Porto and the Douro river with Port hauling boats
If you are looking to make a travel discovery, one that will encompass great natural beauty, delicious food and wines, wonderful welcoming people and much history, you might want to think about northern Portugal as a new destination. Porto and the north are often overlooked, perhaps for Lisbon, the beaches, and the Algarve in southern Portugal. But Porto and the Douro Valley, UNESCO World Heritage areas, are stunningly beautiful and delightful to visit. With only one million visitors per year, you will find much to discover, with fewer crowds and with very reasonable prices.
The northern Portugese are very hospitable and proud of
their heritage, their cultures, their traditions, their cuisine and their
famous wines, including their famous Port.
This area of Portugal
is rich with history, churches and monasteries, museums, castles, gardens and
wonderful architecture. And the steep
mountains of the Douro
Valley, with its
hand-tended vineyards can take your breath away
with its beauty. The Douro River
runs through the region and the city of Porto.
And, at sunset, you can begin to understand why the name – River of Gold
– is so on target.
Let’s start with the city of Porto, which has about two million inhabitants including the surrounding areas. Porto is the capital of the north and is one of the oldest cities in the country. You can take a tram to the mouth of the Douro River, get to know the beaches and the outdoor cafes and also see some modern buildings desogned by architects like Size Vieira or Rem Koolhaas.
The River is dotted with boats – some with visitors cruising;
others to remind us that barrels of wine were brought down the river in
picturesque boats years ago, before the roads were built. The area is hilly on both sides of the River,
and there are Port Wine Cellars in the hills.
You can enjoy Port Wine tastings from many producers and buy their
product in their adjoining stores. When
you go, you will learn about white, ruby, tawny, rose and late bottled vintage (LBV)
Port Wines. And you will see the methods
used to make these delicious wines are much the same as hundreds of years ago.
A few words about Port Wine, some call nectar of the
gods. Port wine has a richness and
intensity of aroma that is unique, with a high level of alcohol (between 19%
and 22% by volume). The LBVs are
considered by many to be the Crown Jewels of Port Wine.
The Douro Region is upstream from Porto, and the Douro River
winds through granite escarpments and terraces of schist. These steep mountains
have been tended for hundreds of years by hand.
The Douro region is the FIRST
DEMARCATED AND REGULATED WINE REGION IN THE WORLD! This area produces Port, excellent DOC Douro
wine, sparkling wine and Muscat.
It was established by decree in 1765 by the Marquis of Pombal and classified as
a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2001.
Among the producers who offer tastings in Porto
are: Calem, Sandeman, Croft, Porto Cruz, Offley, and many others. If you are interested in the history and technical
aspects of Port Wine, you can visit the Port Institute of Wine and the Port Wine Museum, which are dedicated to the important role Port
Wine has made in the history of the region and of Porto.
The Rabelo boats, on the river, remind us of their history of moving barrels
through this region to the city of Porto.
We visited three Port Wine producers: Calem, Sandeman and
Porto Cruz. Sandeman’s presentation was
the most’corporate’ and least personal, although their wines were
delicious. Sandeman was founded in 1790
in London, and was one of the first to label and
advertise its wines. It has used the iconic black caped man as a trademark
since the 1930s. The vineyards are
harvested in September each year for all the producers.
Calem was founded in 1859 by Antonio Alves Calem. It is a major producer and has a wonderful
tour of its history and cellar. Calem
has a delightful tasting room, and will offer most visitors three Ports, with one
a vintage.
Porto Cruz is another experience altogether. Located at Largo Miguel Bombarda, 23,Villa
Nova de Gaia (on the opposite side of the Douro
River from Porto
is Gaia).
Porto Cruz has a multimedia experience for the visitor,
allowing one to determine from various questions asked, which Port Wine would
be their favorite. There is a wine shop,
an exhibition of art, a restaurant and Terrace Lounge 360 on the roof, offering
stunning views of Porto. Porto Cruz offers Port Wine tastings, along with
cheeses and chocolates. They also offer
Port Wine workshops with lunch. The food
in the restaurant is fantastic! And they also suggest using Port Wine in
cocktails. My favorite was Cruz
Mandarina, Cruz Pink with Tangerine and Basil.
Yum! They also pair Cruz White
with Ginger, Rosemary and Tonic Water.
Very refreshing!
There is a charm about the cafes on the River, an invitation
to take a stroll and stop when the desire strikes. In addition to boat tours,
and the tram, you can take bus tours and visit the Old
Town area of Porto. There is also the Guindais Funicular, a fun
way to reach the top of the city for views. From a Rabelo boat, you can see the
six bridges of the city. You can visit
the Sao Francisco
Church, the Stock
Exchange Palace, and for contrast, the Casa da Musica and the Museum of Modern
Art of Serralves. A new (four years old)
cable car can also entice the visitor to see Porto
from above, moving over the river, looking down on boats and people walking.
A beautiful building is the Stock Exchange Palace, which
started to be built in 1842. It is a magnificent
building, with a unique room, The Arabian Room, begun in 1862. It was designed
by Goncalves de Sousa, following the model of the Alhambra
Palace in Grenada.
A visit to the Church
of S. Francisco is
worthwhile. This is one of the most
significant Baroque works in Portugal. It has three naves, covered with gilt carving
from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
There is a beautiful wall painting of Nossa Senhora da Rosa on the
inside of the church.
The Soares dos Reis
National Museum
was the first art museum in Portugal. It is in the Carrancas Palace
and has a large collection of paintings from Romanticism, Naturalism,
and Symbolism movements, and it also has a room dedicated to
the sculpture of Soares dos Reis. A
floor is dedicated to Portugese decorative arts, including jewelry, furniture,
ceramics, and two exceptional Namban screens.
For a wonderful view of the Douro River,
you can visit the Palacio de Cristal gardens, designed by the landscape
architect Emile David in the nineteenth century. These gardens have fountains, allegoric
statues and many species of flora. From
the garden is a passageway to the Romantic
Museum, which is a
recreation of a bourgeois home from the nineteenth century.
The Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art is the most
important artistic cultural institution in the north of Portugal. It was inaugurated in 1999 and comprises 18
hectors, with a house, a contemporary art museum and a vast green area with
trees, formal gardens, farm land, a rose garden and a lake. The museum was designed by Alvaro Siza. The house, designed by Marques da Silva, is
ART DECO. The gardens were designed by
the French landscaper, Jacques Greber in 1932 and are considered one of Portugal’s
most remarkable of its kind in the twentieth century.
Porto’s Historical Centre
is Ribeira and is the oldest part of the city.
It was classified as World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 1996. Traces of the medieval origins of the city can
be found here. At the Praca da Ribeira, from where cruises depart, you can see
where history and the present meet.
As you can tell, there are many things to see and enjoy in Porto. You can
explore on foot, by boat, by tramway, by bus, by mini-train, by funicular
railway or the metro. Any way you
choose, you will be sure to relax as you take in the beauty of this wonderful
city.
Maria Reveley
Maria.Kampe@TheWineHub.com
