Postcard From Porto, Portugal

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Old city of Porto seen from across the Douro river. 

Opposite view, looking at Gaia.

Beautiful houses in the old part of Porto

Loved the laundry hanging above street cafés.

Steep steps and deep blue skies.

Looking at the Cathedral in the distance

Palácio da Bolsa and the Jardim do Infante Dom Henrique

Sao Bento train station

Women selling Cerejas (cherries) at the train station

When in Porto...

drink porto

and take a tour through one of Gaia's porto caves.

Did you know there is a white porto and that it is an amazing substitute for gin when mixed with tonic? Porto Branco Tonic...my 2019 summer drink.

Dancers on the streets of Porto

Oh, Porto...what can I say about this charming, colorful city by the Douro River? Declared a Unesco World World Heritage Site in 1996, its center is one of the oldest in Europe.  Porto, like Lisbon and many of the cities in Spain, can trace its history back to the Celts, and still shows traces of the Roman occupation, and the Moorish invasion in 711. It was reconquered in 868 by Vímara Peres, an Asturian count from Gallaecia.

A walk through the old Jewish quarter and around the river, or a climb up the hill to the Cathedral takes one back into the past.  Many of the narrow winding streets are lined with little cafés or restaurants where one can have a lovely meal accompanied by some excellent regional wine.

Of course, Porto is the city of port wine.  No visit would be complete without a visit to one of the port caves in Gaia, across the Douro River.  We went on a tour, followed by a tasting.  Whether Branco, Ruby or Tawny porto, they all tasted good to us. Best of all, we learned that white port wine mixed with tonic makes an amazing drink.

The next stop on this trip is Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain. Stay tuned.  If you are on Instagram, you might want to follow along in real time here.

If there is important news back home in Carroll Gardens, I will of course post about it. You know that Carroll Gardens, Gowanus and the proposed Gowanus upzoning is never far from my mind.