O Porto!

Porto's most famous export just happens to be one of my favourite tipples

Today I head back to one of the prettiest cities I've ever visited - Porto, Portugal's northern port town that's famous for - rather unsurprisingly - port!

My last visit to the city was in 2009, a holiday with five of my cousins, my sister and brother-in-law, that was  spent - also unsurprisingly - mainly drinking port.

The city is split down the middle by the mighty Douro river, into the tumbling red-roofed, cafe-lined Ribeira district and Vila Nova de Gaia, strung all down the river bank with wine cellars proudly bearing the names of port wine labels we all know and love. Sandeman, Offley, Croft, Cockburn - the list is long, and we did a good job the last time I was in town getting through wine tastings at a fair share of them.

(Check out the photo gallery below and read about it in this article for Mumbai-based Know Your City! Burrp.com.)

This year, I'm heading to the city with my sister and brother-in-law once again, but this time accompanied by my parents and two-and-a-half-year-old niece, so traipsing up Vila Nova de Gaia's steep hills on wine cellar tours may not be as big a portion of the itinerary as it was the last time around.

We've opted instead to cruise up the Douro to the winelands where the port wine journey literally begins - a more sedate trip that we believe will be easier on three generations travelling together. The cruise is meant to take in some of Portugal's most stunning scenery, and paired with a glass (or several) of port, it sounds exactly how I'd like to spend a day in Porto.

Add to that another taste of tripe (not yet convinced about that), a few wine cellar tours and a search for francesinha, and I definitely feel a Plateplotter PORTO post coming on in the very near future :)