After about a week of traveling through Spain's great cathedrals and historic towns, we crossed the unattended border into Portugal. The only sign visible was the Portuguese flag flying high on a flag pole. Soon we crossed the bridge over the river Douro into the alluring city of Porto. Portugal was one of Europe's largest and richest powers with extensive holdings along the African coast, Eastern Asia and South America.
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| Dom Luis I Bridge, an icon of the city of Porto. It spans the river Douro linking the port wine houses with the downtown Ribeira district of Porto. |
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| Many of these boats bring in their daily catches of fish and other delicacies from the sea to the restaurants all along the river, What can be fresher?  |
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| We were sitting at one of the outdoors tables in a restaurant near the wineries, this was the view high above Porto and the Douro's cool waters. As we waited for our seafood dinner, we uncorked a bottle of green (vinho verde) wine which Portugal is also famous, the aroma and taste we divine. Ahh... a rare kind of tranquility. |
Because I was traveling with my very own oenophile Mercedes, our first stop was at the very famous Porto winery Sandeman. After a tour through the winery and tasting a wide variety, we asked ourselves, "What would Dionysus do"? We purchased a few bottles to enjoy on the trip and few more to be sent home.
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| Why am I not there?...someone had to take the picture or maybe I was at the tasting counter. |
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| Well now that we obtained what we came for, we drove back across rio Douro to our hotel in downtown Porto. We had to get ready for a night in the town in this beautiful land of love and romance, Portugal. |
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