Portugal continued

After visiting the sights we started our long drive back to the house, as we knew that we would need a little rest, before our next adventure.

Visited a food court at the local shopping mall for some dinner, then home to pack bags before going on an overnight bus trip. We met the bus and our fellow travellers at 1 am - yes that is right one o'clock in the morning. The bus was a big one and we had about 30 people, that we were travelling with. Most of the people were Portugese and very few of them spoke English. It is amazing how we use our body language and gestures to make ourselves understood, when we don't speak the same language, but many of you already know that.

The bus started off and we all prepared to have a sleep. It was comfortable enough, although I wouldn't like to do this each night. It seemed I had just gone to sleep when the bus stopped and we had to get off for half an hour. The law in Portugal says that the drivers have to have a rest from driving every four hours - I am not sure that it had been four hours, but never mind he had his break and we got back on the bus. This time I couldn't sleep, so I just sat there for what seemed like ages.

We had a couple more stops and daylight started to break and then there was a stop for breakfast.
Everyone enjoyed a hearty breakfast and got ready for the day.

Beautiful views

We arrived at our first destination which was at a place where they make a drink called Port, which
Portugal is known for. We were shown all of the big casks which stored the Port and wine and we were allowed to taste one of their drinks. It was quite nice and Custodio and Leonilde bought us a bottle.

So many casks!!!!!

From there we travelled through a town to where all the cruise boats were moored. We were greeted
by people who crowded around us as we got off the bus and wanted to sell us hats. By this time the sun was well and truely up and it was so hot .

Finally after a long wait in the hot sun we got on our boat and climbed down the stairs to the very bottom where we were asked to take our seats.

We were able to see out of the windows on the boat and the boat got ready to set sail. After a little while of sailing we were able to move onto the main deck and could see the sights around. We were
cruising on the river and our final destination was going to be the city of Porto. This is the second biggest city in Portugal after Lisbon which is the biggest city.

The people on the boat were lovely and I now know how much the Portugese people love to sing and dance. They were so enjoying themselves singing to songs that they obviously knew well but I didn't at all. A few popular English songs every now and then which we could join in.

The river itself was beautiful and it was so very peaceful. We were called to go back downstairs for some lunch which was huge but lovely. They sure know how to feed you in Portugal.

It was so hot and I was really worried that I might get very sunburnt so ended up spending some time up on the deck but quite a bit of time downstairs. I am so glad that I did that because I did not get burnt at all.

We went through a huge dam area and were held in a lock while the waters were drained and then released so we could move further down the river. Some of the people were really scared.

What a huge dam.

 Then after about seven hours on the boat the city of Porto was before us. It looked amazing, such an old city with houses and buildings all over the hills ahead.

Porto