Porto Monday 15 September

our alarms went off at 5am in order for us to have our suitcases packed and outside our cabin by 6am. we made it in plenty of time. Our car arrived just before 6.30 to take us to the airport. Farewell to the Vega. She had been a great floating hotel for us for our European river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest. It was very easy check in at the airport for our Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt. We aren't used to travelling economy overseas so had to suck it up for the 1hr 45min flight. It was late leaving but we were still going to have plenty of time for our connecting flight to Porto. Frankfurt airport however is not user friendly and our connecting flight's gate changed twice so we did some backwards and forwards wandering. Had a coffee during our wait and then queued with the masses once again to board our plane. we were seated in the very last row next to the toilets so what a come down! We were also 50 minutes late leaving so I'm not a big fan of Lufthansa at all. Will have to grin and bear it for my return flights.... At least I got some good photos of our arrival into Porto.

Anyway, we finally arrived and were eventually able to get off the plane. Then we had the long wait for our suitcases which eventually arrived and so we have officially arrived in Portugal. No one has been interested in seeing our passports at all for these flights and we have nothing to declare so wander out of the airport. Julie is eventually able to order an Uber (we don't have WiFi once we left the airport) and soon enough we are bundled into a car with a female driver who says she doesn't speak English. Julie isn't convinced that she is taking us to our booked hotel but after a bit over half an hour of side streets through some seedy looking areas we are deposited at the Mercure Centro Porto and it is in a great tourist position. We check into our room which is very, very basic and then head up the street to find a supermarket. The cathedral is practically in front of our hotel.

The main street is certainly interesting. Lots of shops. Lots of people. Hopefully we will have more time for exploring in the next couple of days.

We find the shopping centre with a supermarket in the basement where we stock up on supplies that include some chicken, cheese, crackers, yoghurt and a bottle of wine. Just as well I have a corkscrew in my suitcase. The shopping centre is really well set out.

Back on our hotel room and time for a quick shower before our impromptu dinner and then it needs to be an early night. Photo from our room when we arrived and at sunset.