Day 6 - Porto, Portugal - Marquette University Athletics

June 2, 2007

PORTO, Portugal -

Today we started off with a riding tour around the city of Porto. I think we went in circles a few times because it took us five minutes to get home, but probably about an hour to get where we were going. I think Nuno (our bus driver) just wanted us to see every possible attraction in Porto.

Some quick facts about Porto - Porto is darker than what we will see in Lisbon because most of the city is made of granite. It is the biggest port in the country for imports and exports. There is this huge statue in the center of the city of a line crushing an eagle. It is a symbol for Portugal defending its nationality from any attackers.

Our first stop of the day was the actual port of Porto. We took some photos of the cheese castle that was cheeseless, but still very interesting. There were some surfers out riding the waves in the Atlantic Ocean. I don't know how they did it because our tour guide told us that the water is only about 55 degrees this time of year.

One of the things Porto is so well known for is its port wine. There are a bunch of wineries all around Port and our next stop of the day was Graham's Port Winery. There we learned how Port wine is made and were able sample the many different types. For those who have never had port wine, it is a strong alcohol content wine because it is made with brandy. There is 20 percent alcohol per bottle. What was so interesting about how it originated was made by accident by British sailors had brandy and mixed it with wine.

While on the tour of the winery, we saw pictures of how men used to stomp on grapes tin order to make the wine. However, due to modern technology, the men are no longer needed there are machines that do the same work. Those machines simulate the technique of what human feet used to do because just the skin of the grape is used for color and taste of the wine.

After all of the explaining, we finally got our taste of Port Wine. We had three different glasses to start. Our first taste was a fine white wine, which was my personal favorite, and it is only made in Porto. Next we had the late vintage wine that isn't aged in a bottle. Vintage wine has to be drunk right away, thus it is a better wine for parties so it can be finished quickly. The third one we tried was a 10-year wine, which is aged in the bottle. That one is said to last longer than just the day it is opened.

After the taste test all of us over the age of 21 were able purchase bottles of Port to bring back with us. Most of us purchased at least one bottle to share with family and friends.

When we left the winery we had a lovely lunch along the Douro riverbank and then went on a short boat cruise up and down the Douro River or Rio Douro.

We cut the day short after the boat cruise even though it was already 4:30 p.m. Portugal time. Our last stop of the day was going to be back at the beach, but we were all pretty tired once we got off the boat so we just came back to the hotel for some rest.

Now it is time for a quick nap before we go for dinner.

Thanks for reading!

Adeus! (Portuguese for goodbye)