Planted in Porto

On Wednesday afternoon, we arrived in Porto a bit late (these are Portuguese trains, not Swiss Rail). With a bit of effort, we finally located our transfer driver outside the train station.  After another realization of why we don’t drive in Europe, we arrived at our hotel, checked in and went up to our room…

…where we found a note along with a couple of candies waiting on the bed for us.

Now, that’s something we’ve never gotten at a Motel 6!

Our room overlooked an Italian-themed restaurant. We went down and ordered a lasagne.  The waiter suggested a bottle of the Pacheca red wine.  He’d apparently visited the winery and said that they have rooms for overnight guests built into some of the huge wine barrels used to make ruby port. We’ll book a night there on our next trip to Portugal, I assured him.

After dinner, we walked along the riverfront walkway.  As we passed some folks dining on a narrow walkway above the river, Dianne heard them mention our travel agent’s name.  Yes, they were also on our cruise.

We continued onward, watching as lights lit up the Monastery of Serra do Pilar across the river…

…and the Saint Francis Church next to our hotel.