Porto; Friday, 25 February, 2011

I open the curtains to a beautiful sunny morning with a clear blue sky, so after a very hearty breakfast, I headed down to the riverside area to pick up another of the tour bus routes, this time one that runs up along the coast. I did a full circuit of that and hopped back off the bus in the city centre.

I then picked up the Metro and caught it one stop, across the spectacular top span of the Dom Luis I bridge to the upper area of Vila Nova de Gaia. From there I wandered down the passageways and staircases of the old town pas the edge of the Port cellars to the Croft Cellars, where I went on the tour.

Two samples of Port later I continued my wanderings down to the waterside and from there along the river bank back to the Dom Luis Bridge where I picked up the third and final open-top tour route from CarrisTur which took in the main bridges of the city.

I arrived back near the old stock exchange, and went to go for a visit. Unfortunately, you have to go round on a guided tour, and the next English one wasn’t for another hour, so I booked onto that and then headed up into the centre of town and the Torre dos Clérigos.

This is the tallest building in the city, and given it’s already on one of the highest points of the city already; it makes for some stunning views from the top. I had enough time to climb up to the top, take lots of photos come all the way back down, walk back to the Stock Exchange, pick up some stamps, postcards and fill them out, before my tour started.

The stock Exchange is an amazing building, if only for showing how those people who play the markets have always made fantastic amounts of money and know how to spend it in the most extravagant way. In particular the Arabic room at the end of the tour shows fabulous wealth (if not fabulous taste!)

As I was leaving the stock exchange the final castles tour bus of the day was pulling up outside, so I decided to have another circuit on that, especially as the journey along the river and up the coast would be whilst the sun was starting to set.

By the time I got back to the Stock Exchange it was dark, which meant it must be dinner time. I wandered through some of the back streets until I found a very nice little restaurant and had a very nice fish dinner.

Filled to bursting, I then, very lazily, caught a bus back up the hills into the centre of town, and then the Metro one stop to the station nearest the hotel, before staggering back the short distance to my welcoming bed.