This morning the day did not seem very promising. After breakfast, we returned to our room with low expectations for the weather. It rained quite heavily, but shortly after noon, the rain stopped. So off we went, with rain jackets and umbrellas, anticipating that the rain would eventually continue.

_02A2140 This was the scene along a street near our lodgings.

We decided to look for the Sao Bento train station. We had not realized yesterday that we walked right by it.

_02A2148 This station, completed in 1903,  is known for its azulejo (tile) panels of historic scenes.

_02A2175 We then walked across the Luis I bridge, from which I took this view of Porto's river front.

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This photo is of the opposite side of the Douro River, called the Gaia. Here is where all the Porto wineries are located.

The vineyards are all 100 kilometers up the Douro River, but all the wineries are located here on the south side of the river. There is a reason for this - the upper Douro is too hot for wine production. Here in the Gaia the wineries are shaded from the hot summer sun in an area in which it is easier to maintain optimum temperatures for production and aging.

_02A2196 These types of boats were long used to transport the grapes from the upper Douro to the Gaia. But since a dam was built on the river to control flooding, the grapes are all now brought in by truck.

_02A2201 We visited Calem Porto winery on a tour and port tasting.

This winery, established in 1859, produces ten million bottles annually.

We then walked back to our lodgings. Veda's FitBit counted 11,300 steps today, some of it on stairs up from the river.

_02A2210 The day turned out much better than we had expected this morning.