Docked at Port Leixoes

Latitude 41.18 Degrees North and
Longitude 8.70 Degrees West

May 1st, 2018

Weather: Very Sunny With Mild Breeze and High of 57 Degrees With Low Humidity

Author: Don

Today was a clear, gorgeous day on the Atlantic coast of Portugal.  We docked at the brand new cruise terminal at Port Leixoes, located just a few kilometers up the coast from the mouth of the Douro River.  This was our penultimate stop before sailing to London and the end of our Viking World Cruise.

We only had part of a day here, but we enjoyed it thoroughly!  Our shore excursion took us along the shore of the Douro River to Porto, the second largest city in Portugal after Lisbon.  It is a beautiful city with a rich history and many grand old buildings.  Once in Porto, we walked through the city enjoying the views and learning a bit about its architecture and history.  We began our walk through Porto's Old Town at the Clerigos Church (completed in 1750) with its 248-feet tall bell tower which can be seen from many parts of the city.  We next walked to Liberty Plaza with its central statue honoring King Dom Pedro I of Brazil (known in Portugal as “the Liberator”) and admired many beautiful grand buildings along Avenida Dos Aliados.

We walked past many old, architecturally grand buildings, as well as a legendary bookstore with a very distinctive interior that is said to be author J.K. Rowling's inspiration for parts of the Harry Potter book series.  We also visited the fascinating Sao Bento Railway Station.  The station is filled with tiled art relating scene's from Porto's history and its old port wine industry.  This theme of tiled decoration is used on the exteriors of many buildings throughout Porto Old Town as well.  We lastly walked to the plaza honoring Infante Henrique

We finally we were driven to the 100-year old Pocas Junior Port fortified wine making facility on the other side of the river to learn about Porto's best-known export.  By law since 1756, only the fortified wine produced from grapes grown in the Douro Valley region may be called “port”.  It is made by the addition of a neutral grape spirit known as aguardente in order to stop the fermentation, leaving more sugar in the wine, and boosting the alcohol content.  The wine is then stored and aged, often in barrels before being bottled.  We tasted samples of a few of Pocas Junior's ports.  Don had never ever tried port previously, but he discovered that he quite liked this port.

As we sailed away (for the last time during our world cruise) we could see many miles of beautiful, sunny beaches lining the shore of Portugal.  We loved Porto and hope we can visit it, plus more of Portugal in the future.