The alarm went off at 2am on Sunday 17 August, we’d purchased another cheap deal through 
Ryanair departing at 6:35am and because the “tube” doesn’t start running until approx 5:30am we needed to catch a 30 minute night bus and then a 90 minute coach to the airport. Fun times! We arrived into Porto, Portugal at 9am local time and were easily able to find our hotel. We stayed in Porto for 4 nights - it was really relaxing and we spent time exploring the picturesque town which is built around a section of the lovely Duoro river.
We spent a day on a boat doing a Duoro Valley crui
se which was really beautiful. There were no other English speaking people on board which was interesting! We got to pass through two dams which was pretty exciting. You go into it then wait, the “door” gets closed slowly and then the water level rises lifting up the boat, approx 15 metres, it’s really strange and then you go out the other side - pretty exciting for two people that haven’t spent much time on the water anyway.
We spent two of our afternoons at the beach, it was a 30 minute bus ride from where we were staying in the old town but it was totally worth it, although our pasty white bodies stuck out like a sore thumb! We discovered ready-made sangria (in a carton!) and cheap wine at supermarkets for silly cheap prices like €1-€3! We did a port tour and tasting at Grahams Port. Porto has many port producers and the Duoro valley is the only place in the world that can produce the correct grapes for the port. We ate out every night, nothing flashy but Portugal is pretty cheap so we got to enjoy lovely views on the waterfront. On our last morning we had to get up at 6:30am and take two trains to reach Santiago de Compostella, our first stop in sunny Spain.
Ryanair departing at 6:35am and because the “tube” doesn’t start running until approx 5:30am we needed to catch a 30 minute night bus and then a 90 minute coach to the airport. Fun times! We arrived into Porto, Portugal at 9am local time and were easily able to find our hotel. We stayed in Porto for 4 nights - it was really relaxing and we spent time exploring the picturesque town which is built around a section of the lovely Duoro river.We spent a day on a boat doing a Duoro Valley crui
se which was really beautiful. There were no other English speaking people on board which was interesting! We got to pass through two dams which was pretty exciting. You go into it then wait, the “door” gets closed slowly and then the water level rises lifting up the boat, approx 15 metres, it’s really strange and then you go out the other side - pretty exciting for two people that haven’t spent much time on the water anyway.We spent two of our afternoons at the beach, it was a 30 minute bus ride from where we were staying in the old town but it was totally worth it, although our pasty white bodies stuck out like a sore thumb! We discovered ready-made sangria (in a carton!) and cheap wine at supermarkets for silly cheap prices like €1-€3! We did a port tour and tasting at Grahams Port. Porto has many port producers and the Duoro valley is the only place in the world that can produce the correct grapes for the port. We ate out every night, nothing flashy but Portugal is pretty cheap so we got to enjoy lovely views on the waterfront. On our last morning we had to get up at 6:30am and take two trains to reach Santiago de Compostella, our first stop in sunny Spain.
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