The grapes are grown hundreds of kilometres up river in a hot and dry summer, and cold winter, climate. Then the wine is shipped down to the humid Atlantic coast for blending and storage in French oak barrels.

Our highlight was a visit to Taylors (founded in 1692). The port tasting and warehouse tour was a treat.

To get to Taylors we had to trudge up a maze of steep cobbled lanes on the south side of the river in Gaia …

… amongst dozens (hundreds?) of old tiled roof warehouses like these …

… we tasted …

… and toured …

To get there we had walked down equally steep steets in Oporto … very quiet on Sunday morning …

… to the slightly livelier waterfront …

… and across the lower deck of this interesting bridge …

There is no city grid here, it’s a maze … so very frequent needs for checking the maps … (if only they were in English???)

We rode a cable car up so we could walk the top deck of the bridge back to the main town …

… and walked the streets. We found the very fancy railway station – look at these tile decorations …

… bustling streets … and elegant squares …

… and quieter ones …

… this whole street of bars are closed on Sundays!!!

A park with curiously pruned old plane trees …

We lost count of the churches …

Along the way we saw many signs of poverty (many beggars) and dereliction. In this area right adjacent to the big bridge, morning glory has consumed many buildings …

… these are right across the lane from the Bank of Portugal! …

and these, 50 metres from a very posh hotel on the river front.