Posted on 10/26/2025 12:37:22 PM PDT by PJ-Comix
The famous Dom Luis bridge in Porto over the Douro River felt like a magical experience while we were walking on it. Built in 1886, the arched bridge has two levels. The lower level for vehicular traffic and the upper level, where we were, is for light rail and pedestrian traffic. The elements of the lighting from a perfect sunset, the music in the distance from a festival, electric train cars gliding past us, the variety of people, both locals and tourists, including the eccentric English Fox hunters, all blended to create that magical unforgettable ambiance. I hope this video gives you at least a feel of what it was like although no recording could do justice to the actual experience of having been there that day.
My wife and I did in fact walk across the Luis I bridge (lower deck) when we were there back in May. From there we took a boat upriver through two locks to Pihhao, where we spent the next 4 days in the valley hiking around through vineyards and tasting wine.
May? That's when we were there. We were on the bridge on May 25.
I did a search and found out that Spain still allows fox hunting for real fox, something the British banned a while back. You can still hunt in Britain, but you can’t bag a real fox. How boring. Might as well sit it out, and enjoy your creamed tea and scones with clotted cream.
BTW, that period in Portugal was unusually hot. Our hikes in the Douro Valley reached low-90's, but we were expecting 70's. Of course, as soon as we left the temps came back down.
It looks like we missed you in Porto by a day. Yes, the weather during our trip was quite warm. Not a single drop of rain for two weeks although someone told me they visited there earlier in a year and the opposite happened, rain every day. BTW, did you visit the south end of Portugal? We stayed in Lagos for a couple of days. The Algarve cliffs and caves were incredibly beautiful. We took boat rides out to them for two days.
We did not go south of Lisbon while on the mainland. After Porto & Douro Valley we flew to Sao Miguel, Azores. Absolutely beautiful! Having a rental car turned out to be a blessing allowing us to circumnavigate the entire island. The only downside is the way to Azores and back is through the Lisbon airport.
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