Trixie Traveler in Portugal: Exploring Porto

We had a lovely day today! The weather was gorgeous especially compared to cloudy, rainy conditions of yesterday. We had a leisurely breakfast in the hotel dining room. The breakfast buffet was fantastic!! Hard to choose among the many delicious options! Took a taxi to the Tourist Information center across from City Hall and found the Internet cafe mentioned in Rick Steves book hoping that Kathy could take the half hour online class required by Kaiser but it didn't work. Hotel wifi is not fast enough.

Walked downhill to the Clėrigos Tower where Kathy, John and Dave climbed the 225 steps to see the view. I didn't mind at all waiting in a little park across the street and doing a little sketching. After that, we walked downhill to the Stock Exchange, no longer a stock exchange, but a magnificent building built by the Association of Commerce (Porto is known as a center of commerce) to show civic pride and honor to Porruguese workers who have worked hard and accomplished much (something like that). We get tickets for the 2:00 tour and then get lunch in a nearby square. It is good food and just what we want. Our tour guide is a delightful person who uses humor in her presentation. She speaks five languages! We go through magnificent room after room ending in a Moorish style room with intricate filigree work and lots and lots of gold. This room is still used for ceremonies and for concerts.

We take a 50 minute boat ride on the Duoro River where we get beautiful views of the six Porto bridges. It is a perfect day to do this. The sky is blue with big white fluffy clouds, perfect for picture taking. I see the colorful houses hanging along the hillside. This is just as I have always pictured Portugal.

We get gelato and then take a taxi back to the hotel where we make use of the pool and have a drink at the outdoor bar in our fluffy white robes provided by the hotel. This is the life! We have had such a nice relaxing day.

We take a taxi to dinner in the Ribeira (old town) district and find a restaurant right in the river - Restaurante Mercearia. For some reason, this restaurant is not as busy as some of the many others along the river but we enjoy it immensely. We have a nice table upstairs where it is not at all crowded, is quiet and has a view of the river. Our waiter is fun and we enjoy joking with him. Kathy tells him that it is Dave's and my 50th anniversary but he has limited English and keeps saying happy birthday, then indicates e has a surprise for us. Sure enough, he brings a piece of cheesecake with a candle and starts singing Happy Birthday using a ukekele he picks up from a table nearby. A fado singer, one of those people who go around and sing at tables and you pay him something is singing at the next table. Our waiter asks him to come over and sing a song for my birthday so he starts singing Happy Birthday. Kathy gets across to him that we have been married 50 years and he gets it. Says he has been married 21. I ask if he knows a love song in Portuguese and he does. We join in on the chorus - la, la, la, etc. we are making the most of our anniversary, aren't we? Finally, to cap off a lovely evening, we figure we better get a glass of port since we are in the home of Porto.

We walk along the river which is lively with diners, drinkers, and street performers. A taxi takes us back to the hotel. Taxis are so cheap here! It has been a lovely day!