Day 7 - Port tasting, river cruise and fireworks!

We filled our last day in Porto with so many fun things! We started with a port tasting tour at a small family owned winery, called Augustus. It had been in a single family for 3 generations and most of the employees were still family members.  What was especially nice about this tour was they offered an option of port or chocolate tasting, so I got to enjoy the chocolate while the rest enjoyed the port. 

Everyone got to taste 3 different ports after learning more about their aging process.

Port has a demarcated economic region in northern Portugal along the Douro River.  Only wines that originate in this region on the map can legally be called "Port".  Just like Champagne from Champagne France is the only "real champagne" and the rest is sparkling wine, and parmasean cheese originates in Parma Italy. 

Our guide shared that Port is aged in oak barrels from France, Canada or the US.  They are used for a limited time, then sold to whisky distilleries to flavor the aging whisky. 

Color changes not just from white or red grapes, but also how long it is aged.  Our guide was so good with reading colors that when we had mixed up glasses from the tasting and were trying to decide which one was which, he just held it up to the light and said "this is the tawny or the 20...".

I asked our guide about the image of climate change on the grapes and he said it had had a real impact.  There is an expert panel that independently determines whether the wine and port in a given year is "vintage" or not (meaning excellent or top quality).  Normally there are vintage years every 3-4 years, but they had not had a vintage year in more than a decade. 

On our way down from the bridge to the river, we passed a lot of roofs that were connected.  These were all storage warehouses for port. 

This was a historic riverboat used to bring the port down the river from the vineyards.  We saw some video footage from the river and there is some whitewater rapids, so it is an adventurous ride to do with a boat full of wine casks.  I think these are just advertisements for various vineyards now.  There were several along the water front, all branded. 

Our visit happened to coincide with the peak of sardine season, which is a really big deal in Portugal.  They are harvested May - Oct, but June is the traditional peak time of the season.  People will grill them over charcoal and serve them whole on top of bread.  

David and Scott both decided to try this out when we walked past a cafe that was grilling fish out front.  They were super fresh (and according to them - also delicious).

What we didn't realize when we booked our trip was that we would be in Porto during Saint John's Festival (Festa de Sao Joao do Porto) on June 23.  It has been celebrated for over 600 years.  The celebrations have no real religious connections today, they are just a big city-wide party.  As we walked around in the morning and early afternoon, we saw a large number of vendor selling handcrafted items, and weirdly, these plastic bopper hammers.  Our guide at the port warehouse told us not to be surprised or offended if total strangers bopped us on the head today.  It was all in good fun.  Little did we know what was coming at the end of the day!

We had arranged for a sunset river cruise at the end of the day.  Scott was torn about which tour to pick and eventually selected one that was based off a pier upstream.  We weren't sure quite what size boat we would be on.  We made our way to the docks and were amused to find this group of young people getting ready to cruise the river with TV mounted to the front of the boat to watch the Portuguese team play in the world cup.  It looked like quite a party!

This was our boat!  There were a total of 10 of us and we all squeezed on the front deck.   

I took one of the bean bags on the prow and was super content as we cruised down river toward the sea. 

Our host was very social and talk a lot about the history of the city.  The ride was nice and slow, giving us plenty of time to look at the party building on both sides of the river along the walks.

The inflatable pylons that had been used for the Red Bull air races a few days previously had been replaced with at least 10 of the pirotecina barges, loaded with fireworks for midnight. 

They managed to pile a lot of explosives on these barges!

Although the day had been cloudy, the sun peaked under the clouds as it was setting, giving us a pretty cruise. 

Its a little hard to fully appreciate how packed the river banks were, but we were content to be on our boat instead of in the press of revelers on shore.

This was a new bridge under construction.  Our guide said it was scheduled to be complete next year, but his prediction given other projects was that it would take 5 years. 

The mouth of the Douro River.  According to tradition, after the fireworks at midnight, everyone along the river walks all the way to the Foz at the ocean front to splash in the water at sunrise.

Our guide shared port with everyone (and I got "nectar of the Gods" which was actually current juice). 

The sun was setting as the 2 hr ride finished.  We decided to walk back to our apartment along the river and check out the festival underway. 

The lights started coming up on the bridge and as we got closer to the center.

Soon we started seeing lighted paper lanterns drifting into the sky all over the city.

The lanterns were actually fire resistant fabric, not paper, with little parafin-like burners at the base.  We decided we had to have one too and bought one from a vendor to launch off our apartment patio.

We climbed 250 stairs from the river front to the top of the city, getting bobbed by friendly hammer-wielding strangers the entire way.  Words can really convey the chaos and fun of the celebration.  Streets were closed all over the old city, including near our apartment.  People were dancing, drinking, and having a great time. 

We returned to a yummy chacuterie board that we ate on the patio, surrounded by floating lanterns.  So magical!

We knew we had to stay up till midnight to see all the fireworks.  They were spectacular!  And I was glad to be able to see them from our patio instead of being in the press of humanity along the river front.  We did not go to the ocean to splash in the water at sunrise, instead we headed to bed for an early departure by train in the morning.