Porto (or Oporto) is the second largest city in Portugal - home to the famous Port lodges.  Although Porto is most known for Port, their table wines are the stellar values to be had now.  And those Vino Vixen Values are the subject of this article... 

Porto is lives next to the famed Douro River and is nestled among the Douro, Dao, and Vinho Verde areas, representing the significant wine regions of the zone.  Others are also fairly close, but I’ll be discussing Douro and Vnho Verde here.  Each are within a few hours from the city of Porto - making Porto the perfect home base for exploring these wine regions.

The historic city center of Porto is called Ribeira - so beautiful and well preserved that it’s been declared a World Heritage Site by the UN.  Some homes in this area date back to the 15th Century - although oddly, very few are well cared for.  Most stand proudly crumbling with clothes hanging from their ancient windows, and graffiti defacing their facades.  Even so, Porto is a gorgeous city. 

I stayed at the Infante Sagres, the only five star hotel in the old section of town.  The hotel was a 10 minute walk to the river, and 5 minutes from the major shopping area (which is a pedestrian only street).  The sidewalks and streets are all inlaid stone (like in Rome) and will chew up and spit out a pair of heels in one block.  Don’t make my mistake - bring walking shoes with you.

Cafes are plentiful, with seafood as the main fare.  Salted cod is on every menu.  Oddly, wine is rarely offered by the glass - most lists are exclusively by the bottle offerings.