A cracking day today. Weather okay in the morning and glorious by the afternoon. Today has been Porto. Or more accurately Vila Nova de Gaia which is the other side of the Douro river from Porto and where all the big port houses are based.
We stopped at a local campsite and were about to check in when we spoke to an English couple who'd been on tour for the last three and a half years! They pointed us to an ayre on the edge of town which was right by the side of the Rio Douro. We're so glad we took their advice. The spot we're writing this from is stunning.
From our camping spot we biked into Gaia. Gaia is very steep and the port houses are all at the top of the hillside. We biked up three hills before we found Taylors which we were aiming for. Good job by the 4 months pregnant Mrs Blakey. But the effort was rewarded with a free tour of the wine house. Even if it was in Portugese. Anyway they gave us 'Chip Dry Port' to start off which we drank overlooking the city below and then Late Bottled Vintage as we did the tour. That was well worth the bike ride up. Especially as Mrs Blakey isn't drinking so I had four free glasses!
From Taylors we dropped down to the riverside and peddled over the Ponte dom Luis I and into Porto proper. Again its flippin hilly and we couldn't be bothered to try climbing up to the few sights in the upper city so we turned along the riverside to the Ribeira river front and dropped into one of the many cafe bars. I demonstrated excellent Portuguese by ordering a large beer in fluent native tongue but the water was obviously not from round these parts as he asked if I'd like mine with milk and sugar. Fortunately he understood English and my beer was sorted.
From there we took a long leisurely ride back to our base to watch the sunset over the Atlantic. We cooked sausage ragu and ate it alfresco overlooking Porto's lights across the Douro. Pretty perfect end to a top day.
Cali thought: the van is 100% self-contained meaning there's really no difference to camping where we are now, right on the banks of a picturesque river, compared to at an ugly campsite. Only difference is it's €20 cheaper here. Love it.
Sent from my ZX Spectrum.
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