by Jim Bellomo | Nov 5, 2024 | Uncategorized
Whew! We are home, but to be honest, I am still having a hard time remembering what day it is. Hopefully, I will get over that soon. Jet lag is pretty much over, but real life is intruding into my travel life. It’s so much fun (sarcasm here) getting home to more than 200 emails I had been just throwing into a folder in Mail to be read when we were home. Now, I have to read them and respond to them. I want to go on vacation again.
Our trip home was pretty decent. The airports got the wheelchair stuff for Kathleen correct this time. British Airways surprised us with two decent Indian meals on two flights. We stayed overnight at a Terminal 5 hotel (Sofitel) and found that we liked the Terminal 3 hotel (Hilton Garden Inn) we had stayed in last June a lot better. Our flight was on time, our luggage showed up quickly, we looked at the camera in passport control, and we were out of there in less than 15 minutes from when we got off the plane. Our Welcome Pickups guy grabbed us, and with the light traffic after 7:00, we were home in no time. Kathleen was off to bed. I got the mail, watched the Dodgers win the World Series and then hit the hay. A good end to a great trip.
Madrid
Going back to the very beginning, we liked Madrid a lot. We stayed at the Hotel Preciados in downtown. As you may recall, we toured for three full days: one in Toledo (our best day), one in Segovia (another great day), and one in Madrid itself, which could have been better. Read all about those in previous posts. The summary of Madrid was that we had a great time, and we’ve now been there and done that. It’s now crossed off our list, and we won’t be going back. A nice city, but it was no Edinburgh or Amsterdam for us—but we are glad we visited once.
Lisbon with Viking
The next stop was Lisbon before our Douro River cruise. As soon as we got there, we met Marianne, who was amazing. She was not only the person directing our pre-cruise stay in Lisbon but also the Program Director on our entire river cruise. She proved to be one of the best parts of the whole 10 days we spent with Viking. Her laugh, her sense of humor and the fact that she was always UP and always FUN made her someone we will remember for quite a while. More about Marianne later.
Sadly, as you have read, when we were touring Lisbon with Viking, Fatima, the worst guide I have ever experienced, ruined the entire experience for me. Not only would she not shut up, but she insulted me, too.
Our Douro River Cruise
OK, this is what you have been waiting for—how was the cruise? In a quick word, it was awesome. We love river cruising. We really didn’t discover how much we liked it with our Christmas Market cruise on the Danube last winter because it was so darned cold. So, if you have done a Christmas Market cruise, go back and do a warm weather cruise like the Douro and see what you missed.
One of my absolute favorite things about this cruise was seeing the cruise. By that, I mean that on our Danube cruise, most of the movement on the river was accomplished either at night when we were asleep or during the day when we were on an excursion. My absolute favorite part of our Douro River cruise was sailing on the river. I think I mentioned in a previous post that I could do this cruise again and never get off the ship. Seriously, my favorite days were the ones where we spent the majority of the time sailing on the river and watching Portugal go by.
Shore Excursions
Don’t get me wrong, the shore excursions were just fine. If I had to rate them, I would put Salamanca, Spain as #1 because it was like going back to what Europe used to be in the early 2,000s before over-tourism started. I also enjoyed the short visit to Castelo Rodrigo. I mean, the castle was nice, but the best part was that it was brief. We sailed most of the day and then did about a three-hour excursion to a somewhat interesting place. Probably my third favorite was the second half of our first day when we visited the Mateus Palace. What snoozer. But the second half of the day was to visit the Sandeman winery, where they make their wonderful port wine, and be shown around by a guide who really knew what she was talking about and made the tour fun. That was it. The rest of the days, the excursion was either blah (Favios), or we didn’t go (Lamego).
The ship/boat
I really have yet to spend any time discussing the ship itself. Unlike the Viking Longship, we sailed on the Danube, the Douro River boats (you can put a boat on a ship, but you can’t put a ship on a boat, and I think you could put a Douro River boat on a big ocean-going vessel) are smaller due to the smaller locks they must get through. So, instead of carrying up to 190 passengers like the Danube boats do, the Douro River boats carry a maximum of 106, and ours only had 99. That makes so much difference. It’s much more intimate. You get to know most of the crew because there are only 36 of them. And they all do all sorts of jobs. One of our favorite people onboard was Mitra. His official title (on his name tag) said, “Bar Chef.” He was the best bartender on board, and he really kept things going in the lounge. But he was also the sommelier in the dining room and helped out waiting on tables or restocking the buffet as well. Our favorite server in the dining room, Ovi, not only served us dinner but also was the crew member who walked us to our stateroom on embarkation to show us how everything worked. She often worked in the lounge serving drinks. The lady got around.
Embarkation/Disembarkation
Speaking of embarkation…those of you who have suffered through a three-hour embarkation as we did in May 2023 to get on Koningsdam in Vancouver or anything like it will LOVE embarkation on a river cruise. Especially this one. Since we had spent two days with Viking in Lisbon before we boarded the boat, they had everyone on one of four “luxury motor coaches,” and they staggered their morning departures, which meant that each of the “luxury motor coaches” made it to the ship about 15 to 20 minutes apart. So when we arrived, we went up the gangway, and they asked us our names. We were escorted (us by Ovi) to our stateroom, and our luggage arrived minutes later.
Disembarkation was just as efficient. We were given a list of when every stateroom would be getting off (we had been asked in advance how we would be leaving the ship) and told to put our big luggage out in the hallway outside our rooms 15 minutes before we would get off. Then, at our appointed time, we got up and got off. Simple as that. It really pays to be on a smaller boat.
Our stateroom
Our stateroom was a suite. There, I said it. We splurged and booked a suite. It wasn’t that much more, but it got us some things we really wanted. The first was an actual extra room. We had both a living room and a bedroom. Not to mention a walk-in closet and a smallish bath (smaller than on our Danube cruise). So when I would wake up really early, I could sit in the living room and work on photos or on a new post without waking up Kathleen or needing to get completely dressed and go to the lounge.
The other reason we LOVED this suite was…free laundry. Yes, folks, we could send out as much laundry as we wanted, and it was included. On our Danube cruise, we had sent out a few things because we had already been in Lisbon for a few days, and then we did Prague and Nuremberg as a pre-cruise extension, so when we got on, we needed to have some things washed. But the prices were OFF THE CHARTS! As I recall, I got one pair of jeans, two pairs of socks, and two shirts, and it cost me $20. On Viking Torgil, we got to the ship with lots of dirty laundry from four days in Madrid, two nights in Lisbon and a single suitcase each. We immediately sent out all our dirty laundry (they gave us two really nice-sized bags to send it out in) and had it back early the next day. From that point on, I pretty much sent out laundry every day. Whatever I wore the day before, send it out! And it got to the point where it would come back on the same day.
If you would like to see photos of the suite, you may have to wait. I suddenly realized when we got home that I had never really taken any pictures of the suite. I had a couple (the bedroom and bathroom) but missed the living room. But never fear; you will be able to see a whole bunch soon because Mike and Cathy had the same type of suite we did, and Mike always does an awesome job of taking ship/boat/stateroom photos. His review of the cruise with all those photos should be out soon (HEY MIKE—is the review done yet? ?). When it is done, I will post about it, and you can find it right here at www.thepreismans.com. In the meantime, here are a few photos I took of our room.
The bedroom.
The bathroom
The shower. Smaller than on their ocean ships.
Our walk in closet
The Food
Everyone wants to know about the food on a cruise. We have found that Viking does a “fine” job of food on its ocean and river cruises. By that, we mean we like the food. It’s not gourmet, and it doesn’t hold a candle to Oceania. But our most memorable meals on this trip came when we were off the boat (lunch in Toledo and lunch in Cascais come to mind).
On board Viking Torgil, we had a wonderful British chef named Michael Bee Venet. I say he is wonderful less for his culinary skills than for his wonderful personality. Every night, he would preview the meal at our pre-dinner destination talk. He was hilarious. He also regularly stopped by everyone’s table. At breakfast, he would often come around with a special baked good and serve it to us himself.
But we thought his food was oversalted. Sometimes, it was just finishing salt. Some soups were fine when you got down below the surface, but those first three spoonfuls were very salty. We also thought the food was better at the beginning of the week than at the end. It wasn’t bad, just not as good. On a scale of one to ten, it was an eight when we started and a six when we finished.
By the way, when you take a Douro river cruise, you eat all your meals in the dining room. It is totally casual. I think we only saw anyone in anything dressy twice. OMG— people wore shorts in the dining room. We wore jeans and tennis shoes. On our Danube cruise, there was a small buffet area at the front of the boat, but not on the smaller Douro boat. It was the dining room or hunger.
All in all, the food was good and plentiful, and we had nothing to complain about…or wait! I want to complain about the bread. It was too good. Seriously, it may be the best bread I have had on any cruise. Delicious—and I ate way too much of it. Oh, and there were fewer veggies than we would have liked as well. Kind of like our ocean cruise on Viking Venus in June; there was a lot of red meat, which we try to avoid at home. Here’s a gallery of some dishes we ate on this trip. I will try to tell you where we ate them, but if you like great food, check them out. All were shot with my phone, so feel free to look at them on yours. Remember, you can click them to enlarge them and scroll through. I’ll start with some photos of where we all ate.
At our usual table in the dining room on Torgil.
And all of us at the Fado dinner.
Kathleen and I at Botin Restaurant, the oldest in the world. Opened in 1725.
The gazpacho at Botin
The suckling pig specialty of the house at Botin.
They also did young lamb.
But pretty much everyone had the pig.
Botin had great desserts. Especially this Catalan version of creme brûlée
And some flan for Mike.
While in Madrid, Cathy, Mike and I went to a tapas place one night. They had amazing eggplant.
As well as patatas bravas.
When I Madrid, you have to try churros and chocolate.
One day in Madrid Kathleen and I had this awesome salad for lunch and…
this wafer thin pizza. Salad was great. Pizza was not.
Stuffed peppers in Segovia
I think our best meal was in Toledo. This is my pork. Amazing.
Mike and Steve had the boar cheeks. They raved about it.
But the dessert—manchego cheese cake—was the best of the trip for rme.
They had some interesting deserts.
A pizza we had later in the trip In Salamanca, Spain.
Chorizo on the table in Segovia.
Some really great Segovian chorizo.
As always in Portugal, I ate a lot of octopus.
Lots of octopus. I think I had it at least four times. Probably more.
Of course Cathy had to have a burger. Sometimes you just need a taste of home.
When we stopped for lunch between Lisbon and Porto we got chicken or…
Portugal’s national food—reconstructed cod.
Onboard Mike got the biggest tiger prawns we have seen.
And a nice risotto
Something else we ate on board. I can’t remember what it was but it was good.
A delicious orange cake on Torgil.
And I got a hot dog! It’s a Bob thing. Only he understands.
When we stopped in the Lebanese place in Lisbon, the tabouli was excellent.
At the Fado show we got some decent soup.
My entrée at the Fado show.
I almost forgot the “Steve Test.” For those of you unfamiliar with the Steve Test. I call this the Steve Test because my brother Steve came up with it. I think it’s brilliant. This is the entire test: If you eat in a restaurant while traveling, and if that restaurant is near you once you get home, would you go there again? If it were in your hometown, would we eat there regularly? For this trip, the places that passed the Steve test were Clandestina in Toledo, the Lebanese restaurant behind the TimeOut Market and a few of the meals on Torgil, but the ultimate A+ on the Steve Test went to the Chicken restaurant in Cascais on the day we toured Sintra. I know my brother believes it’s the best chicken he has ever had.
Entertainment
If you have been reading my stuff for a while, you know we have kind of given up on shows. Besides, they really don’t have shows on river cruises. However, they did have some great entertainers come on board while we were in ports, and Mike will have photos of those, I am sure. He can stay up later than we can. But I did want to mention two of the best entertainers I have ever seen on a ship—river or ocean.
The first is not really an entertainer but a server in the restaurant. He was kind of in charge of singing Happy Birthday to anyone celebrating one. He also was a total clown. He has a great voice, but what really makes him GREAT is his face. He can turn it into the absolute funniest looks you have ever seen. Here are a few shots of our buddy Agus doing his thing.
He was singing to a woman who was celebrating her birthday.
See what I mean about his face.
No accompaniment.
He has a thousand of looks.
And is truly an amazing performer and a really nice guy.
He was so special that I am going to try to add a video I took of him. If it works, it’s right here. IT WORKED!
The other amazing performer on the ship was our wonderful, incredible, marvelous, fantastic Program Director, Marianne. We had heard that she was going to sing one night after dinner in the lounge. We were both pretty tired, but I persuaded Kathleen to go, and were we ever glad we did. She was all those adjectives I put up above and more. It might be the best show I have ever seen on any ship or boat. For sure, it was the most fun. And now that I got the Agus video to load, here’s a little bit of Marianne’s show.
Besides being the best Program/Cruise Director we have ever sailed with (35+ cruises), she is one of the nicest and most caring people you will ever meet. We would take a cruise she was on just to sail with her.
To Sum Up
How much did we enjoy this river cruise? For the first time in more than twenty years (since we took our first Panama Canal cruise on Celebrity’s Infinity in 2004), we don’t have an ocean cruise booked, and we don’t think we will take one in the foreseeable future. We have booked a Chobe River cruise in Africa, a Columbia River Cruise, and a Great Lakes cruise, but that’s it. We can’t think of anywhere that big-ship ocean cruises go that we still really want to see. We aren’t saying we wouldn’t go if friends wanted to go together, but we have been there and done that just about everywhere ocean cruises go. I guess we are now river cruise people.
WAIT! I almost forgot the best part of the entire trip—getting to travel once again with Steve, Jamie, Mike and Cathy—our October gang. We will all do it again next October when we cruise the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon.
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man. —Heraclitus
by Jim Bellomo | Oct 30, 2024 | Uncategorized
Yesterday (our last day in Portugal), we (everyone except Kathleen, who was still battling her cold) woke up early and were met by our guide, Alex, from Top Ten Tours.
We tried to tour with Alex when we were here in December, according to Mike’s recommendation, but he was booked. Since Mike was with us this time, he set it up, and we were so glad we got to tour with Alex on this return trip. He met us right on time and drove us to the Pena Palace in Sintra. He had everything prearranged, and we were in the first group through the palace. His knowledge of his subject was outstanding, and his delivery was fun but informative.
Sintra was the summer home (even though it is less than an hour from Lisbon) of the Portuguese Royal Family (when they had one), and it is at a higher and more humid elevation, so it was cooler in the summer. The palace is incredibly colorful. I will say that the further away you are, the more beautiful it looks. That’s because it really needs a paint job. Two hundred-year-old buildings have gutters that really leach out onto the paint. You will have to see my photos to see what I mean. No matter if they are dirty, the Palace is magnificent, and I hope you like the images. BTW: I was amazed when I started processing them because of the blue sky and the incredible light; these are right out of the camera. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
Heading into the Pena Palace..
The colors just do it.
Triton is holding everything up.
See what I mean about the sky.
Looking back towards Lisbon.
And back at parts of the Palace.
With Lisbon in the distance.
It truly is a cool place.
Lots of yellow and red and some blue.
As well as typical Portuguese tiles.
Looking out to sea.
And back in the Palace.
The roof to the chapel.
A small sundial.
The clock tower.
It is truly an original place.
Back to Trident.
This is a close up of what he had around him.
And a close up of some of the tiles.
The tower.
The courtyard of the Palace.
You know how I love gargoyles. This guy seemed nice.
The red tower again.
Looking through a window at the castle below.
Another view to Lisbon and the Taugus River.
And back at the Pena.
Can’t get enough of this clock tower.
Inside, I liked this wood carved statue.
And this wood carving of a great battle.
This is a close up of the wood carvings.
More towers.
More gargoyles. This one is a gutter spout.
Catholics of the time believe only God could make something perfect so there is one tile here that isn’t.
Can you find it?
This is in the village of Sintra, below the Pena Palace.
A very cute little village that has gone touristy.
We were here in December and almost by ourselves.
I shot this builiding in December but the light was better yesterday.
Looking UP at the castle in silhouette.
And another view of the village.
And my attempt to capture the village building and the castle above it.
We spent almost two and a half hours at the palace, and then he dropped us in the village for some shopping and photo time before picking us up again to take us to lunch in Cascais at a local restaurant that served basically the best chicken I have ever eaten and french fries. What more could you want? We were obviously the only non-locals there, and Alex made us promise not to name the place. He said if you’re going to find it, you will have to tour with him. Suffice it to say that we would all do this tour again just for that lunch. Here are a few photos I took in Cascais.
The wavy tiles in front of the municipal building.
An enormous tile painting.
This inlet is part of the Atlantic and there is a bridge across it.
Who knew there was a bridge across the Atlantic? This is what was on the other side.
After lunch, we were off to The End of the World (where Europeans originally thought the world ended or you fell off the edge), a beautiful place. See the pics. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
The End of the World.
The lighthouse at the End of the World.
The rocks below the lighthouse at the End of the World.
The abbey above the rocks, that are above the lighthouse that is at the End of the World.
That about sums up our tour with Alex. He was an excellent guide, and he knows where to find the best chicken I had ever eaten and could never replicate.
Back at the hotel, Kathleen was awake and feeling better, so we all went out for one last farewell meal together at the rooftop bar of the hotel next door to ours. The two hotels are under the same ownership, so we got a discount for dinner, but it still wasn’t worth it. I forgot the old adage that if you get a view, the service and food probably aren’t that great…that was the case here. But I did get a few great photos of Lisbon at night to close out the trip.
The castle was all lit up.
Along with the city below it.
But it is clearly the star.
And so is the year-round Christmas Market in the square about a block from our hotel.
And that concludes our 21-day journey all over the Iberian Peninsula. We had an awesome time, and I will be back tomorrow with a breakdown of our flight home, our night in London and all the fun stuff that happened in between. Then, I promise by the weekend, you will get a full report on the cruise and the trip, highlighting the best parts.
An Editor’s Note: If you like reading about traditional ocean cruising, please check out my British buddy Wansbrough’s cruise blog, which you can find by clicking here. He and his lovely bride (who is a vegan, so you get a new perspective on cruise food) are currently doing a circumnavigation of Australia, and I am loving reading about it. He blogs every day, and you will like it if you are into traditional ocean cruising.
There’s a great tradition in storytelling that’s thousands of years old, telling stories about kings and their palaces, and that’s really what I wanted to do. —Aaron Sorkin
by Jim Bellomo | Oct 27, 2024 | Uncategorized
You know, after we were here last December, I tried to never type Lisbon again and go with the local Portuguese version, Lisboa. But since the s makes a sh sound in Portuguese, and Fatima (the worst guide in history) kept saying it again and again…so often that I can still hear her in my head…we are back to using Lisbon.
But that said, our last day on the Viking Torgil came all too quickly, and we wished her amazing crew goodbye and headed south to Lisbon. Mike has arranged a driver and guide who would take us south and give us a tour, all at the same time, which we thought was an awesome idea. The only problem was that the guide Mike arranged it with got diverticulitis and wound up in the hospital two days before they were supposed to pick us up. But the guide let Mike know that the driver would pick us up and take us to the two places we had planned on going to and get us to our hotel in Lisbon.
Our driver, Samir, met us at EXACTLY 8:30 a.m. just outside the ship, and we loaded up our bags and headed out to Batalha, the site of a massive battle in 1385 that was a major force in Portuguese independence. So after the war, in a tiny little village next to the battlefield, they built a vast cathedral. It’s really a big one. Since Mike had never met a cathedral he didn’t love, we had to see it. I have to say that I was genuinely impressed. Especially considering the size of the town it is in. And it is very well preserved. Here are the pics to prove it. Oh, one more thing. There was a group of kids (probably 8-10 years old) waiting for a tour at the front door of the cathedral. My first thought was, “How boring is that going to be for a kid that age.” Then, out stepped a docent/actor in medieval dress who started the tour. Once inside, it was picked up by another actor wearing a costume from the 1700s. Both of them kept those kids enthralled. Their faces were so wonderful that I had to keep shooting them, so I apologize in advance for so many photos of them. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
We arrive at Batalha Cathedral where we find a monument to the battle in front.
And this modern sculpture that I love.
And this amazing edifice.
With a group of kids gathered around the front door.
One of two actors leading the kids on a tour.
His face was so expressive.
It really drew my camera lens.
Inside the church was quite magnificent.
Don’t you think.
The builder’s tomb.
The knave above the altar.
Looking at some stained glass.
And more stained glass.
And the inside of the dome.
The second actor took over the tour indoors.
He mesmerized the kids.
Seriously, nine to eleven year olds held spellbound.
Truly an amazing actor and teacher.
All dressed in costume.
I could have taken 20+ more photos of him.
In fact, I did but I won’t show you all of them.
A scale model of the cathedral and the monastery.
The first actor taking a break.
In the courtyard of the monastery
With blue skies.
And another strange sculpture.
More stained glass in the monastery.
A nice hallway in the priory.
Another strange statue.
The back of the cathedral.
Outside the back of the cathedral.
Also with incredible blue skies.
It does rain in Portugal but it never seems to last too long.
A little plaza behind the church.
Gargoyles always scare me.
See what I mean?
Back to the front and that statue again.
After we visited Batalha, we returned to the van and headed to Nazaré. This charming little beach town is the site of those monster waves you may have seen in YouTube videos. Click the link to see a 100-foot wave recorded there a few years ago. It is truly amazing. You can search for others. Just know they are huge. But don’t get the impression that we saw one of those. They are only around in storm season (later in the year) and we were there on a beautiful, sunny day. But we did get to stop in the original village and then headed down to the seaside resort for a delicious lunch. Here are photos I took while in both places. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping.
Looking down on the beach at Nazaré from the old village.
Certainly a beautiful beach.
The city square of the old town.
And now we are down on the beach looking back at where I took the first photos from.
A long way up.
And now that I have seen what I was standing on, I am very thankful there was no earthquake.
Just a lovely beach.
See the lighthouse at the top of the rock. The big waves break there.
See the video I linked. It’s amazing.
And I liked this colorful motif. Which is unusual since yellow is NOT my favorite color.
After our lunch in Nazaré, it only took Samir about two hours to have us just outside our hotel (Hotel Portugal) in downtown Lisbon. We stayed there last December and have fond memories. Great breakfasts, comfortable rooms, etc. More about the changes at the hotel will be discussed in tomorrow’s post. In the meantime, after we grabbed something in the bar to snack on, Kathleen (whose cold was getting worse) went up to bed, and I went off to take sunset photos. Here are a few of the best I took. Enjoy…
The Santa Justa Elevator in old town Lisbon.
Street musicians.
Sand sculptures on the shore of the Tagus River.
Looking up at the statue of Christo Rey.
Sunset from the seawall.
More sunset.
Even more sunset.
Painted rocks inside the seawall.
Praça do Comércio
Close up of the monument in Praça do Comércio
The 28 slides by
Looking up at the Castle above the city.
The next day I tried to get in but there was almost a 2-hour wait.
That pretty much covers our day, which started in Porto and ended in Lisbon. It was a great but very long day of travel for us older folks. I hope you enjoyed it. I’ll be back tomorrow with more from Lisbon.
I like to dream about Portugal, and it’s less easy when you are there. —Maria de Medeiros
by Jim Bellomo | Oct 26, 2024 | Uncategorized
The following day, we were up and ready to tour Porto. When we first arrived (six days ago), there was no time to tour the city. It was pretty much getting on the boat, having dinner, going to bed after a long day of touring to get to the boat. So today was our day to tour Porto.
We had a choice of two tours. One was a walking tour of Porto (which we skipped to make Kathleen’s knee happy) and an overview tour on the “luxury motor coach.” We opted for that one. It included more geography but fewer stops and time on the ground. Which for us worked well. Our two scheduled stops were at the Cathedral of Porto (what else?) and at the spot where the Douro River meets the Atlantic Ocean. Both were very scenic. And, of course, I got a lot of photos. It wasn’t a long tour, about three hours total, but we felt we got what we paid for (it was included ?). Here are the photos I took while out and about on the tour. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
Early morning just before breakfast.
And now to the cathedral and a statue of Paiva Couceiros, the founder of Porto.
Looking at the Cathedral from the front.
Inside a beautiful church.
The baptismal font.
And more church.
And more church.
And more church.
For an atheist, I sure tour a lot of churches.
Tiles inside the cloisters of the church.
Next to the church was this beautiful building, fully tiled. And another colorful one next to it.
More views from outside the cathedral.
And more.
And a beautiful lady waiting for me.
Our tour guide Claudia.
Everyone is waiting for the bus.
Being watched by Paiva Couceiros.
We reach the sea and the castle that defended Porto.
This is where we saw this strange building. It turned out to be the cruise terminal for ocean ships.
And there were beaches.
With lots of people on them.
After our tour, we returned to the Torgil, where we had a very delicious last lunch. I realize I have not had much to say about the food, the crew, or the boat, but I will get to it in my summary, which I will try to write on our flight or after we get home. So, if that is what you are waiting for, you must hold on a little longer.
After lunch, Kathleen started packing as we would be getting off the boat early the following day. I decided to walk back across the river (on a bridge—I haven’t mastered the whole walking on water thing ?) and hike around Porto before it started raining. This is where I was totally disappointed by both Google Maps and Apple Maps. For me to walk across the river on a bridge, both of them had me crossing from one side to the other on the small foot ferry. I didn’t want to cross the Douro on a boat. I had already been up and down the river so many times on a boat I wanted to walk and get the view from a bridge. But they would NOT give me directions to Porto (while walking) to cross on a bridge. I tried putting in driving, but there are so many one-way streets that it would have taken me an hour to get to the bridge. So I went down to reception on the boat and asked Marianna (our guide for the entire week) if she knew the easiest way to get to the bridge so I could walk across. She has lived in Porto for years and said, “Of course. Just get off the boat, turn left, walk straight down the wharf to the bridge and cross it. OMG, Apple and Google—you couldn’t figure that out???
I had no problems once I got across the bridge and walked up to the top of the stairs leading into the city. I took a bunch of photos, and here they are. (HEY! I saw you looking at those on your phone—cut that out! ?)
I saw this woman in a window.
There should be a point to the woman but there isn’t. This is her view.
This is her view in a close up.
This is the bridge I crossed that Apple and Google could not find.
Had to go up these stairs.
On the walk down the wharf.
It was quite the climb.
In both directions.
I finally got into the city.
Saw some great buildings.
Some really cool windows in need of sanding and painting.
And more cool streets.
Inside Porto’s major train station there are so many tiles.
This is so typical. These two stood in my way for more than five minutes with each of them trying different poses.
The train station. I love train stations.
Just to prove I was there.
Love the color.
Looking up towards a different cathedral.
A demonstration passing me.
Ran into a police standoff.
Not sure why this guy would not come out but he didn’t look too dangerous.
A cool church messed up by a tarp.
Crazy streets.
They told me there were only five locks on the Douro. I beg to differ.
My last Douro shot of the day.
That about covered our day. I went back on board the boat and packed up everything I could. Then, it was time for the goodbye from the crew cocktail party and our last dinner on board. After that, it was bedtime with an early wake-up as we had to get off the ship to meet our driver/guide, who would take us to Lisbon by 8:30 am the next day.
PS: Sorry for two posts today. Chalk it up to over-tourism. We are in Lisbon today, and I went out to take a walk and scout for things to do. The city is packed like the cans of sardines that Portugal is famous for. I walked up to get a shot of views from the castle, and there was a one-hour and forty-five-minute wait to get tickets—so many people. When I walked down to another viewpoint I had shot from in December, I found hundreds of people and the reason why the place was so crowded. Out in the harbor are two huge cruise ships, each with 4,000+ passengers. More about that in a couple of days. And yes, I realize I am a kind of a hypocrite for complaining about tourism when I am a tourist ??.
Touring is hard on the body. —Eminem
by Jim Bellomo | Oct 25, 2024 | Uncategorized
After visiting Favios for bread and muscatel, we decided that was it for us with excursions. The only one left before our return to Porto was to see another church with a long bus ride involved, so we decided to relax with a day on the river when I could work on photos. Instead of a sea day, call it a river day.
As a side note about river days, Kathleen and I have decided that this river cruise is one we could do again (with the same ship, stateroom, and crew). But the next time, we would just sail up and down the river—no excursions. There is so much to see from the deck of the ship. It would be seven glorious days of rest.
Our day on the river would give me lots of chances for more photography of houses, abandoned villas, other boats passing by, churches and castles at the top of hills and the amazing locks. See what I mean by perusing these photos from that day. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
The river and sky were gorgeous all day.
The farmers were burning slash in their vineyards.
The reflections were wonderful.
And I love trains. Especially multi-colored trains.
Just a beautiful river.
That winds its way through narrows.
And gives me views of interesting villas.
And bridges.
Low bridges.
Really low bridges.
From both sides.
And moving away from one without hitting it. But we did have to duck.
I call this my Mr. Bill house. If it could talk it would say, “OH NO!”
Lots of churches on the river.
Lots of bridges as well.
Everywhere you look.
And another damn coming up.
I liked these trees.
Another boat coming out of the lock we were going into.
RAMMING SPEED!
This is our second trip through the highest lock in Europe.
An amazing journey.
You can see how far below us the river is on the other side of the damn.
I did my best to get you a vertical panorama so you could see what if felt like on the deck.
It didn’t work great but you get the idea of how huge this lock is.
Looking up just before we got out of the lock.
The door is going up to let us out.
We can see another Viking boat waiting to get in.
Not sure how long she has been waiting but everyone looks relaxed.
On board our sister ship.
This is the view from our verandah down the side of the ship showing you the six inch distance between the side of the ship and the side of the canal.
The last building before Porto.
And there it is.
The following two hours or so would be spent sailing up and down on the Douro between Porto and Gaia, where we dock. The problem was that there were five other boats tied up at the wharf, but they needed to be in the right order. For us to be able to raft with them (tie up and have to walk through them to get on and off the ship), every boat needed to be in order, with the boat leaving first on the outside and then each one inside of it leaving later than the one moored to the dock. Since our boat would be there for two nights, we needed to be up against the pier with two boats rafted out from us, one leaving the following day. One would be leaving the morning after, while Torgil (our boat) would not sail again until we were off, and another group of passengers was on board and ready to sail in three days. It’s very complicated. But it meant we had to kill time waiting for the other two boats to get ready to move. In the meantime, we sailed almost out to the Atlantic Ocean and back again. This meant I could get a ton of photos of both cities in a really great light that I could share with you. And here they are…you know the rules.
First up is a chance for me to create a black and white I really like.
Here comes a harbor tour boat.
With load of tourists who don’t look that happy.
And a church that has been totally tagged.
Trains on the bridge.
Abandoned buildings on the shores.
Streetcars. We found out later they are used ones from San Francisco.
Looking ahead to the concrete bridge.
And more unhappy tourists.
And more shore side homes.
And churches with amazing tile on them.
Close up of the tile.
One of our favorite wines is made here.
The Gaia side.
As is this one. On the way out I thought that was a church. Turned out to be part on a military base.
I bet we passed 30 harbor tour boats.
But it was a beautiful day.
That was it for our river day. We finally got docked, did cocktail hour, listened to the port talk for the next day and had dinner. I will be back tomorrow with our final day in Porto…or maybe this afternoon. We are back in Lisbon today and don’t have much planned until tonight.
You can’t be unhappy in the middle of a big, beautiful river. —Jim Harrison