July 18, 2024 and July 19, 2024

                                                                    Lamego.  Porto and Gaia

Today we rode the bus to the city center of Lamego.  We went first to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Remedies.  Many people make pilgrimages to the church.  The church is high above the city and is quite a climb up 686 steps.  Lucky for us, we rode the bus and climbed the last little bit. The church is baroque in style, very ornate.  It is small inside, but very beautiful and peaceful.  The view of the city below from the church is amazing.  We walked down several sets of stairs to the Main Street in Lamego where there were many stalls that people were selling just about anything you could imagine.  Clothes, shoes, underwear, food, annoying dog toys that made a squeaking sound and more.  (Don’t worry kids.  We didn’t buy your kids any of the annoying dogs that squeaked.  We love you too much.) It was a pleasant saunter down the the square.  We stopped to see the Unknown Soldier Statue from World War I.  (Portugal didn’t participate in World War II.  They were neutral.) There were dates carved in the statue and one date had been a 6 and then a 7 was carved over it.  That was odd.  

We did a little shopping, very little.  Which is good.  We were sitting on a step in the shade waiting for the bus to come back when a couple from North Wales asked to borrow some of the shade.  We got to talking and they were most interested in what the heck is going on the US!  We told them we didn’t know as we’ve been traveling but it will work out.  At least we hope so.  It’s interesting what they told us about what they hear about America.  It’s very one sided and when we mentioned other things that are going on, they were surprised.  I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.  

We went to a lovely winery and had a sparkling wine tasting and a small appetizer.  (Which we called lunch.). It was a nice respite and then we boarded the bus for the ride back to the boat.

Here’s an interesting fact we learned from our guide.  Do you know why port wine is called port wine?  What does port have to do with a sweet wine?  It’s because the sweet wines were originally made in the city of Porto.  Throughout Portugal people would travel to Porto to buy the sweet wines.  So friends and family would say “if you are going to Porto bring back the sweet wines for me.”   And eventually the sweet part was dropped and the wines were known as Port Wine.  

We each had a massage in the afternoon.  I went first so Bob could attend the ice cream social and I went to the disembarkation lecture while he was getting his massage.  They did give us wine so it was a win win for both of us.  The massage was wonderful.  Especially for my sprained ankle that has been giving me some trouble with all the walking on cobblestone.  We had a lovely dinner with new friends and ate too much as usual.  

July 19th.  I won’t be able to write tomorrow as we will disembark at 6:15am to begin our journey home.  We are a bit concerned as there is a computer failure throughout the airline system and we are not able to check in for our flights.  At the very least, we will go to the airport and hope the computer geeks have fixed everything.  We will be flying 3 hours to Paris and then a lot of hours to Seattle.  We will stay over in Seattle just to have a rest and then home to Pasco.  See?  It’s simple…she said optimistically.  

In any case, we had another full and interesting day.  We rode the bus around Porto and Gaia.  They are close by on this bustling port.  Porto has 6 bridges.  One was designed by Mr. Eiffel of the Eiffel Tower fame.  Porto is where Portugal began.  In 1143 the Romans came to this area and decided to start a city so they went to the highest point along the sea and built a monastery.  We walked to the train station to view the beautiful tiles of historical pictures.   We walked all over the area seeing the medieval walls that are still there, as well as the monastery.  It was a nice walk about.

This is an example of the tiles in the railroad station.  

Here is a lady painting tiles along the walkway of the river.  

We rode the bus to the winery “Calem”.  They have been making port for over 100 years.  We learned all about the process of making port, as well as the types of port and what to eat with them and then we got to taste a white, ruby and tawny port.  Calem is a big business and only releases aged port when the “market requires it”.  We walked along the river dodging the many items we could buy.  Porto and Gaia are very busy places.  

Here’s a few impressions and thoughts I’ve collected.  Portugal is a lovely country.  They’ve been around for centuries and were once one of the major European countries that colonized India , Africa and other areas.  Now it is a country where the people are nice, they love their work, family and they enjoy port and wine.

“Abrigada” means thank you in Portuguese.  You say Abrigada to thank a woman and Abrigado to thank  a man.  Thank you to all of you who “traveled” with us.  

Wish us luck in our travels home.  We’ve had a marvelous vacation and are glad you joined us.

Love BC and GC