1880 Facts about Port and Madeira by Henry Vizetelly

The Port Wine Capital—Villa Nova Wine Lodges. 117

character of the gaily-coloured houses, with their endless lines of ornamental balconies, the utter absence of all architectural uniformity, the many public fountains, surrounded by crowds of garrulous Gallegos, the primitive-looking bullock-carts, the smartly-attired and bejewelled bare-legged peasant-women,the old-fashioned sedan chairs and eccentrically-attired chairmen, and,above all, the river, with its animated quays and diversified craft—all assist the crowded picture which on every side pre sents itself. In the Port wine capital there is a redundancy of the picturesque, but scarcely a scrap of what can be styled real art. There is not so much as a church-tower, buttress, or pinnacle, house, gable, doorway,or window; not a piece of stone or wood carving,ora bit ofironwork in the myriads of balconies, over which Mr. Euskin could consistently go into raptures. During the rainy season the water from these balconies and from the roofs of the older Oporto houses pours down pitilessly, through the myriad of trumpet-shajoed gargoyles with which the latter are so considerately provided, upon the heads of helpless passers-by. If gargoyles are many chimney-pots are few, for most of the Oporto houses have no other fireplace beyond the kitchen one,a circumstance which renders it necessary for gen tlemen to wear their capotes within-doors, and for ladies to wi'ap themselves up in thick woollen shawls in their drawing- rooms, when the cold weather sets in. In the Eua dos In- gl0zes—the Street of the English—a broad and rather handsome thoroughfare, planted with shady trees, and running parallel with and near to the river, several important Port wine shippers have their offices. At one end of it is the British Factory- house,an institution of some account in former times,but which of recent years seems to have subsided into a kind of sleepy club, limited to very few members, but liberally provided with English newspapers and magazines. Singularly enough, it closes when the day's work is over, so that not even such mild dissipation as an evening rubber is by any chance indulged in within its exemplary walls. The Port wine trade is principally centered at Villa Nova