We spent the morning in Régua, a town on the Douro. We had time to walk around the town and explore. 

The town has some large painted tile murals.

One of the streets in their shopping district.

The Church of Peso da Régua. This is and 18th century church. Unfortunately it was not open for us to go inside.

We found a local market

and a bakery

Across the Douro from Régua.

River cruise ships docked together. Ours, the AmaVida, is the very front one.

The maritime police, just in case.

We later went to visit the Mateus Palace and Gardens. This is an 18th century noble family manor house that was a replacement for an 16th century family home on the same site. 

The house with a reflecting pond.

The same with a statue that is in the pond.

Closer view of the house

The house, naturally, is full of lavish furniture and art. A couple of pieces caught my eye.

This was part of a series of 4 paintings juxtaposing women with nature.

This intricate cabinet initially appears to have owls on it. If you look more closely they have fangs and are tigers.

The gardens were planted in the 18th century and later expanded. They are beautiful. Unfortunately we only had time to see a small portion of them.