Porto

Magnificent drive today. Portugal has huge variety in scenery and this drive gave us a taste of all of it. 

We went from sweeping mountains to steep terraced vineyards to rocky rolling hills a la Mudgee Gulgong till we arrived at the Mateus family estate. The home of the famous Rose from seventies parties in Oz, the first sight of the home is the famous label on that weird bottle. 

We walked the gardens and Pedro demonstrated his horticulture knowledge, so vast, a bottomless pit of leaf varieties, soil acidity, root depth. This was a hell of a garden. There was a forty metre Murray gum tree and I said hello to him and checked that they were treating him ok. He didn't say much. Hope he is ok.

Next the town of Guimaraes. This was the first capital of Portugal when the hero Adolfus began to drive back The Moors regaining the land for the Catholic Church, first forming something like the current nation of Portugal. The town is a world heritage site and another absolute cracker. Beautifully kept, lovely cafes, restored medieval homes and city walls, just stunning. In Portugal these places are not overrun by tourists, there are lots of locals living their lives so you don't feel like you are in an amusement park. There were art students scattered all around sketching the architecture in the sun, great smells from the bakeries and the cafes and a sense of calm. 

Oh, and another thing. These people are friendly. Not in a "give me your tourist dollar" sort of a way, but genuine. Helpful and kind. 

Great lunch.

Then onto Porto.

Tour of this fascinating city was led by a local guide who was, once more funny. Not, pathetic touristy obvious funny. But actually funny. The story of how she led a German tour group and mistook the word "reception" for "conception" and implied that Thatcher and Mugabe used the elaborate room we were in for horizontal Cha Cha was hilarious. 

Porto. Wow!!

It has everything that Venice, Milan, etc has but low key Portugeuse magnificence. History, a beautiful harbour, old granite medieval homes crowded in around the water. My favourite place. Regional dinner by the beach, food ok, company good.

Our next day gave us a whole afternoon of free time, so we first of all used the wifi in Maccas to follow the State of Origin. Winners!! Yay. 

Visited the cafe and the book store that inspired JK Rowling. 

It is the sort of city that you could imagine inspiring a writer, there is something romantic and mysterious about the place. After a brilliant day we cruised the Douro and had a nice meal. 

(The Eiffel Bridge)

There are some really interesting people on the tour. Micheal the writer from California, Judy from Canada, Mike an ex NFL player, a massive man and I sat next to Rob tonight also from the U.S. He did his research paper for his PHD in Australia and NZ on the Union Labor movement and writes for a folk roots publication. He interviewed Eric Bogle twice and is a huge fan. He told a great story about being in a little music pub in remote Scotland where a really talented guitarist joined in with the musos. He wanted to interview the guy.

"So what's your name?"

"John Williams."

"Oh."

Really enjoyed the night of stimulating conversation on politics, music, travel, Ireland, Scotland. Gave the red wine a real nudge and I am paying for it today. Good warm up for Ireland, though. 

Just need to write down pedros story. We visited Bucaco the site of a battle where the Portugeuse and English under Wellington beat Napoleons army. The way he told this was hilarious. The king of Portugal was told by Napoleon that if he kept allowing the poms to use the ports he would invade. Napoleon told the Spanish if they helped he would give them Portugal. The Portugeuse king wrote a letter to Napoleon and said "no" then wrote a letter to England and said "help" (said in tiny squeaky voice) then racked off to Brazil taking 25 days to load the boats with Lusitanian horses, pianos, chandeliers, sisters, cousins and aunts, saying to himself "I think we will win" Well with the help of Wellington they did, at the battle of Bucaco. We visited the convent, now a palace, where Wellington waged the battle from the upper slopes of the forest. The nuns said he woke at 5, breakfast at 7 then a day on the battlefield, returning at 5 for dinner at 7. "  I am only telling you this cause Portugal won. If we didn't I would be telling you this in Spanish."