Saturday, September 4

We have found the nearest metro to our apartment, Campo 24 de Agosto, and we can walk to it in less than five minutes. We walk there, take the first metro to Trindade, change to Line F, and get off at the station called Jardim do Morro.

We get out above ground on the other side of the river, twenty metres from the cable car. We have a car to ourselves and both like the ride down to the riverside.

We land in the middle of the port wine district where all the big names from Sandeman to Cockburn and Ferreira huddle next to each other in small warehouses. Our cable car tickets entitle us to a free tasting so off we go in search of the warehouse where we will get it.

Later we buy some packs of sampling bottles from a man who talked to us about the different kinds of ports, and illustrated his animated lecture with some more free samples.

Walking back along the river front I take a photograph of the opposite bank. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the opposite bank looks a lot like a postcard from Portugal.