The people of Porto are known across Portugal as tripeiros, or “tripe eaters”. The nickname comes from the city’s signature dish tripas à moda do Porto, a hearty stew that includes butter beans, calves’ feet, pigs’ ears and paprika-spiced chouriço sausage along with tripe—the chewy white lining of cows’ stomaches.

Legend has it the city became hooked on offal after its patriotic citizens handed over all their meat to Prince Henry the Navigator in the 15th century to feed his army on its way to invade Morocco, leaving just the offcuts.

Lately Porto has undergone a culinary revolution. You can still find plenty of great traditional joints serving monster portions of tripas and other old favorites like deep-fried octopus or wonderful francesinha sandwiches, but a new generation of innovative chefs is updating traditional north-Portuguese cooking to make Porto a hot destination for gourmet travelers.

Port is one of the world’s great wines. But unlike Burgundy, Bordeaux or Chianti, it isn’t a table wine meant to be quaffed over a meal. Port is made by fortifying regular wine (mostly red, sometimes white) with aguardente, or brandy. The result is a warm, silkily intense sweet wine. Traditionally, ports are taken after dinner with cheese, chocolatey desserts or a good cigar.

The variety of port types can be confusing, they range from cheap and cheerful whites often used as mixers, to wonderfully complex vintages that can be stored for generations and cost a fortune.

The best way to plunge into the flavors and history of port is to visit one of the historic port lodges on the south bank of the Douro, in Vila Nova de Gaia. Over a dozen of these old red-tiled warehouses spread back from the quayside, offering tours and tastings. They also keep a few of the narrow, flat-bottomed sailing boats known as barcos rabelos moored in the river, although they are no longer used to ship barrels of wine down from the vineyards of the upper Douro.