Ashore in Porto #1

Hi everyone,

After our short stay in Reston, VA we flew to the UK.  We spent a week visiting relatives before flying to Porto in Portugal.  We had visited Porto briefly on Zen Again in May 2021.  See here.  This time we'd have longer to explore.

Colourful houses

Colourful Supermarket

We joined a day trip to visit the Douro Valley.  That's where all Port wine is grown.  The Douro River goes all the way to the Spanish border and beyond.  The river valley in the wine growing area is very scenic.

Our day trip started with a train ride up the valley.  The line runs alongside the river with some nice views.

A view from the train

Vineyards from the train

Railway station decorations

From the train we moved to a coach and up into the hills to a vineyard.  We were welcomed with a glass of Moscatel.  Then we were set to work in the fields!

Approaching the vineyard

Harvesting Moscatel grapes

Glass of wine anyone?

Beautiful Country

Just Us

Having earned our keep we were treated to a traditional 4-course Portuguese lunch.  Very tasty indeed.  Accompanied with music, dancing and poetry.  After lunch we toured the winery and tasted some more product.  Then it was back on the coach which took us all the way back to Porto.

More wine tasting

Douro River view

Back in Porto we've been exploring the city and trying out cafes and restaurants.  It's a mission!

Micro-Brewery

Who knew there was a Reynolds winery?

Porto Shopfront

Baking the famous Pastel de Mata custard tarts

Trying the product - with Port of course

We did another day trip by train.  This time to Aveiro south of Porto.  It's known for its canals and is a nice town.  Quite touristy but very pretty.  There was a very interesting Art Nouveau museum too.

Averio Canal

Canal Boat

Fancy Bridges

Interesting Museums

Aveiro Square

Nice Lunch!

Aveiro Shopfront

Colourful canned fish shops are everywhere in Portugal

Spectacular Streets

Spectacular Squares

Just another snack back in Porto

Next we'll be doing a 'Schengen Shuffle'.  Back to the UK for a short stay.

Madeira Outbound

Hi everyone,
We are currently at 30 46N 015 14W sailing at 6 knots under single-reefed main and triple-furled yankee. The wind is ENE 14G20 and the sky is overcast. The air temperature is 18C and the water 22C. We have 128nm to go to Playa Francesa on the Canaries island of Graciosa. 

Farewell to Quinta do Lorde marina

This morning was amazing. Our batteries are full! That's a first for an overnight sail without running the engine in decades of offshore sailing. The SailnSea SailingGen hydro generator produced 110Ah during the 24 hours of the passage so far.

Another amazing statistic was our 24 hour run of 158nm. That may be our second best ever in Zen Again. She certainly loves a beam reach. On the other hand the crew prefer sailing downwind since it's been a wet and bumpy ride. At times we were 'copping greenies' every few minutes.

The wind started out E by N (just a little N of E) and slowly backed around to almost NE. We had sunshine yesterday afternoon and in the evening until midnight. The moon rose at around 2300 and although only a little more than half full it lit up the ocean nicely. Then more cloud came in to make it dark again.

We're buddy-boating with Moody 376 sv Matusadona on this passage. They departed a few hours before us and we overtook them yesterday. They're now keeping up with us in the lightening breeze.

Looking forward to exploring the Canaries!

Madeira

Hi everyone,

We've now been in Quinta do Lorde marina in Madeira for a week.  After a few days of boat jobs we started exploring the island.  We bussed to the main town of Funchal to explore and visit Mark of sv Tuuletar.  We walked east to take a look at Baia d'Abra from the land side.  And we hired a scooter for two days to tour the island.

The bus trip to Funchal takes about 1.5 hours, sometimes requiring a change in Machico.  Funchal is located in a relatively wide valley on the south coast of Madeira.  Along the sea front is a nice promenade and dual carriage road.  Back from the road is a pedestrian lane running through the town filled with bars, cafes and artwork.

Beach-side road with many pedestrian crossings

We met with Mark of sv Tuuletar and he gave us some tips for exploring the town.  We walked east along the sea front to a cafe overlooking the bay where we had a good, cheap lunch.

View east from the cafe

After lunch we walked along the lane back into town.  It is lined with bars and cafes with lots of colourful artwork on doors and walls.

Door art

More door art

In the lane

From the lane we returned to the sea front to board the cable car.  It runs up to the hill overlooking Funchal.  At the top there are botanical gardens and the famous toboggans which tourists can ride down the streets back into town.  We had afternoon tea instead.

Ascending in the cable car

Afternoon tea overlooking the town

Descending in the cable car

Funchal from the cable car

Back in town we continued along the lane admiring the artwork.

Funchal building decorations

Nice wall art

In the lane

Back in Quinta do Lorde we explored the resort.  It's pretty quiet at the moment, probably due to Covid. The marina seems to be the only part open.  There's a nice square, a small church and a faux lighthouse.

Square with 'lighthouse'

We walked east from the marina to see the eastern extremity of Madeira.  We didn't pick a good time for it with strong winds and rain showers, so only made it to the saddle between N and S coasts near Baia d'Abra.  The N coast is rugged.

View along the N coast

Rugged and colourful offlying islands

Quinta do Lorde from the E

Our first day with the sccoters was showery.  We drove across the island to the N coast and W along the coast to Sao Vicente, stopping at several lookouts and cafes.  From Sao Vicente we drove S across the island to Ribeira Brava.  The coast and the mountains are spectacular.  The roads are either slow and twisty or fast with many tunnels.  From Ribeira Brava we returned home along the expressway which is a dual carriageway with many bridges and tunnels.

Many of the lookouts have shrines

Rugged coastline

Through the mountains

On Day 2 we had much better weather and we could get moving much earlier.  This gave us time to drive right around the island.  We took the expressway W to Ribeira Brava then continued W along the S coast to Ponto do Pargo, the westernmost tip of Madeira.  Along the way we had a look at Calheta marina.

Calheta marina

View E on the SW coast

Farm near Ponta do Pargo

From Ponta do Pargo we drove N to Porto Moniz, at the northernmost top of Madeira.  This road is very twisty and the landscape very damp with ferns everywhere - a very nice drive.  The road emerges above Porto Moniz with a spectacular view over the coast and the town.  From there a series of switchbacks take you down to the pretty town.

View over Port Moniz

View from the waterfront at Porto Moniz

View E from Porto Moniz

Porto Moniz harbour

From Porto Moniz we drove E along the coast.  This road is modern with a seemingly endless series of tunnels through the mountains, interspersed with amazing views over the coast.  We stopped in Sao Vicente again, barely recognising it in the sun after arriving drenched the day before!

Sao Vicente

From Sao Vicente we drove E and tried another road across the island.  Unfortunately it was closed for repairs but we got some good views of the valley.

The valley towards Rebeiro Frio

More artwork at a cafe in the hills

It's been great exploring Madeira.  We'd have liked to explore more of the mountains but seeing the coast was spectacular.

We're now waiting for a weather window to sail to the Canaries.  The outlook isn't great and there is a big low pressure system coming through later next week.  We expect to take a short weather window earlier in the week which will probably require us to motor part of the way.

Trust all's well where you are!