On this tour along the Douro Rivera, you'll discover how Porto and Portugal evolved into a naval and colonial empire. This transformation was largely due to their explorers who, driven by the country's isolated location at Europe's edge with only two borders, sought fortune beyond the known world. This quest revolutionised trade, navigation, and naval engineering among other significant achievements.
Portugal's influence extended beyond its maritime conquests; it also conquered palates worldwide with its sardines and codfish, all complemented by an assortment of wines including port wine and vinho verde. The tour always includes a gastronomic element because history isn’t the only thing that feeds the soul. When discussing wine, Gaia, Porto's neighbouring city, inevitably comes up as it offers the best views of Porto.
The narrative of this tour encompasses not only the dawn of an empire but also its decline, its phoenix-like rise from the ashes, and the initial attempts at modernising a country that progressed at a different pace compared to the rest of Europe. You'll learn about Portugal's interactions with the French, particularly one notable individual - Eiffel, whose legacy in the form of a bridge still stands in the city. The tour will also cover topics such as floods, cork production, graffiti, and Porto's reputation as an undefeated city - which, spoiler alert, it wasn’t.
The journey takes you through walls, iconic neighbourhoods, viewpoints, bridges, and countless stories - some sad, some happy; some heroic, others cowardly; some admirable and others despicable.
