-I don't want to alarm you, but today we're going to a place called Boca do Inferno, the mouth of hell.

[Willem laughs] But I think you might like it, so stick around.

♪♪ ♪♪ Welcome to Windows to the Wild, I’m Willem Lange.

You know, every once in a while, I'd like to get away from home and go someplace I've never been before.

Today we're in Porto, Portugal.

Yesterday, I flew here from Logan Airport.

We landed in Lisbon, took a long bus ride up the coast, and today we're in Porto, and that's where this week's story will begin.

♪♪ Porto is Portugal's second largest city.

There's a lot to see here, and I'm delighted to share the experience with a group of travelers from New England.

♪♪ -So here it was used for the stock exchange so and it was used until 1994 as well in Porto, -Porto is an old city.

The Romans built it as a trading post in the first century BCE.

It survived an earthquake in 1755 that destroyed most of Lisbon, less than 200 miles south of here.

The city center attracts a lot of tourists who want to see up close its well-preserved medieval architecture.

- Behind the Saint Anthony Church it is the cathedral that was the first church.

-To see the city we ride in a tuk-tuk.

It's a three wheeled vehicle, it's quite cozy, and goes just about anywhere.

-So in here on my right you will see this round shaped building.

It is the monastery's church.

-A local guide does the driving and tells stories along the way.

-They are very colorful because fishermen didn't have the money to paint their houses with paint... normal paint, so they used the paint that they used on their boats to paint their houses, to better protect their houses against the heat from the summer and against the moist in the winter.

♪♪ And some would say that, ♪♪ It's helped them to better to define their houses when they return from the sea.

♪♪ So what do we have in here?

[raindrops patter on cover] The views to the bridge.

♪♪ -I want to introduce you to our tuk-tuk driver and guide extraordinaire.

This is Marco, last name?

- Tomas.

- Tomas?

- Yes.

[unintelligible] He was incredible.

He knows more about... Did you, you didn’t make any of that up, it was all facts, right?

-Yes, of course.

[both laugh] -I was very impressed.

You do this a lot?

-Many times per day, sometimes we do a six or even seven times a day.

-Woah!

-We are arriving at Infante Dom Henrique Square.

[engine running] Infante Dom Henrique we have a statue in here in the middle of the square, where he's pointing to the sea, looking to the river, and his left arm bending off over it low somehow telling everyone where the riches of the world were.

-You have a lot to work with huh?

It's an old city.

-Yes, it's an old city and, we have many renovations, happening at this time so it's a challenge to go, on the traffic staying on time.

-Oh yeah.

-And doing the correct and being nice with our tourists, also.

- A tuk-tuk is kind of a big motor scooter, you can squeeze through a lot of places that was very impressive -And on the narrow streets also.

-Yeah.

-We are arriving at one Gomes Teixera Square, but it's more popular in the city, as the lion square.

- Lion?

- Yes, why?

Look at the fountain.

♪♪ A statue with four lions.

♪♪ -There are plenty of narrow streets in Porto, ♪♪ And as you can see from this view, it has many bridges too.

♪♪ They cross the Douro River, which dumps more water into the Atlantic Ocean than any other river on the Iberian Peninsula.

♪♪ Well, as you can see by the water going by, we're cruising on a river where this happens to be the the Douro River in northern Portugal, rising up precipitately on both sides, are vineyards with terraces all the way up to the top of that mountain, you can see the spectacular place, and a beautiful day.

Not sunny, not cold, and everything is fine, everybody here looks, about seasick.

[Willem laughs] ♪♪ The Douro River nourishes the vineyards that blanket its banks.

The fruit that grows here will become, naturally, port wine.

♪♪ The Douro region stretches about 60 miles inland from the city of Porto.

The valley is the only place on Earth that can legally produce port wine.

-The vintage ports they always spend first two years in the big vats, and then they continue to a bottle and filter that can be aged for more than 100 years.

But after you open the bottle, we have three days to drink the whole thing.

-While in wine country, it's polite to taste the fruits of local labor -When everything is stamped the seeds because of the density, they come up and the skins of the grape stay down, it's more liquid.

As soon as the fermentation starts, the skins also go up and recreate the layer made of seeds and skins, which in Portuguese we call manta and beneath that manta we have 9000 liters of wine.

♪♪ -Next morning we're back on the bus and on our way to Guimaraes.

♪♪ The Portuguese refer to this city as their country's birthplace.

♪♪ This is where the first Portuguese king, Afonso Henriques, was born in 1109.

♪♪ A morning rain shower greets us at the Palace Dukes of Braganza.

♪♪ The construction of the palace began in 1420.

♪♪ It was home to Afonso De Barcelos, a son of King Joao the first, later his successors, lived in the house until they gave it up in the early 16th century for a much larger palace.

♪♪ The empty palace fell into disrepair between the 16th and 19th centuries.

It was left that way until reconstruction, completed in 1959, brought it back to life.

♪♪ -This is a model of the palace we are going to visit, okay?

♪♪ - Ana, Guimaraes?

- Guimaães.

-Jeez, I can never get it straight, Guimaraes, Guima... okay.

The town is named the same as you?

-Yes!

- Wow!

- I'm lucky.

[Willem laughs] - So is the town, so is the town sweetheart, you do a beautiful job.

And you're our guide for the whole week that we're here the ten days.

- Yeah...

So inside all that you will go... are going to see, as decoration and furniture and so on, this is not original, okay?

There was nothing left inside.

-We're here in the town with your name, and it's the oldest town in Portugal?

-Yes in a way, yes.

It's, the base... it's a the, the place where, the country is born.

So it's the county before, it's a county, state in, Guimaães so it comes from the late 900s.

-Yeah, wow!

-Then, so the county revolute it and defended the, the land against in wars.

♪♪ [fountain trickles] So from here the here was the also the, the place where our first king Afonso Henriques is said to be born, and this is also the place where he fought his mother to defend the, the independence of the county, and so, he became then afterwards he became the king, the first king of Portugal and the country, in a way, started here.

♪♪ -Now it's, it's changed a little bit since the 900s yes?

- Yes of course it changed but still it is very well preserved, and the, the historical center is really beautiful and it maintains its, its typical houses and, and the buildings and so on and Guimaães is more, growing outside the historical center, so not, affecting very much with the modernization... - So the modern stuff is not... - Not inside, no, no, it’s outside.

- So you can live with that?

- Yes.

I think it's doable because it's, it's good to preserve the center of the historical center and it's good also to have some development and to have people wanting to live in the area and there is a lot because there are lots of jobs here, so the industry is very developed, and so there's, many people settling here and and having their jobs and so managing to, to do their lives here.

No, no need to go away for other places.

This is the place where, people used to wait, to be received by the count and so they were waiting, they had nothing to do and so they’re, walking, walking walking like this and we call this the last, the last steps okay?

♪♪ -If you were to recreate Venice, Italy today, it probably would look something like this.

We're in Aveiro on the coast of Portugal, which has canals running all through the town, and we'll take one of these, moliceiros and ride along the canals, under the bridges and some of the places where people put ribbons on the under bridges to commemorate their romance.

[Willem chuckles] It's beautiful.

♪♪ The colorful boats glide along the network of canals, giving sightseers a view of Aveiro from a different perspective.

♪♪ During the 19th century, moliceiros served another purpose, they were used to harvest seaweed and collect the sludge from the bottom of the waterways.

♪♪ What was captured was turned into fertilizer for local farms.

That practice ended in the 20th century.

♪♪ Well this is a pleasant change after, several days in Porto, where it rained and rained boy, we were up to our ankles [Willem chuckles] by the time we left and drove down here.

We're in Lisbon now, and it's very quiet here today.

-This is one of the oldest houses also, it's resistant to the the earthquake, you see the... -Now Ana, we're here in what looks like a pretty old part of Lisbon yeah?

-It's the oldest part of Lisbon here.

-This is it right on the water of course?

-Yes on the water, close to the water.

The river used to be much closer to here.

-Oh, yeah?

-Yeah, so much closer so all those buildings didn't exist, so they were just facing the river, okay?

- Oh, I see.

- And so Alfama, Alfama means, water or fountain in, Arabic language, so there were lots of fountains, as you see here in this place.

There are others inside the neighborhood itself and it is built the way the Muslim used, or the were used to to build a neighborhood so really narrow streets, - Yeah.

- And not very tall, buildings, and the buildings didn't have a roof, but like a platform or like a balcony over, -Yeah?

-and so the buildings were rebuilt the same places so not changing the organization of the neighborhood itself so keeping it as it was, but then it was, after the earthquake here it was hit and also by the, the earthquake, and after the earthquake, there were several buildings rebuilt and then rebuilt more the Christian way and the Portuguese way... - When was the earthquake?

-1755, [unintelligible] -And after the earthquake they rebuilt and they rebuilt - They rebuilt... - Christian style huh?

-Yes, in a in the Christian style, meaning the, the, the buildings have a different look and so one of the characteristics is, the, the windows used to have some... - Shutters, oh yeah.

- Yes, that were different because they used to, to be which a certain, space for the Moorish women to be able to open their windows, to stay there, to look outside without being seen.

♪♪ This is the differences, but -Yeah.

The, the streets, the narrowness and so on, this was all kept as it was.

So the origin, the structure is from the 12th century.

-The reason for the narrow winding streets is defensive right?

- It's a defensive.

♪♪ -The tangled streets were designed with a purpose to keep invading forces from reaching the castle.

[indistinct chatter] Oh, yeah, we're in a part of the town I forget the name, Alfama... [unintelligible] where the streets are, wander around in order to confuse the invaders if there were any.

Same where the British used to change the street signs around in England before the Germans invaded.

And then the English couldn’t get home [Willem laughs] ♪♪ At all.

But, guys, the party here, there's a concert.

There's [woman singing in Portugese] -Because my accent is Brazilian, but I try to, you know, pretend that I'm a father singer it's a really... aye thank you!

[laughing] ♪♪ This is the old town area Okay?

- Yeah.

-Any questions?

Oh, she she read everything.

♪♪ She knows everything.

-During a break from driving us around Lisbon's web of narrow streets, we had a moment to talk with our tuk-tuk guide.

She shares a story about Brazil, the Portuguese monarchy and the assassination of King Carlos.

You like it here?

- Yeah, I do.

- Where are you from?

Brazil.

-Really?

You you came here from Brazil?

-Yeah, in Portugal, Brazil was the biggest colony.

-Yeah, right.

-Okay?

So we have five more than 500 year of history together.

So also, but Brazil itself, is another thing now, but during a long time we were saying actually the Kings here were the kings of Brazil, the royal family, for 20 years in Brazil living there.

-Yeah.

It was 1814, he had to.

- During the, when Napoleon came they flee to Brazil.

- Good time to go, yeah.

-And they didn't want to come back, they actually elevated Brazil to a metropolis, and that's got people here for years.

- Oh, good.

- Yes.

-You don't have a king anymore?

-No they, the last, the last, the last, they died in it is I remember okay 1905.

-That’s the last king?

-No, the King of Carlos was the last he was shot in Praça do Comércio, yeah, he and his sons.

I don't remember his name, no asking please.

[both laugh] I just remember what scholars okay?

- Okay.

-It's a lot of information.

♪♪ -From the streets of Lisbon, we take you to Boca do Inferno, the Mouth of Hell.

[waves splash] It's not quite scary as it sounds.

It's a cave at water level and you could tell there's bound to be one here by looking at all the basalt behind me, it gets undermined by the waves, and it's a spectacular place to visit if you're eve... ever in Cascais.

Today it's more placid than ferocious.

♪♪ These limestone cliffs are often pounded by the massive waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

♪♪ -So here we are in the big hole.

So it's limestone.

Most of them is limestone and there is also the, there are more red parts, which is, related with the iron, the iron formation so the iron inside the rocks themselves, and so they, we see them, more intense in some parts, but usually what we see more, it's, this, more, dark and black look on the, on the stone.

As you see, so all the rocks, the formations are really old and the erosion, started so carving the rocks and having this big hole.

And people used to come here just to watch the, the water and the big waves coming so now it's really, really calm we don't we don't see how it works.

This used to be a place that was dangerous to come to, because of the water and the salt on the, on the road and so it has much more protected now, and it is a beautiful place to be when, the, the waves are really strong.

♪♪ -We stay for the afternoon at what's known as the Edge of the World.

♪♪ Cabo da Roca is the most western point in all of Europe.

♪♪ -So you see the monument there with a cross upon, and we see there in an interesting, sentence from our poet Luís de Caões, who says that this is the point where, Earth ends and the ocean starts.

It is also, more or less same latitude as New York so people wanting to go back home swimming they could start here.

[Ana chuckles] ♪♪ And you have there the, the lighthouse also, so this is a very, it's a coast all along until Lisbon, which is very well protected and where, where we see, really regularly, lighthouses, so for the defense of [unintelligible] ♪♪ -Fishing boats have moved in and out of these harbors since the Middle Ages.

Though it's on the decline, industrial and small scale fishing remains an important industry in Portugal.

-Closer to shore or farther from shore, you'll find all sorts of fish of fish there, from the smaller fish, like sardines, which are very tasty, to the bigger fish like, groupers, for instance, which can grow to be very, very big to whales and sharks and things like that so.

♪♪ -Portugal, it seems, shares a bit of fishing history with the New England experience: salt cod.

♪♪ -One of the reasons why our traditional food is so diverse and rich is that for many centuries, Portugal was basically a country of farmers and fishermen.

So not necessarily poor, but they did not have much money to buy rich food.

So they had to be creative.

Cod is very famous in Portugal because salted cod was the food of the poor.

They did not have electricity, so a way of preserving fish along the year was to salt it, and with a little bit of a little bit of salted cod adds a lot of flavor to a pot of anything.

So poor people would buy a fish of salted cod and then used small bits to add taste to food, so that there is 1001 different ways of cooking salted cod.

Fact is, nowadays poor people cannot afford to buy cod because it's expensive.

So what was once the food of the poor, Now it's the opposite because it's trendy it's the food of the rich.

♪♪ -Much like the country itself, salt cod tells the story of change and tradition in Portugal.

♪♪ We've taken you on a journey through Portugal's history, its rich traditions, and warm hospitality.

♪♪ From Porto's medieval streets, to the vineyards that produce world famous Port wine.

♪♪ Portugal has been a welcoming host and a joy to discover.

♪♪ Well, we've come to the last day of our stay in Portugal.

We're at a place called Costa Caparica, and right behind me are the waves coming all the way from New England right across the Atlantic Ocean, and we're going to have to say goodbye at this point, and so we shall.

I’m Willem Lange, I hope to see you again, on Windows to the Wild.

♪♪ -Make a gift to the wild, and support the William Lange Endowment Fund established by a friend of New Hampshire PBS.

To learn how you can keep environmental, nature, and outdoor programing possible for years to come, call our development team at (603) 868-4467.

Thank you.

♪♪ [all shouting] - Adeus!

♪♪