We had mixed views of Porto – I liked Lisbon better but acknowledge that the Praca da Riberia area by the Dom Luis bridge is the best site of both towns. Sharon and Annelise both liked Porto better. We didn’t have as much time in Porto as Lisbon either. We started our Port education in Lisbon – the short answer is that it is fortified wine developed by the English in the 1600s as they added brandy to keep the wine from going bad on a trip to England – and the English loved it. Except when pairing with a tart dark chocolate dessert, I wasn’t a fan.
View of bridge from the bus ride 
City Hall 
Porto closer to the beaches than Lisbon – pretty much a the edge of town 
Porto Cathedral 
Dom Luis Bridge 
View of Praca da Riberia area by the Dom Luis bridge 
View from Burmester Caves Entry 
Dom Luis Bridge 
We had a lot of pictures of this sunset 
Praca da Riberia area from the bridge 
Praca da Riberia 
Praca da Riberia 
We spent one day on a wine tour of the Douro Valley – pretty spectacular – I guess to grow wine you need dry sunny weather and hills so most wine growing regions are really scenic.
Stop on the Douro Valley tour – Winery in the town Magellan was born 
From Koepe winery 
Koepke – 400 year old winery 
Boat ride on the Douro 
Same boat we had 
Top of the valley
I got the traditional cod at a place – only bad meal I had. This particular cod is frozen and thinly sliced with a sour sauce. Not my favorite. We had Japanese one night which was excellent and tapas most other meals. Generally got a meal for $15/head, including wine.
All of Portugal is a huge drinking culture – but not a huge drunkenness culture. There were many people drinking in the streets but no obvious drunk people causing issues – maybe a correlation with the UK banned due to COVID and not a lot of USA visitors.
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