I should call it the million calorie tour,  but who’s counting!

We met Pedro, our charming, full of information (and so cute) tour guide for the day at 10:00.  Of course, it was raining.  But after a minute or two the sun came out and continued to shine most of the day.  We first went down the street to the river for a coffee.  As we looked at the view, Pedro explained to us some of the history of the Douro, the port/wine trade and Porto.

Then began the tour in earnest.  First, we walked along the old city wall and then…  There was so much information I am not sure I can even remember half, but in the moment Ken and I hung on his every word.  Pedro is really good at this!  We visited squares and monuments, heard great stories of how they came to be—history.  In this park we saw these sycamore trees which grew in such an unusual fashion and these sculptures which make you smile  (this is one of series)W

We climbed to a great view spot,  where I liked this door and got momentarily separated from Ken and Pedro:

We walked past the café where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book, where there is a an ever-long line to get in.  We saw a very cool park planted with a small olive grove.  And these 2 churches separated by “the smallest house in Porto” because according to law, two churches cannot share a wall.

The eating part of our tour began in an alley (Ken was excited) and we tried alheira (this is based on non pork sausages the Jews would hang to in their homes to fool the authorities into thinking they were Catholic during the Inquisition ) and cod fritters.  Loved them both.  I think it was then it started to rain lightly again so we went into the glorious Sao Bento train station to see the tile murals.  This photo does them no justice but…

We walked and talked some more to find a place with a line out the door called Casa Guedes.  We got a table outside and Pedro got the food.  “Pork loin sandwiches” he called them–one plain and one with a strong sheeps milk cheese—super juicy, bathed in some kind of porky, spicy broth and served on a crunchy roll.  Fabulous!  And we drank the lousy house wine which was somehow perfect with it.  From there we walked to the “Casa de Tortas” and had the most interesting almost curry-flavored meat pie inside a buttery filo type pastry.  So you can see the calories are mounting up.

To finish we sat at the lovely Lateria where they specialize in whipped cream filled eclairs.  I got one topped with dark chocolate and yes, I ate the whole thing.

Pedro walked us back to a familiar corner so we could find our way home.  What a successful day!  Thanks Pedro.

We felt like stuffed slugs so we just read etc.  Took a walk before dinner time, but just around the block.  Wiped out!

We called Josh to check in and discovered that Teresa was in early labor.  By the middle of the night (here) we had a new baby girl in our family, a sister for Mavis!  No name yet; 7 pounds 4 oz.  Not much sleep with all the excitement.  Cannot wait to meet her!