Day 36 - Saturday 27th May 2023

This evening, we'd be starting our tour with Back Roads Touring, A Taste of Camino: Porto to Bilbao. The tour starts from the Hotel Catalonia Porto where we've been staying for the last couple of nights.

The forecast for today was for showers but on closer inspection of the app, it seemed likely they would be in the evening rather than during the day. There was also a warning about a possible thunderstorm.

It would be a pity if there was a storm tomorrow night because it might put a damper on the Robbie Williams concert. They had started setting up the stage for the concert when we reached Porto. It was located on the wharf area right near where the Scenic ship docks.

This morning we planned to go to the beach - not to swim or sunbake but just to experience a different part of Porto. I'd already seen it as part of the Porto sightseeing at the beginning of our Scenic cruise but Suzy had done a different excursion that day.

Initially we weren't sure which was the best way to get there. The main options were the route 500 bus from the railway station or the tourist tram from the wharf area. So at about 11am, we went downstairs to get advice from reception and decided the bus was the best option.

To get to the railway station, we went down a steep cobblestone street and several steep flights of granite stairs. The station was crowded with tourist groups like the one we'd participated in during a Scenic excursion. We found the bus stop in a nearby street just as the bus was leaving.

This wasn't a big problem because we only had to wait about 15 minutes for the next bus and we were first in line to get onboard. So we managed to get the front row seats on the top deck of the bus which proved to be ideal for taking photos along the way.

Although you can pay the driver cash for the trip, they prefer credit card payments.

You have to admire bus drivers who manage to drive in this city with the narrow cobblestone streets and heavy traffic. At times I felt as through the double-decker bus was about to tip over going around a corner or even just travelling straight down a street that sloped from right to left.

Anyway we got there safe and sound. It was a good morning to be on such an outing because it was a warm bright sunny morning - perfect beach weather. Earlier this morning it had been only 13C but now it was about 20C.

There are a series if beaches along the coast starting from the mouth of the Duoro River. They are golden sand beaches like we have in Sydney. We got off the bus about half way along the stretch of beaches.

After walking for about 30 minutes, we stopped at a restaurant, Lapa Lapa, for lunch. It was clearly a very popular restaurant because they had difficulty finding a table for us because most tables were reserved for lunchtime bookings.

I ordered a hamburger and a beer. Although they have an extensive wine list, the only beer they sell was Heineken which suited me fine. When the hamburger came, it didn't look like a hamburger - it looked more like a pie or a pastry.

We caught the route 500 bus back to the railway station and then slowly walked back up the hill to our hotel where we stopped for a coffee. Initially we sat outside in the courtyard but moved inside when it started to sprinkle.

At 5:30, we went down to the bar to enjoy our free glass of wine. We were due to meet our tour guide and the other members of our tour group in reception at 6pm.

Our tour guide's name is Justin. Although he said he doesn't belong to any particular country because he is always travelling, he had an Australian accent and was born in Australia.

Most people on the tour were from Australia, Canada, UK, South Africa or New Zealand. There was only one person from the USA. They all seemed to be a nice group of people and are a similar age to us. The challenge is to remember everyone's name - especially without name tags.

Soon after 6:30, our bus arrived  to take us to the restaurant for our welcome dinner. It was a mini-bus that seated up to 18 people. So it was a lot smaller than the other buses we'd used in Scandinavia with Insight or on the river cruise in Portugal with Scenic. On the left, there were two seats and only one on the right.

Justin explained that we didn't really need a bus to get us to the restaurant because it was all downhill but we would need it to get back up the hill.

The restaurant we went to, Chez Lapin, was on the riverfront near the two-level metal bridge. Our tables were in a back room with granite walls.

It was a fixed menu of soup, salmon and chocolate cake. Everyone on our table was a red wine drinker.

That's not the only thing we have in common because we are all experienced travellers.

We left the restaurant at 9pm to walk back to the bus which took us back up the hill to the hotel. The river area was brightly lit and buzzing with excitement from the crowds and activity on the land and on the river. We'd missed this part of the day because we would have been having dinner on the cruise ship.

We were in bed by 10pm.