Porto and port....

We were invited to a tour of the bridge. Le capitaine had a very cute smile.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a fairly relaxed day cruising on the river and through another lock, followed by a tour of Porto where we visited a church which was almost totally covered in gold leaf inside. Apparently over 200kg of gold was used. Pretty OTT for my liking - aside from the gold leaf the carving was extremely ornate. 

Looking across the river from Porto to the twin city of Gaia
- the quai where some of the  cruise ships depart.

Beautiful!

We also visited the stock exchange. Why the stock exchange you ask – apparently there was a time that Porto was the capital, then it moved to Lisbon, the stock exchange was supposed to come back to Porto so the stock exchange was built, but it has never been used as such. Some beautiful marquetry floors and one room with beautiful tile work and frescoes. 

This room in the stock exchange palace was amazing
- there was a collective gasp when they opened the door.

Another winery tour and tasting on our way back to the boat. Very civilized here - sitting at tables rather than standing at the bar. I'm not too keen on the port wines, I could only drink a small amount, but Rob likes them. Tempting to buy a bottle but would be a pain to pack and carry onwards to Paris.

Some of the lights of Porto. Not really a lot to look at.

We also did a tour of Porto by night visiting the railway station which we'd already seen – we could have passed on this tour.