Port

I enjoyed Port much more than Lisbon.  Perhaps because it was a little smaller, or maybe it was a change in mindset: we only went to Lisbon to pickup my parents, whereas Port was the first stop on our roadtrip all together.

We found our hotel without too much trouble.  I had printed out Google directions (we didn't have internet on our cell phones in Portugal), but didn't quite zoom in enough.  Thankfully, Portuguese is fairly similar to Spanish so that at least with directions (right, left, turn, etc.) I was able to understand and be understood.  We had to stop a few times--something that would become a very common event over the course of our trip--and being the navigator, I would jump out of the car and ask the first passerby or nearest shop assistant for directions.

Reception at Porto Riad Guest House

It seems the Portuguese are similar to Spaniards in their very unhelpful way of giving directions!  In Spain, if you've ever asked how to get wherever it is you're going, the answer was most likely "todo recto, al final" (straight ahead, to the end)--beautifully vague.  In Portugal the equivalent answer was "sempre a frente" (keep going straight ahead)!  We heard that phrase so often it became our motto on the trip.  Any time we were doubtful about the road to take, someone would inevitably pipe up with "sempre a frente!"; any lull in the conversation might provoke a spontaneous, "sempre a frente!".
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Our hotel was a lovely old building beautifully deccorated in moorish-style: Porto Riad Guest House.  Surprisingly they allowed pets, which is why I made the booking in the first place.  Our reservations were for one night only, but we decided to ask if there was room for us to stay an additional night.  We were in luck.  Two nights in one place is the only way to enjoy a full day of exploring!

The city hall (I think) was pretty well-maintained

That evening we settled in the dog and then headed out to try some of the "authentic" Port food the receptionist at the hotel recommended to us.  Once again, on our walk down town, we encountered numerous historic buildings with missing windows and pollution-stained facades.  The economic crisis in Portugal is much more severe than in Spain.  The Portuguese received a bailout from the European Union in 2011 and there is talk of the need for a second in the near future.  Perhaps some of the run-down state of the countries cities was due to lack of public funds for upkeep, but these buildings certainly looked very far gone.

At first glance these are beautiful, 19th centurty buildings...

Port is another hilly Portuguese city.  It is perched on bluffs above the mouth of the Douro river.  The Douro, called Duero in Spain, is known for harboring excellent wine country along its shores on both sides of the Spainish/Portuguese border.  We had some great wine from the region with our dinner and decided that we'd save exploring more of the city for the following day--no one was up for hiking around the steep streets more than we needed to get back to our hotel and climb into bed