Tuesday, April 29, 2003, 10:30 UTC (8:30 am local)
Report from Porto, Portugal, by Karl Hipp
We spent yesterday and today with a private guide we hired, a Portuguese guy named Fernando.
Fernando drove us all over Porto yesterday, and up the Duoro river valley through the wine country today. We visited several wineries, and sampled many wines and Ports.
Near Porto, typical rocky ground
17th Century bridge over the Duoro river
Duoro river
Another view of the Duoro river
Duoro river valley, where the grapes for Port wine are grown
Terraced vineyard plantings along the Duoro river valley
Karl, Judy, John, Barb at a winery manor house
A curious goat on the winery grounds
Cork trees on winery grounds
Cork hopper at the winery
John checking out the cork delivery system
Wine boxing operation
Wine tasting, with our guide, Fernando, on the left
Judy and John purchasing Port wine
This is expensive stuff!
About $13 for two bottles in a wooden box
Dinner at the Hotel Infante de Sagres
The weather doesn't look good for the planned flight to France tomorrow. We may go along the coast to avoid possible ice at the MEA of FL110 across the mountains. La Rochelle in France is predicting thunderstorms. Options John and I discussed this evening were:
1. Stay here another day.
2. Go to the south of France.
3. Delay till midday to see if the weather improves.
4. Refuel at San Sebastian, then fly east of Paris to Amsterdam.
We will check weather in the morning.
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