Leaving Porto, the boat passes under some of the famous high level bridges. The urbanisation of Porto is quickly left behind and the steep banks have villages and riverside homes.
As the journey takes place, the boat is raised by a series of locks, some being the highest in Europe. These locks and the dams through which they go have tamed the river from the dangerous rapids which sank many yachts when the river was used for wine transport.
Later the railway line runs alongsIde the river for its jouney upstream. The arrival of the raiilway resulted in all the wine being carried by train and the carriage downriver by ship stopped. In recent years, the wine has been moved downstream by road tsnker.
The river passes through the demarcated port wine region of steeply terraced hills
and mountains and white painted quintas past Regua to Pinhao.
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