We cast off from Douro Marina onto the river that built the city. A working river of wine, granite and trade. From the water, you see Porto the way it was always meant to be seen.

The first great arch overhead, completed in 1963 to a design by Edgar Cardoso. At the time, it was the longest concrete arch span in the world. A bold modern gateway to the historic city upstream.

The long granite façade on the Porto bank is the city's 19th-century customs house, now a riverside congress and culture venue. It recalls the days when everything that entered Porto came up this river.

High on the Porto hillside, these terraced 19th-century gardens look straight down onto the water. The original glass palace is long gone, but the green slopes and the panorama over the Douro remain one of the city's finest views.

The Vila Nova de Gaia waterfront, lined with the port wine lodges where the wine has aged for centuries. Look for the traditional rabelo boats moored along the quay, the flat-bottomed craft that once carried the barrels down from the valley.

Across the water, Porto's UNESCO-listed old town tumbles down to the river in a tangle of medieval lanes and tiled houses, the Church of São Francisco rising behind. The colourful heart of the city, seen from below.

Porto's great double-deck iron arch, completed in 1886 by Téophile Seyrig, Gustave Eiffel's former partner. Passing beneath it is the moment most people came for, the city's defining icon.

Our turning point upriver. The elegant iron railway bridge opened in 1877, designed by Gustave Eiffel's firm and the oldest of Porto's great spans. Retired now, but still one of the most graceful shapes on the river.

On the way back we reach the mouth of the Douro, where the river meets the Atlantic and the palm-lined gardens of Passeio Alegre open onto the sea. The calm, breezy edge of the city, far from the crowds.

We cruise back along the river to step ashore where the trip began.