Porto – the bar has been set!

If only travel between countries were simple – like the good ol’ days pre-Brexit when a British passport opened borders throughout Europe and counting days spent in each Schengen country was a task left for those who held passports from outside the EU block…..   A British passport is now only useful in the UK and, in fact a New Zealand passport carries a lot more weight when travelling in Europe.   Most European countries are part of the Schengen “block” agreement, which means that when moving between countries in the “block”, you are able to spend a total of 90 in every 180 days in the Schengen region.   This means that, if travelling for more than 90 days, you need to find another country outside the “block to spend time for at least another 90 days before you can re-enter the Schengen region.    However, whether by clever negotiation or as an afterthought, New Zealand passport holders are treated differently.   New Zealanders are able to spend 90 days in each Schengen country but, as this is not widely publicised and is done at the discretion of each country, we wrote to the embassies of all the places we intended to visit and asked them to confirm whether they would honour this agreement.   France and Spain confirmed our understanding was correct but Portugal did not respond.   This meant we needed to do some quick calculations and enter into the “Schengen Shuffle” that a lot of yachties now participate in!

When we check out of Portugal we will need to show we have not stayed for more than 90 days in the Schengen region, so our time in Spain will be included in these 90 days.  This meant that the longer we stayed in Spain, the less time we could have in Portugal and we needed to spend more time in Portugal to make sure we could “bank” our days in Spain for when we head to The Canaries later in the year.   Are you still with me?    Taking all this into consideration we decided to leave Spain, following a last-ditch attempt to get an answer from the Portuguese embassy and despite missing out on some places we had particularly wanted to visit.  

The weather was changing and a southerly blow was forecast which would last for a few days, so we decided to leave while the winds were still northerly and head south towards Porto.   We left our quiet anchorage early and, with the main sail up, motored through the Islas Cies heading out to sea and leaving Spain behind in the hazy morning light.   We set a course which would take us 20 miles out to sea, as we wanted to avoid the fishing pots that are dotted along the Portuguese coastline and to try and find the stronger winds that were forecast further out to sea.  The wind was very light, which meant our 80 mile trip would be very slow if we intended sailing all the way and, as the southerly change was coming, we had to motor for much longer than either of us wanted.   Eventually the promised wind came and we were able to turn off the engine and have a good sail on a poled-out jib with a large pod of dolphins for company.  

I never tire of dolphins.  I love being on the forward deck. hanging over the rails so I see and hear these beautiful creatures.   They continually darted in front of our bow, narrowly missing the hull as they dodged from one side of the boat to the other.   Every so often they would turn on their side and peer up at me as they gently flipped their tail and sped along beside us.   There were families of dolphins of different sizes and it seemed like the sea was boiling with them – everywhere we looked there were dolphins.  It was a wonderful sight.

Over the last year there have been several reported incidents with Orcas “attacking” yachts along the Portuguese and Spanish coasts.   We had heard of three incidents in the last few days where a pod of Orca seemed to deliberately ram boats resulting in the yachts being damaged and having to be rescued and towed into port.   When seeing a dorsal fin approaching at speed, I must admit there are a few seconds of anxiety before, on realising we are being visited by dolphins, the nervousness is quickly replaced by exhilaration!

As we approached our destination and headed closer to shore, we had to both be on watch to navigate through the slalom of fishing buoys, many of which had long poles with a flag on top, but several had these missing so sharp eyes were needed to ensure we didn’t run over any!   We even encountered fishing buoys in 200m of water over 10 miles from the shore!  

We entered the protected harbour of Leixoes in the late afternoon and joined three other boats to spend our first night in Portugal on anchor outside the marina.   In the morning we checked into the small marina and headed into Porto on the metro.   

From the moment we left the metro station, I was in love with Porto.  We climbed the steps from the underground station and in front of us was an old church covered in a pale blue and white mosaic.   The gothic building with these vibrant, fresh colours took my breath away and as we turned around we discovered more beautiful buildings all around five stories tall and mostly had their façade covered in patterned green, blue or yellow tiles.   We had come to Porto with no expectations as we had read or heard very little about it, but within minutes of being in the city we knew this was a place we wanted to spend time in and really get to know.   

We booked a walking tour and met our guide, Eugenia, early one cool, morning in the centre of Porto.  Eugenia was born in Porto and obviously loved her city as she passionately and expertly guided us around her home town, taking us to places off the normal tourist trail and opening our eyes, hearts and minds to this wonderful city.   It was not until the late 1990’s that work began in Porto to refurbish and save the many historic buildings that line the Douro River, when the city centre was classified as a National Monument of Portugal and therefore protected from mass development and saved many of the derelict buildings from being knocked down and replaced.   This meant refurbishing and saving buildings is a very slow and expensive process as there are very strict guidelines and requirements that need to be met, but the result is a beautiful city that has history at every step.  Sadly, the downfall of this is that many of the buildings are now in foreign ownership and there are still large areas of the city where buildings are derelict.    Many may argue that a city should be able to grow and change with the times, otherwise all you are creating in a living museum, but I would argue that an ancient city is one to be treasured and respected.  I believe cities like Porto are more vibrant and economically viable because their historic buildings have been preserved and respected, making it a city people enjoy living in and visiting.  

The history of Porto dates back to 300BC and became a significant port in Roman times.  In 711 it fell under the control of the Moors until it became a centre for Christianity in 868.   For the next few hundred years the city prospered due to shipbuilding, the port and the production of port wine.   The grapes are still grown further up the Douro valley and brought to Porto to be made into Port where the climate is more temperate than the hot summers and cold winters of mid-Portugal.

The buildings in Porto follow many styles from Romanesque and classical to Art Deco and Baroque.   Every turn in the narrow granite cobbled streets had another spectacular vista, building, monument or point of interest which resulted in me being lost for words (if you know me, you’d know that’s quite unusual!), except for saying, “Wow” over and over again.  

Highlights for us were the central city train station with its incredible tiled interior depicting the stages of public transport through the ages; Sao Francisco Church with its incredible baroque interior; the beautiful narrow streets and colourful houses in the old town; The vibrant riverside area of Ribeira, crammed with historic buildings; Ponte Luiz I, Porto’s answer to the Harbour Bridge, designed by the engineer who built The Eifel Tower creating a perfect link to Gaia on the other side of the Rio Douro.   Finally I have to mention the bakeries which are crammed with the most delicious pastries in particular the pastel del nata – a custard tart which became our reward if we had, were going to, or thought we might, walk 10,000 steps – well, that was our excuse to buy one anyway!  

We spent three nights in the marina at Leixoes so we could do some essential boat jobs – change the engine and gearbox oil, change the oil filter, put another layer of varnish on the cockpit table and a few touch-up points in the saloon, scrub the boat and the dinghy and service the watermaker.   With all this achieved, we anchored outside the marina close to the seawall which separated the protected port from a long sandy beach and we could hear the surf crashing on the sand on the other side of the wall.  

On a visit into Porto we noticed a yacht anchored right in the heart of the city on The River Douro.  We went to the river bank to have a closer look and accosted a maritime police officer who was passing by!   We asked if we could also anchor there and he said, “of course…” as if it was the most stupid question anyone had ever asked him!  Filled with excitement at the prospect of spending a few nights in the heart of the city, we returned to the boat and left our anchorage in Leixoes the next morning.  

We sailed down the coast five miles and turned into the mouth of The River Douro.  Once behind the seawall the swell that swept us into the river, calmed down and we slowly made our way up the river.   It was 2hours from high tide and we passed under the very high Ponte de Arrabida with about 40m to spare – even so your eyes to deceive you on the approach and it almost looked like we weren’t going to fit under the long single spanned bridge!    We dropped the anchor behind the boat we’d seen the day before, beside two large pleasure boats which were tied to the wall and the police officer had assured us were currently out of commission.    We were just outside the main channel in about 5m of water, directly infront of Sao Francisco Cathedral and within site of Pont De Luis I, surrounded by colourful buildings on both sides of the river.  We spent the day on the boat making sure the anchor was secure as we swung around our anchor when river traffic passed us and the tide changed.   It was not the quietest or calmest anchorage we’ve had, but it certainly was the most exciting and vibrant!

We spent a week on our anchorage in the centre of the city, leaving the dinghy chained up in a public slipway in Ribeira while we continued to explore Porto visiting a different location every day.  One morning we visited the beautiful Livraria Lello, one of the world’s oldest bookstores, opening in 1906, and thought to have been an inspiration for JK Rowling when creating Hogwarts.   There are normally long queues to get in so we arrived 30 minutes before they opened and didn’t have to wait long before being herded into the small store.   The inside is stunning – floor to high ceiling bookshelves lined with old and new books, stocked by staff wheeling a large trolley along a carriage track imbedded in the wooden floor.   In the centre of the room is a large forked spiral staircase which takes you to a galleried upper level with the most beautiful stained glass skylight.   We then climbed the 240 steps of Clerigos Tower, built of marble in the mid-1700’s for a spectacular view of the city and surrounding countryside.

Of course, it is impossible to avoid mentioning Port and we visited one of the many cellars that are on the south bank of the River Douro in Gaia, overlooking the city.   The fortified wine is produced and made in the Douro valley and transported down to the cellars to be stored, matured and bottled.   There are very strict regulations around producing Port and only wine produced from The Douro Valley can be termed as Port. 

As Covid numbers started to rise again in Porto new regulations came into force which meant either a vaccination certificate or negative covid test had to be shown before going inside a restaurant, café or bar.  We heard that evening curfews were starting, but getting information was difficult as we didn’t know how to access local news.   Sadly, it was time for us to leave this beautiful city and continue south to explore Portugal further as we had heard there were lots of other beautiful locations ahead of us.