Next Step - Update Baiona to Cascais

We continue our trip from the UK down to Las Palmas. Baiona our last stopover in Spain is said to be the first European harbour to hear that Columbus had discovered America (RCC Pilotage). We have had a great time in Baiona but it is now necessary to move further down the coast and in to Portugal. We left the marina on 23rd August hoping to be back some day…

Our next brief stopover was at Viana Do Castelo, Portugal a small town with a marina on the north bank of the river. As we got in at a reasonable hour we took the opportunity to go into the town and have a look around, have a beer in one of the squares as well as buying some food for an evening meal made by Nicole on board Next Step before turning in for the night.

24th August, we left Viana Do Castelo and sailed to Porto, Portugal's second city which is on the Duoro river. Douro Marina is a little up the river on the south bank close to the old town of Afurada. Once we had completed the marina formalities we headed into the town to find a bar that had been recommended by the marina staff for something to eat. The recommendation by the marina was fantastic we had a delicious seafood meal.

The following day we headed for the Port producing district to visit a Port lodge that Nicole had booked the night before. The tour was very interesting with a tasting of some Port at the end. We then went up the river to the bridge designed by Eiffel (of the tower in Paris..) to cross over to look for somewhere to have lunch in the older part of the city of Porto. In the afternoon we toured some great parts of the city for a while before walking back to the boat for the evening.

26th August - Happy birthday Nicole…. We had planned to depart for Cascais today, but as the weather conditions were not correct on the day, we decided to stay another night in Duoro marina to do some washing and shopping at a local shopping centre. The shopping centre were fantastic in organising transport both to and from the centre. We did get the food we needed but I am not sure I really required the retail experience of a large shopping centre.

Anyway, we got the shopping back to the boat and then went off into the local town in search of an appropriate venue for Nicole's birthday lunch. We found a great local cafe in Afurada and had bbq'd sardines, prawns and squid. This was then followed by a beer and glass of wine on the top balcony of a wine bar looking out across the Duoro river.

In the evening another ARC boat, Celtic Star, that we had seen before in Ria de Muros, came into the marina so we offered them a beer before they went off to have some food, whilst I made a mild curry on board for the the boat crew.

Tomorrow we have an overnight sail to our next Portuguese stopover at Cascais which is approximately 160 nautical miles from Porto.