“Oporto the Proud” is a very old city and seaport on the right bank of the impetuous Douro, and within a few miles of the coast. The river is tidal and broad, and big ships come to the busy quays below the great suspension bridge. At the mouth of the Douro is a bar, much dreaded by sailors, for it is rocky at this point, and generally a rough sea breaks and foams at the outlet.
Oporto is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. I visited it in June, when the terraces and gardens were aglow with flowers, the streets steeped in perpetual sunshine, the sky a deep blue, and the sunsets gorgeous. It is a bright city, seen from the opposite bank, with houses rising one above the other on slopes that are almost precipitous. Here and there the rock juts out among the villas that overhang the river, while verdure shows on the high banks. In parts of the gorge the cliffs rise to three hundred feet.
Oporto is a city of squares. There are several of these open spaces, all planted with trees, well-paved, and surrounded by tall buildings which lend a Moorish atmosphere to the towns. It is a centre of craftsmen. In one thoroughfare you will find harness-makers and hatters busily employed; in another goldsmiths and jewellers ply their trade. The markets are thronged with peasants from the vineyards, the women dressed in the gaudiest garments, with huge earrings and great gold brooches. Perhaps nowhere in Europe can so many prosperous and cheerful country-folk be seen assembled as in the streets of Oporto on a market day. Ox carts come laden with barrels; the river is dotted with the curiously shaped barcos that bring the wine from the rustic presses far up the valley; and up the steep alleys clamber the pannier-donkeys, with fruit heaped in the baskets.
The yoked oxen, led by sedate men—with large sallow faces, their loose limbs clothed in short jackets, and wearing the ancient hats of the district—the mule carts and the pack-donkeys appear mediæval and strangely out of accord with the modern motor cars of the fashionable citizens. Oporto is both old and new. Paris and London fashions in dress may be seen in the shopping quarters. There is a large colony of English people in the city, and many French and German merchants. Here you will see a native of the hills in his national garb; there a lady clad in the newest Parisian apparel; here an English sailor, and there a Spaniard. All is movement, animation, colour, when the streets are gay and crowded on a holiday.
The climate of Oporto is pleasant and healthy. In the height of summer the heat is tempered by breezes from the Atlantic, and from the mountains on the east. There is a high average of sunshine. During the winter there is a considerable rainfall, and occasional snow. Around the city is a delightfully varied country of hills and valleys, watered by clear streams, and highly cultivated in the straths. On the slopes are roads of oak, chestnut, and birch. In the sheltered vales oranges, figs, lemons, and many other fruits thrive excellently. Strawberries are large in size and abundant. Vegetables grow with but little culture in this fertile land, and there are flower gardens with an opulence of colour.
On the south bank of the Douro there was probably an early Roman settlement. The Vandals swept down upon Lusitania when the power of the Romans waned, and after them came other Teuton hordes—the Suevi and the fierce Visigoths. About the middle of the eighth century the Moors conquered Portugal, and held it for three centuries. The Asturians of northern Spain appear to have reconquered this part of Portugal in the time of Ferdinand I. of Castile. After the subduing of the Moors, Alfonso I. was proclaimed king of Portugal. Until about 1380 the House of Burgundy held the throne, and from that date the country rose in power, and became commercially prosperous. John I. of Portugal married the daughter of John of Gaunt, and became a staunch ally of England, receiving the Order of the Garter.
This was a stirring period in the history of the country, a time of strenuous warfare with Castile, and the last remnant of the Moors.