My thoughts about Porto, I love it! I do regret not allocating more time in Porto, as it was tough trying to cramp all I wanted to see in 2 days. I definitely have cut myself really short in Porto, especially since I was told not to bother about Porto and focus on Lisbon and the South instead.
I did however do most of the key things I wanted to do, spending a full day on the side of Cais da Ribeira, and another day on the side of Vila Nova de Gaia.
On Cais da Ribeira, the must dos include walking along the Promenade and then through the streets towards São Bento and the neighbourhood, as well as catching the sunset along the coast of Praia Do Caneiro.
My exact routes were
Cais da Ribeira
Monument Church Of St Francis
Bolsa Palace - Stock Exchange Building
Miradouro da Vitória - great viewpoint from here
Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Vitória
Portuguese Centre of Photography - entrance is free and worth checking out. The building used to be the prison building, so the infrastructure are mostly still intact.
It is now used to showcase photography work, and there were some really good ones when I was there.
Including a series of pictures by Muhammad Muheissen, a 2 time winner of the Pulitzer prize and also a National Geographic photographer, specialising in documenting refugee crisis in different part of the world.
His portrait pics are incredible.
It is also a museum of different cameras that had been collated over time.
This was one of the original first Poloroid models. Imagine having to lug these around.
Compared to the ones now, which are so handily sized.
I remember these films and materials!
These ones are mainly used for black and white photography, and makes me think fondly of the time when I was in the darkroom developing my own black and white pictures.
You can also get some of the best views of the city here, albeit through the gridded windows.
Igreja dos Clérigos
Livraria Lello
This is one of the most popular and most photographed bookshops in the world.
It was the only place in the city with a long queue continuously throughout the day.
This bookstore from the 1800s is said to have *maybe* inspired author JK Rowling to create Harry Potter while she was living in Porto in the early 1990s.
There is now an entrance fee to enter at €5, which you can use towards a purchase of something in the bookshop.
While randomly walking through the streets, I came across The Portuguese Cock Shop, and this was as seen in the window display...
How many cocks can you count? 🤣
Do you have a favourite pattern? 😂🤣😂
City Hall building
Casa Oriental shop
Tins of seafood lining the entire store walls... Prawns, octopus, cod fish roe, tuna, sardines etc.
They even have a section by the years from 1930s, listing interesting nuggets of information of what happened in that year.
Rua das Flores
Porto Cathedral and Bishop Palace
I love the beautiful tiles on the side of the cathedral walls. I didn't bother to enter the cathedral since there was a cost. There's also a good view of the city from here.
Igreja de Santo António dos Congregados
São Bento
It's highly recommended to check out the train station, as the inside is stunning. Different scenes of Portugal past are depicted on those tiles
Catching the sunset at Praia Do Caneiro is also a must do. I was already quite exhausted, and so opted to take the tram, which was a good idea as it would had taken me about 1.5 hours just to walk over. The tram ride took about 30 mins, followed by a short walk to the coast.
And just in time to catch the sunset. Lots of other people had the same idea as well.
I was very surprised by the force of the waves too, as they lashed along the sea walls of the lighthouse. Check out how high those waves went!
I then took a bus back to the city centre to grab dinner before walking back along Ponte Luis Bridge. It was then I discovered that not only can we walk on the lower level of the bridge, but also on the upper level where the metro runs. The view from the upper level was really amazing.
I think Porto looks really pretty in the night.
The 2nd day was spent on Vila Nova de Gaia, famous for the numerous port houses in the area. I was told Taylor's is one of the better one, and so headed over for a winery visit which comes with 2 ports to taste.
The winery tour was done via an audio guide, so I could do it at my own pace. The rows of barrels were super impressive, as I entered the cellar.
And as I made my way to the tasting room, I was very surprised to find peahen at the entrance of the tasting room, as well as a peacock in the garden.
I was given a white port and a red port to try. It's my first time really taking port, and between the 2, I liked the white one more than the red, but then again these were probably the cheaper range, and hard to really gauge my preference until I could try more.
The walk to Taylor's required cutting through the World of Wine (WOW) building, a very fancy looking complex, housing a number of museums related to wine.
There were also a number of other port houses in the area, so one can be spoiled for choice moving around the area to do port and wine tasting.
A couple of interesting street art too.
I also found out the hostel provided free bikes to use, and after lots of walking yesterday, I decided to take it easy and borrowed a bike to cycle around the coast. The bikes were not very well maintained, as the gears doesn't work, so it was a fairly tough ride to cycle uphill and quickly on them.
Thankfully the majority of the path along the coast is geared towards cyclist with dedicated cycle paths and also mostly on flat terrain.
My first stop was Afurada, a fishing village about 15 mins by bicycle. This place was recommended by the Uber driver for good seafood and so I settled into one of the restaurants for lunch. It's not as easy ordering for one, and settled for a prawns and squid dish with a side of small salad.
A number of the houses here have the exterior completely tiled and each differs from the next, making it a rather colourful unique street.
I then continued on my cycle along the Atlantic Ocean Coast. Some nice sandy beaches, but also some spots with very rocky terrain.
It was super cloudy with very heavy clouds, and as I don't expect much of a sunset, I called it a day and cycled back, passing through a nature reserve and seeing the evening view of Porto before it got dark.
In terms of food, it's hard to ever go hungry in Porto, with food almost everywhere. In Portugal, one of the "must eat" is the Portuguese Egg Tart, or also known as Nata. I had 4 over the 3 days :
Manteigaria - A popular chain with outlets in both Porto and Lisbon, I was served a Nata that just came out of the oven. The crust was flaky, but the top doesn't seem as caramelised. It had a rather smooth and soft custard filling which was yum.
Castro - a posh looking outlet, and after having one from Manteigaria that was served hot, Castro's was not even warm when I got mine. It was still decent though, but I am sure would had been a lot better even if it was slightly warm.
Natas D'ouro - went there twice as it's the closest to where I stayed. I took the original flavour the first time, and then on the 2nd time, I realised there were 5 other different flavours - Port, Capirinha, Chocolate, Lemon, Orange. I chose the orange flavoured Nata on the 2nd visit. Crust was crispy but was also a little chewier than I like. The centre was a little firmer as compared to Manteigaria, maybe because it was only mildly warm. But still quite yummy. The orange flavour came through mildly which was good as I didn't want it to be overpowering.
Lareira - Baixa
Prego con Vinagrete Pão with Verde Branc
Gazela Cachorrinhos da Batalha - Cachorrinhos is also known as the Portuguese hotdog. Essentially it's a spicy sausage stuffed between a crusty bread topped along with a slice of cheese and pressed on a griddle. Super cheap at €3.80 and tasty.
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