Porto, Guimarães, and the newest Vikings on the Douro
Aaron Saunders, River Cruise Advisor
March 22, 2014
With the Viking River Cruises 2014 Christening Ceremonies now officially behind us, we had the chance to sample two cities featured on the line’s Portugal’s Rivers of Gold itinerary: Porto and Guimarães.
Porto is actually located across the Douro from where almost all river cruise vessels dock in the small town of Gaia. It’s also the epicentre of Port Wine production, which is protected under the same type of laws that regulate Champagne in France: Port can only be called Port if it originates in Portugal.
We had a whirlwind trip around this beautiful town that took us to some of the most impressive sites, including the Livraria Lello – a Harry Potter-esque bookstore ranked by Lonely Planet as the third most beautiful bookstore in the world.
Some photos from my morning in Porto:
Our Live Voyage Report from the 2014 Viking Longships Christening Ceremonies have sadly come to a close, but stay tuned for full ship profiles of Viking Forseti, Viking Heimdal, and Viking Hemming! Our next river cruise Live Report begins on April 7, 2014. Be sure to follow along on twitter by following the hashtag #LiveVoyageReport.
One Response
Thinking about a river cruise in Portugal? Thinking about cruising the Caribbean? I’m fortunate as a writer to have the occasional opportunity to travel on cruise ships, mostly to Europe and South America, but now and then to the Caribbean or South Pacific. I used to use sites like Travelocity to book my cruises, but I stumbled upon the better way to find deals: go to the second level sites – those like http://ReservationCreation.com who compare 14 of the major cruise line sites in one single search. You’ll not only see Royal Caribbean or Princess deals, but ALL OF THEM in one place.
I must have saved over 3,000 Euros since I started using them. I sincerely believe that using only one of the top booking sites is not necessarily the best idea.