Port wine cellar day in Vila Gaia
Finally, it’s Friday and the sun is shining bright. Today we venture to the other side of the Douro River to explore the port wine cellars. Not sure if more than one cellar is necessary since neither of us are big port drinkers. Today’s forecast is warm, temps in the mid 60’s, few clouds, and no rain which means crowds. Shouldn’t be too bad but definitely more people than earlier this week.
First task is to find the way up to the Pointe de Luis I bridge without going downhill only to climb back up the hill. Not as easy as it sounds since every street is on a hill. To minimize the guess work, I’ll let Collette lead the way.
As I mentioned earlier, the Luis I bridge is a double-decker bridge built 1881-1886. It spans the Douro River connecting Porto to Vila Nova de Gaia. The Luis I bridge resembles another bridge just upriver a bit, the Dona Maria Pia bridge which was designed by Gustave Eiffel, the same guy that designed the Eiffel Tower in a small town north of here. Seems the Pia bridge was a record holder for spanning bridges until the Luis I bridge was built. And who was the guy who built the Luis I bridge? No other than Eiffel’s assistant engineer, you know, Teophile Seyrig. The bridges were named after the king of Portugal, Luis I and his wife, Maria Pia of Savoy.
Ponte Luis I Bridge
Unique to the Luis I bridge is its twin deck configuration with the metro and foot traffic on the upper level, and vehicle traffic on the lower level. For a great view, the walk is a must. 190’ above the river makes for some awesome photos.
View from Luis I bridge (Porto promenade on right, Vila Gaia on left)
Porto from Luis I bridge
Once on the other side, it was time to explore. The Monastery of Serra do Pilar was our first stop, or shall I say our first climb. The monastery is located on the highest hill just across the Douro River from Porto. Nothing like a brief hike uphill to get the legs working, again! The monastery was closed so we didn’t get a chance to go inside, but the views from the promenade were awesome.
View from Vila Gaia monastery
The first monastery built on this location was constructed around 1538 but was soon considered too small for the number of monks residing there. Work on a new church and monastery began in 1597. Many updates and expansions were added over the years, including the addition of a “round” church in 1672.
The monastery also served as a military outpost during the Peninsular War, 1807-1814. It was here that General Arthur Wellesley launched a surprise attack on Porto defeating the French. Guess Waterloo wasn’t the only place Napoleon got whooped.
Enough history, now off to the port cellars!!! Yea! There are no fewer than 30 port cellars along the promenade on this side of the river. Boats that used to carry barrels of port from upper Douro valley down to these cellars (Rabelo boats) now sit as advertisements for these cellars so no chance of missing them.
We opted for one of that had a good rating, not a boat. Welcome to Adrianos Ramos Pintos cellars! Fortunately, we arrived just a few minutes before the English tour was about to begin. What luck. And after the tour, you guessed it, tasting! Can’t wait.
RB Cellars entrance
Tourist Diva
Our guide started with a tour of the onsite museum where he explained who started the cellar (Ramos Pinto, no relation to the bean), and when (18th century), then on to show us the original office and private area of the man, the myth, the legend, Ramos Pinto. OK, not that dramatic.
But these are only cellars, the grapes are actually grown and harvested in the upper Douro valley about 100km from Porto. A lot of the vineyards are terraced because of the soil conditions which means the grapes are harvested by hand, not by machine. Once the grapes have been crushed, the product is shipped by truck to Vila Nova de Gaia where they are stored in oak barrels for aging. The “port” is aged anywhere from 5 years to 40 years.
Pinto advertising
Finished the tour, now on to the tasting. We sampled 3 types of port, white port, ruby port and USB port, sorry, tawny port. Damn spell check. Collette and I both liked the tawny port, less sweet than the white or ruby port, besides, tawny has a bit of a nasty sound to it, “a little tawny tonight,” doesn’t it. Not that we’re on our way to pick up a case, but it wasn’t bad. Still, give me a nice glass of burgundy and I’m happy.
So endeth the port cellar tour now off for some lunch at a non-tourist locale called “Piano.” Great reviews for snacks and wine, not port, so why not. We ordered a glass of wine each and the charcuterie board with olives and bread. Feeling pretty European today but not enough to order the cod cookies.
Look close, cod cookies!
Great selection, very tasty and not overly filling, and the wine was pretty good as well. Surprisingly enough, that was the day. Funny how time here seems to race by, just when we get started the day is over. 4pm and time to journey home but this time we’re taking the gondola up the hill. Yes, there are other ways to conquer some of the hills here in Porto. This one is a gondola and for 6EUR apiece, a ride all the way to the bridge. Nice! There’s also a funicular you can ride on the other side, not as fun.
Awesome gondola!
Ancient wall (14th century)
Funicular
Until tomorrow here’s some tired art.
Tired art