My biggest surprise, so far, on my exploration of Portugal, is how crowded Porto is with tourists. This city is crammed with tourists from all corners of the world. Porto is far more crowded then Lisbon. I had a totally different notion of what Porto was going to be like. The hills; a person cannot escape going up or down steep stone cobbled streets. A person must take advantage of the metro system or Uber or you will be worn out by the end of the day.
I woke up early this morning to get a cup of coffee and a croissant before i started my exploration of the city. I wanted to ride this trolly before the crowds of tourists woke up. This trolly travels three miles along the Douro river with amazing views of Gaia across the river. At 8:30 AM I sat in the trolly with just two other people, just 90 minutes later, it was standing room only.
Below, are street scenes of Porto before the tourists wake up.
My goal for the day was to explore the city and to participate in a wine making tour and a wine tasting. Porto is famous for it’s Port wines and access to the vineyards in the Douro Valley. I randomly chose a wine maker and I took the tour and sampled three types of Port. The three Port wines were sweet and very smooth, no tannins like a heavy Cabernet.The three Port wines I tried were called appetizer wines, they are meant to enjoy before dinner with a cheese plate and/or horderves.
Porto is located on the north side of the Douro river and on the Atlantic ocean. Gaia is on the south side of the Douro river, across from Porto. This photo was taken from Gaia and shows some of the hills and red tiled roofs of Porto.