Walking tour Porto. Took a free walking tour through PortoWalkers which I booked a day or two before. It was about a 2-hr tour with a group of 20 or so from all over the world — Australia, Central Europe, Canada…I think we were the only ones from USA, but I can see the appeal of just saying you’re from Canada…still, interesting that English is the fallback language for so many. On a number of occasions David would say something which would prompt a series of other discussions in other languages. David noted that English is pretty widely used in Portugal, and taught in schools, since the Portuguese realized a long time ago that not many people understood Portuguese. Different than in Spain where there is a stronger expectation that one must know Spanish, and there’s not much incentive to learn English. Tour covered Eastern part of Porto City, starting with one seemingly long walk uphill then meandering downhill for the rest of the tour.
Porto has a great deal of early 20th century architecture including lots of Art Deco and once-grand mansions and townhouses. 
Maggie had planted the question of why the city seemed to be frozen in the early 20th Century — that obviously there had once been great wealth in Porto but it seemed to leave about 100 years ago. David, our tour guide, gave us some abbreviated history of Portugal and Porto (more here) but especially pointed to the end of the monarchy and beginning of the republic in early 1900s. 
He said that at some point (1920s? 1950s?) the city government established rent controls that prohibited landlords from raising rents to tenants and their families/offspring. So by late 1900s, many buildings were in great decline but tenants could not be displaced. Also, new families/building went to the suburbs and Novo Gaia across the river. About 10 years ago they changed the law to include only current tenants, not offspring, so that rents could rise and buildings could finally change hands once the existing generation passed away. Once rents rise, however, many flats have been upgraded to tourist rentals (like ours) or rehabbed into very upscale housing. Not sure how accurate David’s explanation is, but it makes some sense. Brings into focus larger questions of market economies, social engineering, populist governing, and the difficulty of finding the right mix. Is there one? Who’s really doing it right?
Lunch in Gaia, lenguado. After walking tour ended in Ribeira riverside area, Laurie and I traversed the lower level of the Ponte Luis toward Gaia side. 
In these days of bridge-related terrorist attacks (e.g., London), I’m very aware of the small, crowded pedestrian sidewalks with no barrier to the (sometimes) fast-moving vehicle traffic on the bridge’s lower level. I resent having to think about these things, but also consider once again what seems to be an often more lax European attitude toward personal/public safety. 
Reminds me of castles and other places in various European (or Asian) places which could seemingly benefit from some guardrails here and there. This attitude seems to contradict a generally more paternalistic attitude toward state involvement in personal lives, but maybe also reflects the much greater number of ancient sites — you can’t put guardrails everywhere. Fuzzy thinking all around, but I wish I could walk across a bridge and not worry about it. And then there are the kids jumping off the bridge into the Douro, maybe 15-20 (more?) feet below. 
They stand on the rails of the bridge and encourage tips in a hat from tourists before making their jumps. This also doesn’t seem like a very safe or smart practice to encourage or countenance. We hustled past without really watching, and later on I wonder if I even really saw this. Definitely saw kids standing on the rails working up the crowd and/or working up the courage to jump. Somehow the intersection of fun, fearlessness, bravado, begging, and willingness to do anything for a quick tourist buck left me queasy.
Queasiness was abated by first finding a boat to reserve a short tour of the Douro. Based on tour guide David’s recommendation and promise of a discount, we reserve a spot on an afternoon boat. We also check out options for a longer Douro cruise/train trip for the next day but come up empty handed. The trips are expensive and don’t seem to really go very far up the river, so Laurie and I decide to just do a train trip the next day. Then we search out lunch by making a (non-Yelp advised) choice among the waterfront restaurants. We find an open table outside one that seems to specialize in seafood. 
Other diners get served entire meals before we get drinks or bread, but the lunch is saved by a wood-fire grilled lenguado (sole, like a flounder) fish that Laurie shares with me. It’s delicious, and Laurie spends the rest of the trip trying to find something as good. We also share a nice bottle of Vinho Verde, which is perfect on a sunny afternoon in the shade.
Douro Boat Tour. Lunch takes us all the way to 3pm (or so) boat tour we reserved. The tour is up and down the Douro for about an hour, crossing under 6 bridges and reaching as far as the Atlantic mouth of the Douro. 
The cruise is pleasant, views are very nice, explanations mostly non-existent, and to be honest, the lunch and wine did me in and I snoozed through a fair section of the cruise. But I am revitalized by the time we return to shore so we can use the 3 coupons we received for Port tastings!
Port wine tastings. I don’t have much experience with Port wine other than knowing that it’s generally sweet and an after dinner drink. I also know it helped make me sick long ago on a transatlantic business flight when I overindulged in all manner of free alcohol and learned the lesson not to drink too much on flights. But there is a long history to Port, and a variety of flavors, ages and prices. Armed with our 3 tickets, Laurie and I resolved to learn a little bit more. Each of the places were right along the Novo de Gaia waterfront, and there are many other Port warehouses and shops and tours to choose from. In a sense, it was nice to have these 3 coupons help make the selections for us. Our first stop was the tasting room for Noval, a modern little place where we began to discern the difference between Red and Tawny ports. The basic difference is age in the barrels, with Red or Ruby ports generally being younger and a bit closer to wine taste, and Tawny being at least 10 years in barrel and a bit more flavor from the barrel and the brandy used to fortify the wine. Our superficial first tasting did not make us experts or Port lovers, though we enjoyed the little crackers they gave as palate cleansers. Onward to the Porto Cruz store which was a high volume tasting room. You can sign up (and pay) for more elaborate tastings, or go to their rooftop bar, but we just opted for our free little tastes with our coupons. Tried White port here, a different flavor and color, but preferred the Tawny or Ruby. The third spot was a bit down one street and an alley, and was definitely not a place we would have gone in on our own. But it turned out to be the most informative and interesting. 
The cave-like shop promoted the Royal Oporto line, one with a long and complicated history, but seemingly more authentic than the others. They had a nice video in English and a very gregarious Rhode Island/Portuguese greeter (who also gave spiels in French, Spanish, German and who know what else, if needed). We lingered for 20-30 minutes over our samples and the video, and though we did not make any purchases there, I resolved to stick with that brand when we did hit a store a few days later. I can’t say we were completely won over to Port wine, but the tastings were good and I have a greater appreciation for their depth and variety. I won’t turn down the opportunity to have a Port digestif if given the chance, but I’m not going to be drinking it regularly at home.
To avoid the strain of walking back up the hill to our apartment, Laurie resolved to buy us tickets on the Teleferico or gondola/cable car up from the waterfront. 
The top station was directly above our apartment, making it a much easier stroll downhill. The gondola is a pleasant, if overpriced, 5-minute ride that would have been more dramatic if it didn’t duplicate the view out our apartment window (reviews).
Train tickets and sunset on bridge. After getting back to the apartment and based on our reconnaissance earlier in the day, we decided that we would take a train trip up the Douro river valley the next day. I took a look online to purchase tickets and concluded it would be easier if I just went over to the train station, about a 20-minute walk across the bridge. I got over there around 7:30, tried to navigate an automated kiosk but failed, and headed over to the line at the ticket office. The line had about 20 people in it but moved very slowly. I was hoping to get things done in time to see the sunset from the bridge at around 8:30. As I waited, things in the station started to get that empty feeling as we neared 8pm and it became clear that they were shutting things down for the evening. They closed off the line about 2 or 3 people behind me. I finally made it to the ticket window at about 8:15 and, with no access to the internet, realized I didn’t know exactly what destination to request. The ticket agent didn’t seem interested in being a tour guide at that moment and just wanted to sell me a ticket and go home. 
I remembered the name Pinhao and requested two round trips for a train leaving around 8:30am the next day. The purchase price was reasonable and I was able to get out with a small sense of accomplishment. I was also able to get back on the bridge for the remnants of sunset and enjoyed the play of light in the sky and the town along the river.
I made it back to the apartment in post-9pm dusk. With the wifi connection in the apartment, I checked the travel recommendations and discovered that I really wanted to get train tickets to Pocinho, not Pinhao…Pinhao was only about two-thirds up the Douro valley and the guides said the valley got prettier the further you went. It was too late to fix it, but we figured we would try to make the change on the train the next day.
Netflix – 500 Days of Summer. Both Laurie and I were tired and too full to contemplate another meal, but we had enough leftovers to made a snack of bread, cheese and cured sausage. And wine. We settled in with the TV and I was able to log into my Netflix account. There ensued a long search for a mutually agreeable movie or show. We wanted something light and not too long and finally settled on 500 Days of Summer because Laurie had never seen it and I remembered it was a favorite of Allie’s and had a dance sequence I quite enjoyed. I think Laurie was unimpressed with the film, but I still rather liked it and it passed the evening.
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