Eating? Always a good idea in Porto!

One of our first mornings out in Porto, we walked around the corner from the hotel to check out the local offerings.

 
And why not have cheese and Port at 9:30 a.m.?

The Bolhau Market:

Had a welcome dinner at the Casa do Agricola:

Right down the street from the hotel was the famous Majestic Cafe, with its sinuous Art Nouveau facade, but somehow we never managed to find time to eat there:

Liberdade Square and the São Bento train station

Liberdade Square is a central feature of Porto with the town hall at one end and plenty of banks flanking it. Kinda looks like L.A. City Hall, doesn't it?

King Pedro IV:

Nearby is the 1896 train station, São Bento, with its gorgeous azulejos (blue and white tiles) depicting scenes in the history of Portugal:

Porto Cathedral, the Torre de Clérigos and cool architecture in general

There's been a bishopric here since the 5th or 6th century, but this Sé, or Cathedral of Porto started construction in 1110 and was completed in the 13th century.

  Pillory:

The Baroque 18th century Clérigos Church is best known for its tower, which you can see from practically anywhere in Porto:

There's plenty of interesting architecture all over Porto; I especially like this dramatic black and gold Art Nouveau doorway:

San Ildelfonso Church, with its beautiful azulejos tiles:

Azulejos adorn many, many buildings in Porto, and elsewhere in Portugal, for that matter:

Apropos of nothing in particular, a bronze statue of a newsboy at the mailbox:

Livraria Lello

Dating back to 1869 (in a location nearby) and rated the 3rd best bookstore in the world by Lonely Planet, most visitors want to see it more because its twisting staircase was the inspiration for the one in the Harry Potter books, which J.K. Rowling wrote partly in Porto while working here as an English teacher. And it is an amazing place, although jammed with tourists all the time.

                            

There are beautiful architectural details everywhere, particularly the ceilings and skylight:

A vertiginous look down at the bookcases from the upper floor:

The Douro Valley

The Douro River starts in northwest Spain and flows all the way to the Atlantic. It's rich in microclimates. All the grapes for Port are grown in the Douro River valley, tightly controlled by the Port Wine Institute. It's a truly beautiful river valley.

These are the traditional Barcos Rabelos that carried barrels of wine down the Douro to Porto for aging:

You may recognize this chap...

We visited lovely Pinhão with its tile-bedecked railroad station, with a wine shop tucked into one side:

Stopped for a winery tour and tasting at Quinta da Pacheca, which has a pretty outdoor dining area for events - notice the wine bottle and grapes carved from the trunk of a dead tree:

The Quinta uses the old method of pressing grapes: feet. Here are a series of tanks in which the local populace are pressed into service (no pun intended) to do the grape stomping: