Portugal River Cruise Day 3: Porto to Regua with Guimaraes Excursion

Wednesday, May 27: Porto Early Morning, Visiting the Historic Center of Portugal

My morning walk along the Douro River took me in the opposite direction along a boardwalk towards a beach area, and I encountered some interesting water fowl along the way as well as a lovely sunrise when I got back to the boat. 

After breakfast, we boarded a very full coach with a combination of French-speaking and English-speaking passengers, so I was able to listen to the French tour guide as we drove to Guimaraes, our primary destination for the morning excursion. We then split into two groups, and the English-speaking cluster was only 12 people today (yesterday was 15 but our three table companions opted out of this excursion), so being in the smaller group was quite lovely. We learned about the history of Portugal and why this area is considered the historic center of the country, which is also why almost all schoolchildren come to visit the Duke's Palace during elementary school (and we saw three groups of kids during our tour!). Much of the current buidling is a reconstruction and "best guess" of what the structure looked like several centuries ago, but it was still interesting to tour and learn more about the country's evolution.

After our tour of the palace, we strolled down towards the port and had some free time before boarding the bus to meet up with the boat, which had sailed from Porto to Leverino. Shortly after we re-embarked, the boat left again on its way to Regua as we had lunch and passed through one of the five navigable locks on the Douro River.

Unfortunately, the lock passage timing didn't align well for me to attend all of my French yoga class (8am PT = 4pm Portugal time), but I was able to join about 20 minutes late once we were through the lock and the wifi connection was more stable. After yoga, Mr. E and I headed to the Lounge for the Portuguese lesson with Elodie, which was quite charming and helpful. The ship arrived in Regua before our 7:30pm dinner began. Since L and I asked for lighter desserts, we both got an artfully prepared pear rather than the almond cake. So lovely that the kitchen staff is so accommodating and thoughtful for dietary restrictions!