Although inland and near the Atlantic Coast, old Porto exudes atmosphere, history, and the colour of daily life that one typically finds in a Mediterranean port. The steep, winding streets of the riverfront Ribeira quarter offer fleeting vistas over the Douro below, where the quays are major focal point for visitors and locals alike.

The massive edifice of the Se rises above the rocky hillside, its twin bell towers built in the solid gray granite that northern Portugal is so well endowed with. Despite twelfth century origins, the Cathedral underwent such a radical face-lift in the late seventeenth century and early eighteenth centuries that most of the original Romanesque purity has been lost.

On the left is the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament and its magnificent altar – made in phases between 1632 and the nineteenth century – a superlative example of the prowess of Portuguese silversmiths. A doorway to the right of the nave leads to the cloister where the rhythm of Gothic arches contrasts with seven azulejos panels dating from 1731.