Day 4: Porto

For this morning we actually had an alarm set, maybe that was decided after I had fallen asleep but anyway it was good to get up a bit earlier.  We started the day with what we thought was a breakfast for us.  Ended up we were suppose to sign up for breakfast instead of just show up.  Oh the things that don't get explained when there isn't a common language among hotel workers and us.  Oh well.  Feeling a bit bad about the situation we decided to leave and started to head our for our walking tour beginning point. Our first stop was a church that we had spent some time yesterday sitting on the steps trying to figure out where we were.  Today we climbed into and up the tower for a view of the city.  It was a nice view.  Not the nicest of steps to climb but was worth the trip up.   Next the tour sent us wandering through different streets and looking at different points of interest.  Some very nice buildings and finally leading us over the bridge t the other side of the river.  Here we took a short break to sit and watch a man deal with a box filled with bees.  It almost seemed like he had taken his bees for a walk down to the river, something happened and he dropped the box, and now had to figure out what to do with them.  Of course this is not the true story but the one we created for him.   From here we moved on upward to a port winery called Taylor's where we would go on a tour and also have the chance to sample different types of port.  Being in Porto it was a logical adventure for us to go on.  We arrived early and decided to do the tasting before going on the tour.  We were introduced to 3 types of port: a white, fruity red and a cognac-tasting one.  By now of course I can only remember that the white is to be served cold and the other two reds can be served either lightly chilled or not chilled at all.  My favorite was the white one but the other two were also nice.  As we finished pour three small glasses the tour was  going to begin.  On the tour we got to see where the port is put to age and how the different vats look.  Interestingly enough for one certain port, the vats that are used are first used for making house wine, then they are used for port and finally can be made for making cognac.  Our tour guide was filled with information and it was interesting to hear about all the different types. After the tour we decided to try a mixed drink that contained one of the red ports, tonic water, ice and mint leaves.  It was quite nice.  We sat outside in the garden and enjoyed the warm sun with this mixed drink.  After finishing our drinks we proceeded back down the hill to the river to find something light to eat.  Not being very successful we decided to return to the food store to get some lunch and then back to our room to relax and eat for a bit. Later in the evening we headed back down to the river to eat dinner.  We found this nice place that looked like all their tables were reserved but as the waiter noticed that we were going to stay he took the reserved sign away and he seated us there.  After dinner we returned back to our room to enjoy some port that we had bought earlier in the day and this massive cookie we had found in Coimbra.  It was a nice way to finish off our days in Porto.   It's a nice city that I would come back to in the future.  Tomorrow we have an early train back to Lisbon.