Wednesday morning we got up early and decided to visit the Ribeira, the area right on the river front of Porto. This is the place for that picture perfect post card photo - the famouse double-decker bridge of Porto. We started down towards the river, where an area of small apartments rise up off the water front, clinging to walls of the river valley. Narrow winding streets shoot off from the main walkways into a series of back alley mazes. Upon arriving at the water front, we were immediately assaulted in english by a boat captain selling cruises under the six great bridges that cross the Rio Douro in this zone.
Instead, we took the opportunity to fully consume this cornucopia of sites, smells and sounds that is Porto, sitting at a small river front cafe and watching this mesmerizing scene flow before us.
We visited some of the many small shops selling to tourists, but the best experience by far was an Olive and Wine shop that we entered. What a marvelous experience, to enter this small shop and be overpowered by the strong aroma of brining olives, olive oil, wines and cork.
All I could think was a picture can do this no justice. How can I record the smells that so strongly define such a wonderful part of this culture. We passed some time in that shop speaking with the proprieter, sampling the olives and tremocos, and perusing the hundreds of wine bottles along the walls from many past decades.
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