DAY 249

Friday 16 March 2012

Street art on the way to the mechanic

We were so lucky to have the protection of our good old Camp Madelena without having to pay to get in. The security guard watched over us (apparently) in the parking lot. We left at 9 AM and after getting a bit lost we went back to Auto Mechanica Madalena where we had our van's thumping and rattling noises assessed. While we waited Dian painted a "thanks for the service" sign which included the company's logo. When we presented it to the owner he seemed pleased.


After tightening the clutch and the brackets on our muffler, putting in two new fan belts and connecting the wires for our back up light, we paid the bill and left for our last visit to Porto.



It was so much fun to visit the caves in Gaia where the port wine houses age that good stuff. We hiked around the river area and climbed up to the top level of one of four bridges connecting the two cities,  where we had a fantastic view of all of Port and Gaia, including the monastery and its ancient walls.

Krohn Port House

In and around Gaia:

The ladder (we assumed) workers took to climb to the underbelly of the bridge

While Dian opted to cross on the bottom walkway of the bridge, Charles and Nicole preferred to take the high road and cross on top. After a long hike straight uphill, and the promise of much more windy trekking, they went back down and crossed the same way Dian had. She was surprised to see them so soon but they thought they had made the right choice.

Port side:

One of the "tourism police" stationed around the city of Port

Dian beckoning Charles and Nicole into the antique shop

When we climbed down the steep hills to the main street after a couple of wine tastings we were feeling no pain! An antique store sold Charles some cool old coins and an old 45 of John Entwistle. While we were there he gave us the last of his bottle of 1965 port, a rare treat none of us would forget.



The best part of the day though was when we walked into Sonia's Port House. We were on a quest for a 1952 bottle of port for Dian's brother Pat's 60th but everyone said it was a bad year (except for your birth, Pat.) We decided to buy a selection of ports and Sonia let us taste the truffles made of chocolate and port. The deal was sealed. We had to buy a box and promise her and her daughter Erica we would be sure to keep them cool and only have one while sipping our tawny and ruby ports.


When we got back to the beach we weren't able to see ANY other campers so we pulled up next to a campground  and Luis, the camp representative said we could sleep on the adjacent street while his security guard kept an eye on our van. So we started and ended the day the same way.

Mr. Sandeman