Ralph and Karen's Tours

Sailing through the beautifully calm waters of the Douro towards the Atlantic Ocean, the riverside scenery takes a change.

Up until now both river banks have been filled with gorgeous green vineyards and steep (really steep) hills heading ever upwards. However as we approach the cities of Porto and Gaia that landscape changes to a more forest like outlook with more settled villages along the river.

A couple more locks assist the changing dammed water levels and it is always fascinating to see this process work so very simply.

Arriving into the riverside cities of Porto (North side) and Gaia (South side) is really very pretty. Both cities are linked across the Douro via a series of sensational bridges, some designed by Gustav Eiffel, he of the Tower fame.

The city of Porto was made a UNESCO site in 1996 due to its significant location in terms of the Portuguese trade scene.

Perched on the side of the riverbank, the streets are steep, narrow and cobble stoned with residential areas right in the middle of this gorgeous old town.

The population is around 250,000 making Porto the second city in Portugal behind Lisbon and probably the most pretty city in the country

Pastel toned buildings along the Riberia district and up into the hills, the city has prospered on the back of the ever increasing wine tourist market. And they are so appreciative of the new found notoriety.

As a result there is a lot of construction work going on building light rail systems, new bridges and accommodation houses – all in keeping with the traditional designs and themes.

Day and night locals and tourists alike walk and sit shoulder to shoulder in the many riverfront plazas, bars and cafes or just walk enjoying the beautiful spring nights.

On the “other” side of the River, Gaia is the fresh new brother to the worldly older Porto. Gaia has a larger population – around 300,000 – but falls under Porto’s Municipality. Accommodation is cheaper in Gaia as there are no UNESCO building codes to deal with.

Each day residents cross one of the bridges to work and play on either side of the river.

Gaia is also the location where all of the Port Houses and cellar doors have set up, perched on a hill overlooking Porto and the Douro out towards the Atlantic Ocean.

Back over in Porto we explored the old narrow streets and laneways, and found the Railway station that has to be seen to be believed.

The foyer is lined with floor to ceiling ceramic frescoes depicting the history of Portugal through the wars.

In the evening we were fortunate to visit the beautiful

Of Stock Exchange Building that now operates basically as the Porto Chamber of commerce for a private traditional Portuguese musical recital called Fado

The building itself is just opulent, and then the performance of Fado – which is historically a very sad style of music – was just beautiful.

And the three piece guitar troup with the soulful female singer just kept us mesmerised for an hour or so ….

And afterwards they provided a sumptuous supper with all kinds of Portuguese traditional snacks and drinks. what a night.

A fresh day saw us head into Gaia and we caught the Cable Car from the river to the top of one of the many bridges for magnificent views over the river and both towns.

We walked across the bridge and had some of the best views we’ve had all week. Just gorgeous seeing how lovely the riverfront and the river itself is at any time of the day.

We found our way to o e of the older Port Houses in the region called Taylor’s not to be confused with the Australian winery of the same name.

This is a Port wine house that was founded in 1692 and churns out goodness knows how many bottles of this golden nectar annually.

We had a lovely private guided tour of the processing plant and storage facility learning along the way how and why they make their thee varieties of port wine – White, Ruby including Vintage and Tawny.

Some of these ports are aged in these oak barrels for up to 90 years. Wow!

Of course then it was time for the obligatory tasting session.

While the white port was ok, the ruby vintage 2020 was very good but the 20 year old Tawny was a match winner !

And so we bought some 🙄 – we are now questioning how we are going to get all of our wine and port and olive oil purchases home. Haha. That’s a tomorrow problem.

What a day ! A fabulous and beautiful day.

Back to the ship to start preparing for disembarkation and how to pack our bottles of produce 😬

A final farewell from the magnificent cruise director and Ship Captain before a beautiful last dinner.

And then a surprise from the Skipper when he announced he was going to take one last spin up the river after sunset so we could see the riverside towns in all of their night time glory. How good !

And it was better than good

I can’t think of a better way to end this magnificent Douro River Cruise.

A good night sleep and an early’ish limo pick up to get us to the airport for our flights to Bangkok where we will spend a few days before home.

So the end of another River Cruise with the brilliant APT Travel Group and I’m sure it won’t be our last.

Blending a week or ten days on board one of these luxury all inclusive five star floating hotels is just the perfect way to build a holiday.

ANd to think a few years ago I’d never even contemplated it.

Thanks to APT for making this happen for us.

Sad to be at the end of it but so glad to have had the opportunity to experience this amazing holiday – from our arrival in Madrid and our road trip in the South right until now – it’s been real.