Porto

Now that you know the port wine essentials, we can tell you a little bit about our trip to Porto. We rode the train since our car was on a boat in the Atlantic, which was the way to do it since the Porto train station is in the middle of the town and you don't have to worry about parking.

Porto is a beautiful city, which is known for its five bridges stretching over the Douro river. It's a very medieval town that never experienced mass renovation during the Enlightenment like some large European cities. As a result the streets are narrow and wind through giant city walls.

It was a great trip. We ate really good food, like francesinha, a specialty of Porto. Since it was Valentine's Day, we also ate at a really cool restaurant down by the water's edge where we had an awesome dish of pork tenderloin and chestnuts.

And of course there was port wine. On the other side of the river from Porto is Villa Nova de Gaia, home to all of the port wine cellars. We toured a few cellars and of course tasted some of the port they had on offer. It was also the weekend of Carnaval, which is much more subdued in Portugal than Brazil. But some of the kids went all out with their costumes since it's like their Halloween.

It was a great trip, and I'm sure we'll go back. During warmer weather, they have boat cruises up the Douro River, which we've heard are really great ways to spend a couple days and see the countryside.

A francesinha, "the little French girl," is a sandwich type dish filled with ham, sausage and beef, then covered with a tomato and beer sauce. It may seem strange, but it's really good.

Our waiter was the Portuguese Robert De Niro! Hillary asked him if he's heard the De Niro comparison and he said he gets it all the time.