Swallow's adventures

On 20 October 2016 at 0930 Swallow, Millie and Lotta departed Viana do Costelo for Leixoes; the swinging bridge was raised and the ebbing tide took us out of the river at 7.5 knots. The wind was once again benign and the sun was highlighting the ripples on the softly undulating sea. The mountainous coastline has now changed to one which is lined with houses and trees. The breeze started to pick up which churned up the soft aroma of the sea; a jet flew overhead giving us that 'holiday' feeling. All very relaxing and pleasurable until 1500 when Lotta radioed us to inform us of thick fog ahead. We were then in heavy concentration mode looking out for pot buoys and watching the AIS screen for other vessels; as we approached the entrance to Leixoes harbour the screen became a mass of red triangles! We tied up at 1630 to a very bouncy pontoon. We planned to be here for five days as heavy storms were predicted; we didn't mind too much as we were keen to visit Porto from here.
Leixoes itself is not particularly pretty but the people are friendly and the transport links to Porto are good; on Saturday we took the bus from outside the marina into Porto (a 40 minute journey). Porto is a charming, lively, vibrant place, in fact, positively buzzing; the architecture is impressive, the locals are friendly, the streets are clean(although somewhat hilly), the food is delicious and lastly, but not least, the many varieties of port are outstandingly moorish. We met up with Paul's daughter, Alex, and her friends for a port cocktail in the Majestic Café, opened in 1921 with an art nouveau style - a touch of luxury. We spent the afternoon wondering around the multi-coloured, granite set streets; there was a plethora of sights to see around every corner that we turned. We came across the Livreria Lello; this amazing book shop has a neo-gothic style façade and the 'Harry Potter' staircase which inspired J.K.Rowling. We finished off the evening with a typically Portuguese meal and got soaked to the skin on the way home as the rain was coming down like stair rods; all that night and the next day the boat was constantly rocking and rolling to the beat of the storm - this did not help my hangover!!!
On Monday we returned to Porto to visit the south bank of the river Duoro; we walked past the imposing cathedral and then across the impressive Ponte de D.Luis bridge (the tram can also take you across) and then took the cable car down to where the port caves are; needless to say, we sampled some of the local nectar. On our way back over the bridge we witnessed a flaming scene of a lovely old derelict building on fire We then wandered around the old streets of Ribeira and enjoyed lunch overlooking the river; we visited the 18th century Dispatch House with its catacombs and the Church of St Francis, the most prominent gothic monument in Porto, the Baroque interior is beautiful. There is a rather unnerving viewing plate in Dispatch House where you can see the piles of bones below.
All in all we were enthralled with Porto and will definitely visit again once settled in Lisbon.