A taste of Port...o

Listening to the wind blowing through the rigging and grinning our teeth at the whistling of the neighbor's windgenerator, we feel lucky for being in safe harbor tonight. A south wind blows 25 to 30 knots and a good amount of rain already soaked several times my laundry trying to dry on the line. We left the Ria de Vigo, via a little stop at Bayona, on its south side to get some diesel with the last north wind, very weak to none before the arriving of a low pressure which brought us the first bad weather in six weeks.

Lexoeis is a refuge harbor with a marina squeezed at the end of the commercial harbor protected by a huge jetty. Dirty and smelly so close to the fishing harbor, it has however a certain appeal if not charm. It is more lively, actif, more genuine than the usual marina, far from any upper class or nouveau riches ambiance. And then Porto is not far, 5 km and we can forget the sordid surrounding of the marina. It is the third time I come to Porto, 22 years in between. ..Nothing have changed really downtown. We stumbled over huge plazas with mighty sculptures of some saints or forgotten explorers, churches at every corner. Having a glance at the Douro down ill, we decided to get closer to it and took one of the multiple narrow streets which end up in winding steep steps, over 6 century old, wondering what we gone find round the next curve. One run down façade of a former mighty house joins a neat typical ceramic tile wall from the next house as old as the steps themselves. We soon arrived at the water front where the majestic Eiffel bridge steps over the river Douro. The laundry dries hanging from the balconies just above the head of the tourists eating at the terrace of restaurants. The small non appealing little restaurants which advertised economic menus at 3 euros are back to back with the more select ones offering to the tourist the same menu twice or three times the price.

The cellars of Port wine are a big touristic attractions now days and I have nostalgic memories of some visits at Sandeman Port cellar where the wine was largely offered for tasting with no charge. Without my parents noticing it at first, I also tasted some nice vintages...I was six years old. Now the tasting is not free in most of the big houses. But, why paying when that can be found free some streets up the hill in another big cellar where it is harder to get so less visited by the mass. We always prefer back streets to the more flashy touristic streets of a big city.

So we had our free visit and free tasting in the cellars Croft. And a dish of the day at 3 euro 50 with some crisp vinho verde in front of the river close to the big Sandeman Port cellar was perfect. Porto has charmed me once again. It is a town full of treasure at each corner of its sinewy streets. It is lively and its people genuine, friendly and welcoming.

Meanwhile as we are stuck here by the weather, we use the advantage of a marina, the electricity, to start some improvements to the chart table, redesign it to fit the computer safely.