Monday, 6 March 2023
We left Newark Liberty Airport
at 12:15 am on TAP Air Portugal for the nearly 7-hour flight to Porto, Portugal. Checking in was an experience. They were carefully weighing all the luggage AND the carry-ons! Many people were rearranging their belongings to make the scales balance - we passed the first time.
The airplane food was unremarkable, the choice of a chicken dish or cheese tortellini, but the wine was free! Looking back that the trip’s food experiences, the airline food was a huge disappointment.
When we arrived in Porto and cleared immigration and customs, the car, arranged for us by the hotel, was ready and waiting.
We were able to promptly check right into the Eurostar Heroismo Hotel.
After getting settled, we took a walk to find lunch at Dona Mira (meals will be described on my “Dining with Barney” blog) a lovely little cafe with toasts and sandwiches.
Returning to the hotel we rested until it was time to walk to dinner. We learned firsthand that Porto is situated on hills at the top of cliffs leading to the Duoro River. The weather had also turned drizzly - a condition that would remain most of our time in Porto.
Along the route, we stopped at the Miradouro das Fontainhas.
Miradouro means “viewpoint” - we will have lots of these this week. This lead us to a long set of stairs to the river. Along the walk, we also saw the Funicular dos Guindais.
The Dom Luís I Bridge is a double-deck metal arch bridge, with a total length of 385 meters (1,263 feet) and a height of 85 meters (279 feet) above the Douro River. The upper deck is used by pedestrians and the metro system, while the lower deck is used by pedestrians.
It was designed by Belgian engineer Théophile Seyrig, who was a student and colleague of Gustave Eiffel. Construction began in 1881 and was completed in 1886.
Dinner reservations were at Restaurante o Terreirinho. This was our first encounter with specific, but unclear google walking instructions.
The intent was to walk along the busy restaurant-lined Ribeira do Porto; turn into an alley; turn into another alley; turn up a flight of stairs and arrive. We did walk in a small spiral but were directed to an alternate alley for the approach.
Here we had a wonderful dinner. Again complete meal details are on the other blog.
The Funicular closed at 8 pm so we had to find another way back to the hotel: a 4€ trip on Uber!
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