Porto is all about the river.  The Douro snakes its way through a steep sided valley, under 6 bridges.  The old town of Porto is on the north bank, while the port wine making centre of Gaia is on the south side.  Away from the waterfront on both sides, the terrain rises rapidly.

Our ship docked in Leixoes, about 10 km away, and a little north of where the Douro meets the ocean.  We woke to find ourselves docked next to a sparkly space ship; this was the new cruise terminal.  We were whisked through a surprisingly large container port by bus, and delivered at the gates.  We stepped outside and into Portugal, a new country for both of us.

From the port gates we had to make our own way into Porto.  Armed with my research notes, we headed straight for the nearby metro station, and bought Andante day passes.  At least we thought we did.  Ian pressed the right buttons, including a number 2, indicating 2 tickets.  The machine gave us one ticket, but we assumed it was valid for both of us.  But when we tried to board our bus, the driver shook his head and waved us off.  We needed another card.  Back to the station we traipsed, where we discovered that we’d bought a 2 day ticket for one person, rather than a 1 day ticket for 2 people.  Rookie mistake!

Finally equipped with one ticket each, we reboarded bus 500.  Accepted this time by the driver, we sat on the top deck.  The bus follows the coast down to Foz, where it turns east and follows the Douro into the city centre.  It was slow going, not helped by cruise passengers struggling to buy the correct tickets.  The system is like Myki, where you touch on at a card reader, and roving inspectors check that you’ve done the right thing – and we had our tickets duly inspected.  We saw several stretches of white sand beach, already busy with sunbathers and swimmers.

We alighted the bus at Infante, and strolled along the Ribeiro, the historic waterfront district with its colourful wooden houses.  Traditional boats, once used to ferry barrels of port, now used to ferry tourists, were plying the river.  We could see several river cruise boats tied up on the Gaia side.

The Pont Luis I double decker bridge is unmistakeable, its upper deck towering over the river.  You can walk across on either the upper or the lower deck.  Getting up sufficiently high to access the upper deck is quite a climb, but fortunately there is a funicular right beside the bridge.  The track follows the line of the ancient city walls, and we stopped to have a look at them.

The bridge was busy with people, enjoying the vantage point over the river and stopping frequently to take photos.  The light rail trains rattled across at frequent intervals.  Once on the other side, we climbed up even higher to the miradour (lookout) at the old monastery.  We watched the funicular making its vertiginous descent beside the walls, and the boats chugging up and down between the bridges.

Finding a very small bakery, I bought two of the traditional Portuguese custard tarts in flaky pastry – like a vanilla slice, but round, and without the icing.  We sat on the grass in the hilltop gardens and had our mini picnic, watching the comings and goings on the bridge and the river.

We crossed back by train, and went one stop to Sao Bento.  We were now in the heart of the upper city, and the shopping district.  The crowds had really built up now.  We paid a quick visit to the Sao Bento railway station entrance hall, which is decorated with hand painted tiles depicting scenes from everyday rural life.  We saw two blue and white tiled churches, then decided to call it a day.  The main shopping street was teeming with people, and it was hard to stay in the much-needed shade.

En route to the ship we saw a very peculiar souvenir, and a tribute to Ned Kelly on the wall of a barber shop (???) Back on board a bit earlier than expected, we took advantage of having mobile data to catch up with blogging and emails, before sailaway.  Then we found a spot on deck 15 to watch the manoeuvering of our ship, the local pilot coming on board to assist the captain swing the stern and slip through the breakwater.  We’re now on our way further south, with Lisbon our next port of call tomorrow.