Snapshots from Porto
August 7, 2012
Shearwater is currently at the Douro Marina in Portugal, where we have been quite happy with the helpfulness of the marina staff and the pleasant town of Vila Nova de Gaia, which is right across the River Douro from Porto. We spent this past weekend cleaning up a bit, as well as collecting some items from the boat. Below are some snapshots of this photogenic area that we are excited to get to know better.
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- Timeout from the nonstop motion of the ocean!
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- Justin was a bit alarmed at the similarity between “Homens” and “Womens”.
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- Our marina leaves fresh bread in our cockpit when we are at the boat!
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- Portugal has many beautiful, old churches.
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- The laundromat’s dryers, of course.
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- Here is a view from the cockpit of our boat in the marina slip – we have yet to figure out what this beautiful building is.
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- The local fishing fleet keeps boats and trailers in the vicinity of the marina. The fisherman use these trailers for storing equipment and such – they were quite interesting to look at.
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- A local fisherman has dry-docked his boat to add some fresh paint to the bottom.
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- The local laundromat. Really. We saw a number of older ladies charging down the streets with their baskets of laundry to this building, where fresh water flowed into the basins, and the people handwashed all of their clothes.
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- Douro Marina.
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- We strolled through the Saturday market. These ladies are hacking an octopus into pieces.
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- The River Douro. Porto lies on the other side, while Vila Nova de Gaia is on the side where our marina is located.
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- Several little old ladies tried to convince us to take some fresh fish home for dinner!
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- The Portuguese tile on the buildings in Vila Nova de Gaia was simply beautiful.
Cher & Bob loved the tiles too. They actually brought some back to incorporate into the decor of one of their motel rooms. Now I understand why they choose them as a really pretty visual element.