For our second day in Porto we did a guided walking tour. Tour was an enormous circuit of the city., covering some areas we had already visited and some of the ‘hidden gems’ . For those places we’d already visited it was great to hear more about the history . We actually had two guides- our main guide and a ‘guide in training’ – it basically meant that David and I both got personalised treatment.

Interesting fact about statues of European men on horses (and yes, they are all men!) – the stance of the horse indicates the nature of the man’s death. For example, we know the chap above died of natural causes (disease in those days as average lifespan was 40) because his horse has all 4 hooves on the ground. One raised hoof means he died as a consequence of wounds in battle and two raised hooves (rearing) means he died on the battlefield. Except Napoleon of course who is always depicted on a rearing horse- it’s thought to make him look larger and more powerful.

Arrived back in the hotel early afternoon in time to greet Rick and Bei who had arrived up from Lisbon by train. From there the great tandem assembly race began. And the winner was………Rick by a country mile. Let’s just say there are going to be some hotel staff that are going to be a bit surprised when they service the rooms today.