The marina is on the right hand side of the river going upstream, which means it is actually on the side of Vila Nova de Gaia rather than Porto. Both cities are extremely hilly, with the roads rising steeply not far from the river front. On the Gaia side are all of the port caves and lodges ( the name given to the buildings where the port barrels are kept for ageing and where the tastings occur) as well as attractions such as a cable car up to a large monastery and many cafes along the river. There is a river walkway into the main part of Gaia, starting from the marina, and we were advised that it was just a short walk to the port lodges. Considering how much walking we did for the rest of the day we should have caught a taxi for that trip, but thankfully we didn't because the 'suburb' of Afurada was next to the marina and it was absolutely fantastic to walk through that area and see how the locals go about their lives.
Firstly we passed the public laundry building where the local women go to do their washing in large concrete baths, laying out each item on the wide concrete borders and scrubbing so hard with cakes of soap that it is a wonder they don't put holes in everything. They hang the clothes out on lines held up with wooden poles that are actually thin branches of trees.
It is also the time for a daily gossip and sharing of ideas while scrubbing and rinsing. This building is fairly new and yet they obviously did not want washing machines to replace the way they have always done this chore. Fascinating to observe!
Living their lives as part of a community was also obvious as we walked down the narrow cobbled streets where the fronts of the houses are decorated with small patterned ceramic tiles. Women were cooking the lunch, which was fresh sardines mostly, on small charcoal braziers outside their front doors and a couple of them insisted that we eat some as we walked past, enchanted by the simplicity of it all. Men sat outside too, chatting with neighbours and children played in the streets. At a corner restaurant the cooking was all being done on large charcoal braziers and many of the tables and chairs were out on the street. The shops are just a bakery and a couple of small stores that sell just about everything, like a mini grocery/fruit shop/ hardware store. We came across only one person who could speak English but we felt very welcome in their neighbourhood.
Our walk along the river was very interesting because we could also appreciate the city of Porto, densely populated on the other side and the mixture of very old and often dilapidated apartments mingled with a few new ones on both sides of the Douro. The high bridges that span the river are impressive, one designed by Gustav Eiffel, which is the only one that pedestrians can also walk over.
We eventually arrived at the area where there are many port lodges, and after a Portuguese lunch ( with our selection varying from octopus salad to cod fritters, olives, chorizo sausage and cheese to whole grilled fish) we selected the Ferreira lodge for our tasting because it has been a local family establishment for over 100 years and we had read about the magnificent blue painted tiles in a special room in their tasting area. The stone buildings and walls and the cobbled streets add to the interest of the area. Greg and I tasted a flight of 3 red ports (a ruby, a tawny and a vintage) and 3 white ports and they were all magnificent, but we were particularly impressed with discovering the white ports, served chilled as an aperitif.
The hop-on-hop-off bus is definitely the way to see Porto because the city is so vast and the hills are so steep, and as much as we enjoyed doing this we were disappointed that the commentary was minimal on our tour even though we frequently passed extraordinary old buildings with elaborate architectural designs in most areas of the city and wondered what they were. We didn't have a chance to 'hop off' as there was such a large area to see, with the tour including the wealthy suburbs in the beach area called Foz, being the only area with houses rather than apartments (95% of people live in apartments). The great tragedy is the number of fantastic buildings that are empty and being left to deteriorate, although we could also see that a lot of work is happening in the city to restore some areas. We finally left the bus along the river and caught a water taxi across to our side near the marina.
Our dinner that evening was really special; we went to DOP restaurant in Porto (at Palacios das Artesian, Largo de S. Domingos, 18) where the chef Rui Paula is famous in Portugal for his outstanding food. We chose from the a la carte menu and everything was superb, including the wines recommended by the sommelier (the red and the white were both from the Mapa winery).