Guimares and River Cruise

Our day began with a buffet breakfast in the hotel dining room.  By nine a.m. we were on our way for a tour of Guimares.  This town in the mountains of Northern Portugal was the first capital when Alfonso proclaimed himself to be king.  After battling with tribes in every direction he finally unified the country.  His castle, which we visited, can be seen on the Portuguese coat of arms.  The castle did not contain a palace but only a very large very square ‘keep’.  It was strictly defensive.  If the enemy approached the family hid in the tower and townsfolk clustered inside the walls and the few soldiers he had manned the walls.  The squareness of the castle which is well preserved and the tall square tower immediately reminded me of blarney Castle in Ireland. 

We visited a small museum and a lovely old church of St. Michael.  Interestingly in this church is a very modern portrait of Pope John Paul II with his head bowed and forelock fallen across his face in contemplation but it seemed sad.  Next to the ornate baroque gilded ornamentation it was startlling to me.

Ruth and I wandered around the square during the lunch stop because the plans had changed and the half hour became an hour while our guide, Nina, met and lunched with friends.  We had left our bag lunch on the bus.  No crisis.  While everyone ate we found dogs to pet, watched children play, and wandered into some more residential areas.
After the hour return drive to the city center we were dropped off and repeated our steps to the riverside.  There are the pre-requisite old buildings and big churches.  The city rises steeply from the Douro river.  The upper city is the modern, business center that you would expect to be handling the big business of Port Wine.  The growers below a certain acreage are forced to sell to larger wineries and only about 50 are allowed to bottle anything labeled as Port.  There is also a ‘green wine’ which is younger and does not have the aging from the oak barrels. 

Most of the group who were younger and more energetic went to walk across the two level Ponte de Dom Luis.  The rail and traffic bridge constructed by the famed Eiffel.  They then had wine tasting, took cable cars to the top of the top level of the bridge, walked back and took an afternoon boat cruise on the river.  Since this tour of Portugal was first planned because the river cruise Ruth and I had planned was cancelled by the operator, we too wanted to take a ride.  There was supposed to be a wine and cheese cruise but the price was 40 euros and our guide greatly discouraged everyone from taking it.  I am not sure SmarTours would be happy with that.  Ruth and I think Nina just didn’t want to have to spend another 50 minutes with us!  And the price was too steep once we learned it was so short!

Dorene and Dorcelia travel like we do.  And we are quickly becoming good friends.   We took our river cruise from the Porto side and sailed under almost all the bridges.  Quite lovely to hear the story of the city and river while floating on the open air top deck in the warm October sun.  Seemed it ended all too soon.  Back on dry land Ruth wanted gelato so as we strolled along the river she ducked into alleyways and found a shady table with ice cream and she added wine to her order!  The four of us laughed and shared histories while Ruth flirted with the waiter.  A nice young man from Brazil.  Amazing how good everyone’s English is.

Brian took the note with the name of our hotel and found out where a supermarket was located near it.  After walking back along the quay to the steep incline to the upper city we shared a cab to the market. We paid 7euros to ride to the supermarket in rush hour traffic.  It was across from a mall with a supermarket in the basement so we went there instead.  Nice stores and we bumped into fellow travelers.  Trudy and Jim were coming out of one of the stores after buying some necessities and a couple of outfits.  Their bags are still in Newark and will be on their way to Lisbon to be flown to Porto with any luck.  Marion bought shirts in Zaras.  We looked in a few windows but made our way to the food court where we had really bad pizza.
The market however was nice and we looked at the salted cod and various fun things we have at home but have different names here.  Prices are very good in Portugal.  Ruth paid 1.49 for a pretty tasty bottle of wine and I bought a 6 pack of Coke Light (Diet Coke).  We also got a small bag of chips to have with our lunch sandwiches tomorrow.  Like me both Ruth and Elva with whom I travel often like to make a lunch from the breakfast buffet.  Fair enough since we are not breakfast eaters anyway.

We caught a cab back to the hotel and settled in for the evening.  I am finding that the early wake up calls, lots of walking up steep cobbled roads and long drowsy bus rides are wearing me out.  Back in our room I get easily distracted by how much fun and silliness Ruth and I get into.  Blogging is not easy this trip!