m only here once (well twice but after 30 years) so I decided to pack my cameras into the bag and set off.
I crept out of the boat, so as not to wake the others, and set off. As I was leaving the marina I saw the e-scooters that they have here. It was about a 40 minute walk to the port for the photography so I was very tempted! As I walked along I downloaded the app to learn more about it. It shows you where they are and I could see one on route and loads near the Port warehouses, so maybe later?
As I walked along, I could see dawn starting to lighten the sky down river. I was carrying my Sony A7 which takes great low light pictures, so I got a few photos in as I strolled along. There were a few people out and about on the boardwalk that runs the whole length of the river bank here. I uttered my best “Bon dia” as they passed and generally got a response. Some were walking, some were jogging in the cool of the morning and some were fishing. There are always a lot of people fishing, whether we were in France, Spain or Portugal.
I got to my vantage point for the bridge and settled down for the sunrise. It was a well timed walk I must say. I reeled off a few score photos and then went to see if I could see any more e-scooters. I had been watching the road traffic as I had been sitting there. The road is a bit narrow and winds along the river bank and the traffic is a bit quick and not always on the correct side of the road. I wimped out and decided to walk back. Maybe later.
The sun was rising behind me and the road was starting to come to life with commuters, joggers, refuse collectors. Could I have got on one of those scooters? Maybe later. I passed by an really old Bedford truck on the way.
I eventually got back to the boat, Marcello was on the phone to Theresa (back in Oz) so I had a quick chat. She kindly mentioned the blog. Then onto the boat to plough through the 150 photos I had just taken.
Lukas washed the boat deck down and Liv made a veggie curry for our next voyage tomorrow. Marco was looking at the weather for the next week .. guess what … pretty shit. We will have to do a run down the coast to beat it.
I booked my flight home yesterday. A week Saturday. Is it possible to really look forward to something but still want the journey to continue? I think it is.
The others were keen to go and walk around the city. As I had already done 10,000 steps I didn’t want to go. I chilled on board and agreed to meet up with them when we go to visit a Port Cellar, Churchills at about 5pm. We get a free tour and tasting as we are staying at the marina :-).
So, as I decided to set off to Churchill’s and I was going to try the scooter. All the scooters at the marina had gone. This was a bit dissapointng so checking the app I could see a few on route. So I set off and found one next to some flats with a nice smooth walk way for me to practice on. The app worked well, a list of Ts and Cs as long as your arm in Portuguese, but with caution cast to the wind I fired up the app, paid my €10 and had a few practice runs. It was surprisingly easy. A little knob for the right thumb to control the speed, and a brake on the left. The speed was a bit binary but hey ho onto the road I went. I was very conscious about traffic coming up behind me. Only one car passed me and as I got near to the Port Houses I saw my 3 crew mates. Obviously, I had to get them to video it.
After dropping the scooter off at an appropriate parking place we went into the Port House.
We were given a glass of water and then some wine to taste. A lovely tour of the massive barrels and store rooms. It is quite a small port house. It was free with the marina fees; we tasted a white port, a ruby and a tawny and then a vintage port; we bought a couple of bottles. Marco bought a special little vintage bottle for us to celebrate getting to Lagos…. when we get there.
While we were there, the UK government announced that everyone returning from Portugal would have to quarantine for two weeks. C’est La vie, at least it means me getting off in Spain didn’t have a negative impact.
We had talked about all getting an e-scooter back, but after that amount of port, we thought we had better walk back to the marina.
We stopped at another lovely restaurant in Gaia with a view if the setting sun. Marco and I shared a massive mixed fish platter. Not quite sure what was on it but there was a lot!
Viv and Lukas shared some salmon and a chicken kebab. All washed down with a generous carafe of vinho caseiro.
And then completed the short walk back to the marina.
On the way back the others pointed out to me the communal clothes washing facilities. You can see the pools of water with the stones to scrub the clothes on and outside the poles, almost placed haphazardly and strung with ropes to dry the clothes. Gaia is an interesting place. If you are ever in Porto I recommend it. The fish tastes very fresh, and well grilled (the best way for fish) on the plancha, always just a short distance from you on the street or the side of a building.
Every time I saw an e-scooter I was getting quite keen to get on again. When we got to the marina car park, there was one there . So I fired it up on the app and we all had a go. To make it work you had to have my phone on you, which was impressive. The toilets are a little bit of a long way , so I rode it there and back to somewhere closer to the marina to park.
It wasn’t that late, so the others went off for a shower, I grabbed a beer and rang Sue. We chatted for a bit, except Marco as he needs his sleep.
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