Vibrant, friendly, interesting and surprising and with great food and drink! What’s not to like! Did I mention hilly? These are serious hills. Be warned, because the only way to really explore Porto is on foot.

The last 2 days were spent doing just that. OK.. on day 1 it rained nearly all day but we just put on our waterproofs and had a ball anyway! Our 2km walk along the river to the bridge became our twice daily excercise! Porto is a vibrant city, so proud of its heritage. It is also built upon the slopes of some very steep hills, so is perhaps not well suited to anyone who struggles to climb hills….on cobbled streets!

We had booked a food tour with Taste Porto. Our guide was super, filling 3.5 hours with a trip to the market and 6 stops in old, traditional eating places. It was fascinating…full of information about history and culture. By the end we had sampled lots of tasters of yummy local dishes, and had 4 glasses of wine! (Well Chris did!).

Then we walked back across the bridge to the south bank where all the port wine cellars are, for our tour in the Graham’s port house. Hmmmm.. maybe we shouldn’t have done these 2 on the same day. I can’t really drink port so Chris nobly drank my 3 tasting glasses as well as his own! See picture.

Day 2. The sun returned. We did a great walking tour of all the historical sights, and then visited the cathedral, the magnificently tiled railway station, and the Palacio Boursa, built by merchants and used as the stock exchange until recently. Stunning.

Then our familiar walk back to Boris.

We then set off to drive 80 miles inland along the Douro valley, where all the grapes are grown. Super campsite –  Camping Lamego, high on a hill with great views.