Portugal - Day 2
September 9, 2025: Hello Porto! This was our first full day in this amazing city that feels like a living postcard. There was a beautiful sunrise over the buildings that we were able to view from our balcony and we noticed each building across the street has their own different colored tiles. Some are in great shape, others are in disrepair, but they are beautiful all the same. Porto is famous for its colorful riverside houses stacked along the Douro which we saw on our Six Bridges Tour on the river. We started the day by walking down to the Ribeira, which is the waterfront district in Porto. On the way we stopped at a little Java Cafe and had a small breakfast. Then we wound our way around down toward the river. It felt like it took forever to reach the bottom. At sea level, we took a walking bridge across the Douro River to to Vila Nova de Gaia. This is the famous port wine district and where we needed to board our boat the Six Bridges Cruise we booked through Get Your Guide. I should mention a this point that I used Get Your Guide for several of our excursions on this 6 week trip. They are very reliable and have great tours to offer. We also used Viator for a few as well.
The Six Bridges Cruise is a 50-minute boat journey aboard a classic rabelo boat, the traditional vessels once used to transport Port wine. As you take your tour down the Douro river, you go beneath six of Porto’s most significant bridges, each unique in design and history:
D. Luís I Bridge – A double-decked iron bridge built in 1886 and at the time boasted the world’s longest span of its kind. It is the bridge we walked across.
Infante Dom Henrique Bridge – A modern concrete arch bridge completed in 2003.
D. Maria Pia Bridge – An iconic wrought-iron railway bridge designed by Gustave Eiffel and completed in 1877. The bridge served as a key railway link across the Douro River until 1991, when it was retired and replaced by a modern structure.
S. João Bridge – A modern railway bridge that opened in 1991 to replace the older Maria Pia Bridge.
Arrábida Bridge – Completed in 1963, this is one of Porto’s most impressive crossings over the Douro River. It was once the world’s largest concrete arch span, measuring 270 meters.
Freixo Bridge – The most recent bridge in Porto, it opened in 1995, and was built to ease traffic congestion in the city center.
Next up in our agenda was Port wine tasting. We went to Quevedo Lodge which I had leaned about during my research. We loved it. We did a guided tasting and our guide was amazing! She gave us the history of the winery and the family but also a great introduction to port wine. We felt so at ease with her. She made the whole experience a joy. The Quevedo family has cultivated and produced Port wine across five generations, though the branded company was officially founded in 1993, following Portugal’s entry into the EU which allowed producers to bottle and export under their own labels. The winemaker is Cláudia Quevedo, a female, which is unusual in winemaking industry. We loved both their wines and ports.
After our tasting we went to WOW (World of Wine) close by. It has seven immersive museums: The Wine Experience, Planet Cork, The Chocolate Story, Pink Palace, Porto Region Across the Ages, The Bridge Collection, and Fashion & Fabric. We only had time for one, so we went to The Chocolate Story which was really well done and told the history of chocolate through the years and across the world. Chocolate tasting was included along the way and at the end they gave us a little port wine. We would definitely recommend this museum.
On our way back to our flat, we stopped at Terrace Lounge 360, which was a rooftop bar with some music. It had a great view across the river to Porto.
For dinner, we planned to go to Cachorrinho Gazela for some traditional Portuguese food, but it was raining so we stopped at Time Out Market instead which is nearby and each picked a different vendor for food. We will go to Cachorrinho Gazela tomorrow night instead.
It was a great first full day in Porto. So far, we are impressed and loving the city!