A cancellation and some memories of #Oporto.

Thursday 2nd April 2020

Had all things gone according to plan, and the horrendous situation with Coronavirus had not happened, I would have been in Oporto, Portugal, today.  It would have been the first port of call on my 2020 Fred Olsen cruise, destined for Madeira and the Canaries. However, I’m heartily glad to be writing this in ‘COVID 19 Lockdown’ from my home, and not from the isolation of a cabin on the Balmoral cruise ship, even though it had a balcony and Fred Olsen cruises are superbly luxurious. 

I had been eagerly anticipating a re-visit to Oporto because I have no real memories of visiting in 1967 when I was 15 years old, and on the school cruise ship called the Dunera. I know I brought back lots of souvenirs from the trip, lots of beautifully tooled leather items and wooden ornaments, but can’t remember exactly what was bought where. I remember the ‘blazing white’ sunshine when on shore, vaguely remember visiting lots of market stalls, and remember paying out hundreds of Portuguese Escudos and centavos. Counting out the vast denominations was an excitement in itself.

Oporto Winery label, Luggage Tag and 'Payment Book'

My main memory of Oporto, however, was doing the tour of a ‘Famous’ winery. Part of the tour was, of course, sampling a tiny tot of Port wine. I had tasted port before, since my grandfather tended to have that as a New Year half-bottle rather than whisky (or maybe as well as?). Many of my school friends hated the stuff, so I can remember being a bit tipsy, having had lots of extras thrust upon me. Perhaps that’s why I like red wine today!

I don’t remember any history of the port but might have had ‘lessons’ on it since part of the day was sometimes spent on some educational pursuit, or other. I intend to do another blog post on the Roman history of Oporto very soon, but this one is dedicated to schoolgirl nostalgia.

Dunera Itinerary c. Nancy Jardine

Oporto was the 3rd port of call on the Dunera, the ship having left from Greenock, near Glasgow. It presumably sailed down the Irish Sea into the Atlantic, and south to Lisbon (destination 1).  From Lisbon it travelled further south to Gibraltar (destination 2), and then back north to the port of Leixoes, a few miles north of Oporto (destination 3).

After our tourist pursuits in Oporto, we boarded a coach which drove us northwards out of Portugal into Spain, and on to Vigo (destination 4). I can vaguely remember driving though some very leafy countryside on that journey to Vigo, which seemed to be quite a long drive. We embarked our cruise ship Dunera where it stayed overnight in port. 

I can’t remember details, but from the itinerary it looks as though we had some shore time in Vigo the following day before we sailed north to Zeebrugge in Belgium (destination 5). From Zeebrugge we sailed north again to the post of Grangemouth, on the east coast of Scotland, not far from Edinburgh. After that it was a bus back home to Drumchapel, Glasgow.

If any of my former school friends were on that cruise, and remember a lot more than me, please feel free to add more details. I only have a few photos from the cruise but few of them have famous landmarks on them. When I find them I'll add then if I can.  

One of the top images shows the 'Payment Card'. The full cost of the cruise was £46 but having been  given a grant of £8, I only had to pay £36.  The total amount of pocket money allowed was £10 though I doubt I had that much saved. 

The 'Kit List' is a bit of a laugh these days but things have moved on from 1967.  

I had to have an inoculation for typhoid but not for Smallpox. You only needed that for cruises that went to destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, and North Africa.  

(It's amazing the bits and pieces I've kept for 50+ years!) 


Slàinte!