Porto 2024

After spending a week in the Netherlands which was overcast we flew south to Porto for some sunshine, port and Douro Valley wine tasting, and delicious seafood.

We arrived late in the day and dove right in with a port tasting, experiencing an array of ports that covered a wide range and provided a good overview of the category. I liked them all!

We went for a walk and everything looked magical, lit up at night. On the other side of the Douro river from Porto is Gaia, home to the famous port houses of Portugal.

As we often do, on our first day we did a walking tour to get the lay of the land and learn the history. My eye is always captured by the old buildings.

Portugal is famous for Fado, and we really enjoyed the concert we went to.

Mauro and Paola flew in from Italy to meet us for a day and we did a tour and tasting at Graham’s 1890 Port Lodge. It was wonderful to see them, and we learned a lot about the history and production of port.

A few years ago I read an article in the NY Times about Pinhais & Companhia, a sardine factory in Porto that you could tour, and it sounded like the kind of experience we would enjoy. It's a family run business with an interesting history. The sardines are hand-packed and delicious. The company is small, treats it's employees like family and many have been there for decades. But the place did smell fishy :)

We are fans of wines from the Douro Valley and did a day trip, which included a scenic boat trip on the river.

We toured two small vineyards, tasted wines and had a delicious lunch.

These are some small details I photographed at the wineries.

Porto was so picturesque. The blue ceramics on the churches, the colorful buildings and the sculptural details everywhere.

Being November it got dark early, and Porto looked grand lit up at night.

We were flying home from Lisbon so rented a car and drove to the seaside town of Aviero with it's colorful houses.

I loved a kiosk shaped like a wave.

We also stopped in Costa Nova Beach to visit the dunes and walk on the sand. It had been sunny all week, and ironically our beach day was overcast but lovely nonetheless and made for dramatic images.

Our next stop on the way to Lisbon was Óbidos, a very medieval hill town. By the time we got there it was pouring, and visiting was all outdoors, so I took a few photos and we left. Something for next time.

In Lisbon we went to the Prado Wine Bar for tapas and Portuguese wine for our final evening and took an evening stroll. The night lights were beautiful, and the Christmas market was being set up.