The hop on hop off bus here is cheap so we decided on the bus with the cruise with the port tasting. It was good to see around the city even if the commentary was five minutes behind what we were seeing. We did the whole blue circuit which included going over two of the 6 magnificent bridges. We followed that up with a walk through the lower town and a boat cruise. The cruise was quite relaxing and very pretty and showcased the 6 bridges, one of which was designed by Eiffel. The town itself is beautiful. We got off on the other side of the river and had our free port tasting which was as all free things are – small. So, we wandered down to the Ferreira company which was recommended by Yoan and had a tour and tasting. Their company was started in 1815 and they still have a few bottles from then for sale if you have a spare €6,000. Their symbol is an emu as they don’t go backwards - which of course we as Australians could have told them. The tour was good and the tasting very good. We tasted all three types of port – white, tawny and ruby and they were quite different from each other and from what we call port. We sat across from two Australians from Perth and ended up being the last four there and “encouraged” out the door. They were good company and we had many things in common. More walking and another recommendation – a local restaurant for tea where they spoke no English. Ian had the green soup (we are still not sure what it was but tasted of potato) and I had the salted cod and really enjoyed it. Loving our little apartment.
