Spirit of Discovery blog

With two cruise ships arriving at Leixoes we were advised to allow the other ship in first as she was going to the town berth and we had been allocated the Cruise Pier. There is often a ground swell running at the harbour entrance which meant we kept our stabiliser fins out until very late – previous experience of not doing this was not a good one!! Once inside the harbour the fins were brought in and then it was a sharp 90’ course alteration to approach the berth.

Alongside at 0800 it was raining sideways, but this did not deter our guests from heading ashore – Saga brollies at the ready.

With many Shore Excursions on offer, including Oporto Panoramic, Place of the Dukes at Guimares, Oporto Sights & Douro River Cruise, and Wine Lodge & Tasting there was something for everyone. With Saga Cruises we also provide complimentary shuttle buses - something you don't see with most other Cruise lines - and today's buses transported our Guests into the heart of Oporto. I had a busy morning "clearing" my desk so did not get to Oporto today, however I have very fond memories from a previous visit.

Oporto is Portugal's 2nd largest city and is located on the Douro river. It is of course famous for its port wine and one of our tours visited the Sandeman vineyard - which was very evident with the return of the Wine Lodge and tasting Tour!!! Hmmm that sounds just like my kind of tour!

With everyone back promptly we sailed at 5.30 pm and "squeezed" our way out through the inner harbour before heading back out into the Atlantic Ocean towards La Coruna.

Captain Julian Burgess