Trip Day 15 - visiting a Cork Factory and Porto Bridge walk.

Monday July 6 

Suddenly it seems very obvious that the trip is coming to an end. We are heading back to Gaia where we started. The ship started moving at 7 am. We will be going through two locks. After a leasurly breakfast James and I like to sit outside in the shade in front of the lounge. 

I can't resist a photo of a crew member who cleans the ship's bell while in the lock.

This lock opens sideways.

It 9:30 am there is a Portuguese Flavors lesson in the lounge and at 10:30 am a cooking demonstration. Of course also Portuguese. Out of an eye I saw the demonstration of the "Portuguese burnt sausage" or "Chouriço à Bombeiro". That was interesting. But we really enjoyed being outside. 

Lunch started at noon. OMG, I don't think this gives me an appetite. 

We docked at 1:30 pm and the green group was first to head for the bus to the cork factory. It was less then half an hour and when we arrived we all had to put vests on. Safety regulations.

As a lot of the companies, this one is already in several generations. A son lead us around and explained the process. He was very good. They are one of the few cork companies who actually have a little cork tree forrest on their property. We saw several with numbers on them.  

The 5 means that the cork was harvested from this one at 2025.

These were done this year recently and still need to be marked.

The 4? Of course 2024.

They buy there cork from other farmers in the south and this is how it is transported. He explained that he is just learning the process of buying and selling, the planning of all and he said that it is very difficult. It is a bit like trying to predict the future. 

I had no idea how many different projects there are involving cork. Of course there is still the cork stopper (wine bottles!) one. But there is so much more to it. Nothing, NOTHING, is wasted or thown away.

This worker has years of experience how to trim the sheets.

There were at least two versions of ground cork.

It ended in a classroom/gift shop. I should have taken photos of the gorgeous bowls and overpots for house plants. The prices were "interesting" too. Understandably.  

The bus then brought us into Porto for a quick gondola right to the tall bridge so we could walk to the middle of it for a great view. 

I think the above photos were all from the gondola and the next a selfie from the bridge. 

The dessert after dinner had edible flowers. Yes, I ate it.

The schedule for today had been adjusted to accommodate the watching of the FIFA game Portugal vs Spain. Well, you know how it ended.

Halftime entertainment was a Fado show. I was not looking forward to it because we had been taken to one in Lisbon several years ago which I didn't like. This one was so different and awesome. The two gitarre players were very, very good and the lady was incredible. Her voice and presentation was a delight. When I commented to trip leader Sara about it she told me that she is also an opera singer.  

That performance was way to short but the soccer game had to go on too.

Of course here in Europe all the games were shown at very late times because of the time differences. From Portugal to California it was 8 hours. We didn't see the rest of the game. After all, we always need to get up in the mornings at a decent time.