Porto City Walk II

Today we decided to continue our walking tour of Porto, starting once again near the Sao Bento station. The weather was predicted to be nice, so we planned to go across the river to Gaia too. The walking tours in Rick Steves' book have been short and easy, in spite of warnings that Porto is quite hilly.

One of the shopping streets in Porto. That sculpture, coming out of the wall on the right, is a dragon's head, I think, with the rest of the beast inside the building.

From the bridge, looking back at Porto's riverfront

We walked across the bridge to the Gaia side of the river. We stopped for a few minutes to watch a group of women and girls, in beautiful costumes, doing a belly dancing routine.

A belly-dancing performance on the sidewalk

We were interested in tasting wine at the Ferreira winery, but discovered that the only way to do that was to take the tour. The receptionist there directed us to a building down the street that was full of restaurants and tasting counters, and described where we could go to get tastes of their wines. Gail and Pam had decided to sit down and do some people-watching while the rest of us trooped around trying to find the Ferreira winery, at the very end of the road, and then made our way back to the market building.

Hanging off of the balcony of the building straight ahead were several planters,
made of pants with the legs tied, and planted with flowers.

This building was a food court, with wine tasting counters. If the receptionist at Ferreira winery hadn't told us what it was, we would have walked right by it.

Janet and I bought a few tastes inside the food market building and were directed out to the tables behind the building, and meanwhile Nancy was on the other side of the building where you could get 5 tastes for 5 euros. We weren't allowed to take our wine to the front of the building to join Nancy, so we took turns going back and forth to taste all of what we'd purchased.

Janet, in front of the building, enjoying the wine sampler and charcuterie plate that Nancy ordered, while Nancy went to the other side of the building to try the samples we bought elsewhere.

The 5 wine samples were served with flair. The waiter brought 5 bottles out, so that we could see the wineries and the types of wine we were tasting, and poured the wines at the table. It was a great experience, and a good deal, for 5 euros.

We reconnected with Pam and Gail, and decided to take the cable car up to the top of the hill to walk back across the Ponte Dom Luis I to the Porto side. This was obviously the touristy way to go since the attendants took pictures of everyone as we got into the cable cars, and then had them for sale at the end. I thought ours was pretty good, so I bought it.

In the cable car, ready to head to the top of the hill

On the Porto side of the river, we walked by the statue of Prince Henry, the Navigator

The Stock Exchange Palace was our next stop. We took a tour of the building, which was very ornate, especially the Arabian Hall.

Our tour guide describing the goings-on at the Stock Exchange

The Arabian Hall was very ornate

A party was scheduled later that day, and our guide had to cajole the manager into letting us see the room. Good thing, because we decided to rent it for a gathering next time we're in town.

A view of the river from a window at the Stock Exchange

Walking through a square, we noticed the unusual tree trunks, shaped like huts or beehives.

Our last stop of the day was the Manteigaria bakery, where they produce those little custard tarts nonstop. We bought a dozen to take home.

I don't remember what we had for dinner, but I can tell you what we had for dessert!