Blogs from Northern, Portugal, Europe - page 3

This is my first overseas trip since January of 2020 and it was great to get back to travel again after COVID. I left Canada on the 19th of October and flew on Air France to Paris and then on Malaga in Spain. Great flight but a minor mistake was made booking a hotel in Marcelina instead of Malaga which made for extra cab fares. The hotel was the the LaLuna Blanca which was pretty good for the price. It had very helpful staff and was within walking distance of the beach promenade which had excellent beer and seafood. The next day after initially awaking at 2.00 AM -:;():&$ , It was up at 7.00 for the enjoyable breakfast meal. First on the agenda was a cab ride to the Bike2Malaga store where it turned out ... read more

I spent one evening in Zamora before setting off in the direction of Porto. The sun was shining as I left town after a sumptuous buffet breakfast. As I crossed the Rio Douro there was a lovely view of the old town from the bridge. It was beautifully reflected in the river. I stopped for about thirty minutes at the pedestrian bridge a little further on. There was a lot of bird life on the water and in the trees and bushes lining the shore. Flocks of pigeons wheeled in and out of the arches and landed in the shallows for a bathe and a drink. Jackdaws called from the trees and a couple of cormorants dived for fish, one either side of the bridge. People walked, jogged or cycling past me as I stood and ... read more

Thursday morning was set for Porto sightseeing. The Viking tour bus drove us across the Ponte Infanta Dom Henrique from Gaia to Porto proper. Multiple bridges across the Douro connect Porto and Gaia. To the right was the iron Ponte D. Maria Pia, built by Eiffel in 1876-1877, now out of service. To the left was Ponte Luis I, built in 1881-1885. It has always been a tram bridge. The first stop was Porto Cathedral (Sé do Porto). Porto is a very hilly city, built on basalt cliffs rising directly up from the river. The cathedral was built on one of the hilltops. Begun in the 12th century, the cathedral is fundamentally Romanesque in design, but it has undergone several retouchings. The two Romanesque towers and rose window surround a Baroque portal addd in 1772. Inside, ... read more

I would be remiss if I did not include a blog entry about Peso da Régua. Régua, with a population of some 17,100 is the largest of the riverside towns and the gateway to the Douro wine region. Cruise vessels always make a port call here. It was our jumping off place for tours to Villa Real and Lamego. The community took form as a village in Medieval times with wine production always its principal industry. There is a Douro Museum in town that we did not have an opportunity to visit. Régua is a regional transportation hub. The railway station is decorated with the Azuelo tiles typical of Douro Line depots, though they are not as spectacular as those of Pinhão. The former wooden freight shed nearby has been repurposed as a restaurant and shopping ... read more

Viking Torgil sailed from Pinhão for Barca d'Alva early in the morning, again before breakfast. The morning was a leisurely one as we cruised along the Douro. The riverside landscape was changing as the terraced hillsides gave way to rocky cliffs. Valeria Lock was reached after breakfast. At Valeria Dam, Tamara told us to be on the lookout for an inscription on the rock face. Cachão da Valeira, named for a former waterfall, is a narrow rocky reach in the Douro just above Valeria Dam. Here, the river bends sharply and rocky escarpments reach down to the water's edge forming a narrow and darkened gorge. This section of the Douro was once full of rocks and not open to navigation. Under Queen Maria I, an engineering project to widen and deepen the river was carried out ... read more