December 14 was an extremely busy day. Our first stop after a short minivan ride with a new guide was at the Pinhais fish cannery. This was our favorite Viking excursion by far (Graham’s port was second).
The Pinhais seal. The company is located in Matosinhos, which is on the Atlantic coast near Porto. They can two brands of fish: Nuri and Pinhais.
Decorated for Christmas with sardine cans and fish presents.
This stairwell was fun because it was in the shape of a sardine. You can see that better in the next picture.
Sardine shaped staircase.
The founders and current management of the cannery. It’s still in the Pinhais family. Pinhais was founded in 1920, so their plans for a big centennial celebration were scuttled in 2020, due to you-know-what.
Ubiquitous azulejos in the Pinhais cannery.
A gimmick to entertain children: we were asked to find various sardine-related artifacts in the sand.
We finally climbed the stairs to find a cork floor on the second level. This floor is over 100 years old, and shows little sign of wear. Cork is strong.
To keep adults engaged we were asked to identify by smell the only spices that are used in the cannery.
We were in agreement about most of the spices, but Elaine’s nose prevailed.
It was harder than it looks, but the Ashers won the competition to identify the spices. They were black pepper, bay leaf (laurel), cucumber, cloves and chili peppers.
We got a view of the factory floor from upstairs. The workers are currently on a break.
Getting ready for the tour of the factory floor.
In full PPE regalia.
The ladies (and they are all women – the traditional division of labor is: men fishing, women processing) pluck fish from the roasting racks and put them in cans. Here they are working on the Pinhais brand, which uses the larger, fatter sardines caught at the end of the season. These are considered a delicacy.
A panoramic view of the factory floor, with the washing tubs in the foreground. The marble tables behind the dunking stations where they behead and gut the fish in one quick motion.
All the employees work in all the stages of processing, so no one is here because they’re doing something else now. The ovens are in the left rear of this picture and roasting racks are on the right.
The women are putting the cooked fish in the can. This is the traditional method of canning. Modern canning cooks the fish in the can.
Here the women are manually wrapping the cans in branded paper. Just like wrapping a present.
Here the wrapped cans are placed in boxes.
Old canning equipment.
Elaine tries her hand at wrapping a can of sardines.
William too.
We all take a go at wrapping. The women were decidedly better at it. Finished shrink-wrapped palettes of sardines are in the background.
After our tour we were treated to a tasting of several kinds of sardines and mackerel – some spicy, some not. Yum! Cooking outside the can removes much of the super-“fishy” taste of modern canned sardines.
We exited through the gift shop, which contained both fish for sale, and souvenirs. Nuri is the brand of their less expensive line of sardines and mackerel.
There were lots of varieties available.
The newest variety which we were eager to taste is flavored with lemon.
The gift shop broke the bank for us. They even have chocolate sardines. The company’s website is https://www.conservaspinhais.com/ – there’s a cool video there and you can order the sardines and mackerel.
Our guide and driver took us sight-seeing in the minivan. Many of the following pictures were taken from the inside of the van, hence the reflections, but in most cases we could not stop.
A public art installation in Matosinhos which people call the Anemone. It’s a fish net, scaled to monumental size that billows in the wind
A view of the Atlantic and the jetty. Surfers practice along this stretch for the BIG waves further south.
People enjoying the seashore.
Fishing near the mouth of the Douro.
A park along the Douro.
William will climb this bridge later in the day.
A metro train crossing the Dom Luís I Bridge.
This building had many incarnations, including church, monastery, and military facility.
Porto vista
Another view of Porto. Cruise vessels are docked in Gaia on the left bank of the Douro, near the curve of the river.
People walking across the Dom Luís I Bridge, with a metro train immediately adjacent to the pedestrians.
Another view of Porto. The Clérigos tower is visible in the center background.
Another view of Porto and the Douro, with the Arrábida Bridge in the background.
Elaine and William with the sun in their eyes. This and all the previous pictures of Porto were taken from a viewpoint in the Jardim do Morro, a beautiful park in Gaia
We returned to the Torgil, had some lunch, and proceeded to our next adventures. Elaine did some laundry at a less than wonderful, small local laundromat, while William set off for the Arrábida Bridge.
Rabello’s with wine barrels moored along the shore. They are obviously there for show, but they were pretty. Some of them were available for tourists to ride.
William left Elaine with the laundry and many Euro coins, and climbed these steps on his way to the metro station en route to the Arrábida Bridge.
William arrived at the bridge. Porto and Gaia are in the background. He got the idea of climbing it from an episode of The Travel Man, which featured doings in and around Porto.
The view from the arch under the bridge.
One climbs the bridge wearing a safety harness attached to a cable, under the supervision of a guide.
The steps were installed explicitly for this tourist activity. In previous times “bad boys” would trespass on the bridge and then smoke and drink, and do other bad boy things.
On the way down our guide posed for a picture. Here you can see how steep the arch is – trespassers used to crawl up dangerously on the slope here.
William poses with his fellow climbers – both from Portugal – on the bridge climb.
After our last dinner on the Torgil, there was a lot of posing for pictures and not-quite-tearful goodbyes. We would transfer to our hotel in Porto via taxi at 9:00 the next morning.
Here we are with André, our favorite waiter. André lives in Porto and provided us with four handwritten pages of things to do, see, and eat while staying there. He was a delight. André’s rule for eating at his table was that you MUST order dessert!
Fellow traveler Kathy. Elaine and Kathy became fast friends on the bus when Kathy admired Elaine’s polka-dot raincoat.
William with Kathy and her sister-in-law and traveling companion, Betty. They would join us for dinner the next evening in Porto.
A table full of acquaintances, whose names escape us at the moment. We knew their names while we were on the cruise.
This woman was the first acquaintance we made among the passengers. She was from Australia and was an avid reader.
Sailing on the Torgil had its ups and downs, pros and cons, but all in all it was a fun ride.