The highways in Portugal are amazing, especially in the off season. Speed limits are 120 and with no one on the road it was hard to stop the car from going faster as we flowed along the hills and curves of the major highways. The car would beep at my husband when he went over the limit, which he took as a warning only. Luckily the secondary warning system was also on in the car. That was ME!!!!!

Now Porto is another story, as are all old towns in Europe. Narrow, twisty, roundabouts and lots of construction, speed bumps all helped me to hang on tight while I was shouting directions (we couldn’t get the gps on the car to work lol, so I was Alexi). A couple of wrong turns and we finally landed at our hotel – The Wine and Books, ever so thankful to turn in their driveway where the valet came out to park the car. Jim (hubby) almost threw the keys at him lol.

For off season Porto was very busy, at least once a day, Jim and I turned to each other and said “And This is Off Season”. I guess as we get older we don’t like crowds as much. Thankfully I brought my walking sticks along with me as we set out. Down a hill, up a hill, lots of sidewalks were wonky with all the rain so the town was resetting lots of cobblestones. The sticks give me the confidence to look around and not just at my feet lol. And there was lots to look at. Our first stop was the beautiful train station – Sao Bento, opened in 1916. It is famous for its beautiful mosaics which tell the history of Portugal. Lots of construction in front of it so unfortunately I couldn’t get a good picture of it, but well worth the visit.

As we leave the station we head back up a hill and then down a bit towards the Dom Luis Bridge, built in 1877 by Teofilo Sevrig. He was a partner with Mr Eiffel who built the Eiffel Tower. The top is a pedestrian and streetcar track, while underneath it is a car bridge. The arches and beams are so impressive. There is an elevator on the Porto side to go down to the river, and on the Gaia side is a gondola, quite civilized. 🙂

The walk along the Gaia side was full of boats waiting to take tourists up and down the river. As the high season approaches lots of boats were in dry dock getting new paint jobs for the busy summer season. First stop was at Ferreira. These buildings are 100s of years old and have so much character. Our mission was to get to Graham’s Distillery for a bottle of port. In case we hadn’t walked enough hills lol, Graham’s was of course up a hill through narrow windy streets, but well worth the walk. A beautiful distillery with wonderful views of the river and bridges. And the port was delish.

Now we had to get back home, pretty exhausted so we decided to eat in the hotel where we enjoyed a lovely pasta dinner. A good nights sleep needed to get ready for Day 2 in Porto.