Gaia, Portugal

Gaia and Porto are like twin cities. Gaia is on the south side of the Douro River and Porto is on the north. Gaia is know for its “caves” that are used to store the Port wine. It also is popular for its riverside cafes where patrons can sit on the patio and look at the city of Porto rising up the hill on the opposite bank.

The city, like Porto has Celtic history. The name derives from Cale or Gale. It was referred to as Gaul or Galway or Galicia. The river name comes from Celtic “DWR” for deep water river. At one time the region of the port on the north and the city of caves on the south was called “Porocale”. Could that be where the name of the country Portugal comes from? The full name of the city is Villa Nova de Gaia.

one of many sidewalk cafes along the river

Can you see yourself relaxing in one of those chairs with another local favorite, green wine? It is called green because it is a young wine that is light for an afternoon drink with lunch.

Just leaning on a table and watching Porto

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After lunch, a little exercise is recommended. With all of the hills, this will not take long. Walking up the hill to the end of the Dom Luis I bridge there is a lot to see, small shops, old buildings and of course the bridge.

You may be wondering why the entrance is down so low and all of the bridge superstructure is above. Well, this entrance is shared between the cars and the pedestrians. We were warned that if you are walking on the bridge the cars and trucks are very close and you could loose a hat or camera/phone over the side if you are not careful.