A little more exploration, a little more port to taste

Mario's blog - stardate 30122015

It seems that late December weather in Porto consists of one day of sun, and one day of torrential downpour. The forecast for the day called for yet another 100% chance of getting soaked if you are anywhere out of doors, but slogging through the rain is still preferable to hiding out in the hotel room watching Netflix.

Today's plan is to walk to Afurada, described as a typical, authentic fishing town somewhat untouched by the tourism wave hitting Porto in the last decade. The trouble was, the town is 6 km from our hotel, the Poet's Inn, the deluge was bound to hit sometime today, and by now, you know that we are going to be walking!

We passed through Villa Nova di Gaia without a drop falling on us, and this time, we were actually able to see the town, as it was not hidden by a curtain of rain. We paused to admire carpenters repairing damaged wooden tour boats and old port barges in a small dry dock. In the old days, the port barges were used to ferry barrels of Port from the Quintas(estates) in the mountains upriver down to the Warehouses in Gaia, where the product would be stored and aged. In the days before the damming and taming of the river, the Douro was very wild, and driving the barges was a very dangerous job. You see, the grapes needed to be grown in the mountains where climate and soil would provide better flavour, but the Port had to be stored near ocean where temperature and humidity levels remain stable. We learnt all this over many glasses of port at Graham's, but we'll come to that later.
Partway on our journey, we noticed a large, abandoned mansion up the hill, just behind what looked like an RV parking lot. Naturally, I had to go up and explore the ruins. It was a fun side trip, climbing and exploring the building in a sad state of decay, but we were never able to determine the history of the place, nor did we find any hidden treasures to plunder.
By noon, our luck was still holding up with the weather, and we finally arrived at Afurada just in time to smell the local restaurants throwing the first fresh fish on their grills. Our noses led us to a local eatery, where we ordered a plate of grilled sardines, a quintessential Portuguese dish. Served with a simple green salad, homemade bread, a bowl of boiled potatoes and a glass of white wine, the meal was simply delicious. Worth the walk.

Well, by now, the drizzle was just starting, so it was time to head back towards Porto, but first, we had another port house to visit. Graham's was recommended by many tour books as offering a good tour, and good port, but what the books didn't tell you is that the estate is a grueling climb up winding streets that have no sidewalks and a lot of bus traffic. Cathy gave me the "this better be worth it" look more than once before we found the estate.
It was worth it. The tour was good and the tastings generous. Considering ourselves port experts after  visiting only one port house thus far, we spent many minutes discussing the merits of what we were tasting today versus all the other ports we have had(one other house's offerings, and the cheapest stuff you could buy at the SAQ). I contented myself with just detecting the basic flavours - sweetness, fruitiness, oakiness - while Cathy was showing off her oenological skills by detecting hints of pepper, chamomile, candied citrus and even pumpkin(?).
When our tasting had ended, we looked out the window to see that the promised monsoon had finally hit. There was no way we were making it back to Porto without a rubber raft, so we chose a better option: another glass of port! (ed.: Sadly, that too ended and we eventually had to brave the storm and return from whence we came, albeit a little wetter than before. Good thing we had had all that port to keep us warm! - Cathy)