We started the day off right with a couple of Portuguese tarts….. and yes, that’s right, they’re just called ‘tarts’ here. Actually, they’re called natas here, but that ruins the joke.

Today we decided to jump on the big red bus and get a look at a bit more of the town and some of the coast. We got to stand and admire this lovely old (derelict) building….. sure, she might be old and unliveable, but she’s still pretty with her tiles on.

Here’s Me Jenny waiting for the bus to arrive…

We mistakenly got on at the last stop of the circular bus route which turned out to be a great mistake decision because there were seats a plenty – we took the front seats at the top.

We went up a lot of the streets that Andre had taken us on, but there’s a different view from the top of the bus. The building at the bottom with the blue PORTO sign out the front…. people were lined up to have their photo taken while climbing on the sign. People are amazing!

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Then we pulled up at the number 1 stop on the bus route and because there were so many buses, there was no room for us and we had to go around the block 3 times until there was space to park…. then 1 million people tried to board our bus… so we waited the full 14 hours it took for them to get on and validate their tickets, etc…. then we were off….

Back passed the Sè – The Cathedral with the ice cream pod outside – how cute is that? They are all over the city for all your immediate ice cream needs.

1. The popular shopping street with your high street brands
2. An ugly high-rise apartment block made semi pretty with tiles.
3. A pretty tiled church
4. The Clergyman’s Tower
5. Another ugly apartment tower made of brick…… or is it? Spot the clue.
6. The special monument of a Portuguese lion crushing a French eagle
7. Special apartment tower – we wondered how it got approval for 7 floors?

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On the way to the coast, the ride got a little depressing if I’m honest, although it did give us a look at what life looks like outside of the tourist centre.

Then – we finally hit the coast. I’m not going to mention the beaches, because when you come from where we do – it’s never going to be as good. However, with me saying that I’m not going to mention them and then insinuating that our beaches at home are miles better – that’s me saying something about Porto’s beaches. Let’s just say they weren’t my cup of tea, but there were plenty of people down there enjoying the sand and water.

This is the mouth of the River Douro. The water moves pretty fast here and there were a few boats there taking advantage of some unsuspecting fish thinking they were getting the fast track to the Atlantic. Would you describe all fish as unsuspecting? I mean, it doesn’t appear to be in their nature to suspect that they might be somebody’s lunch very shortly.

We followed the river all the way back to our starting point and by this time, the heat really had us sticking to our seats, so we were ready to get off.

We found a lovely little spot right on the river and beers were immediately ordered.

Ahhhhhh, that’s just what we needed – and probably water, but beer is cheaper!

As we were sitting there, we noticed that the chef was standing in this doorway, on the steps cooking seafood on the grill.

We ordered grilled sardines and 2 more beers and Me Jenny was as happy as Larry – she loves a good sardine, and a good beer – so win/win!

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We sat, ate and drank as we watched the world go by….. and if you were wondering if the water police ever caught up with those jet ski-ers…..

… the answer is yes. Although when they’d finished their conversation the jet ski roared off in an almost vertical position…. perhaps they were just mates and were organising getting together next weekend? #shouldershrug