Porto – It Lives up to the Hype

28/07/18 – 29/07/18 – Porto

Of all the places we had heard about both prior to, and whilst travelling around, Porto figured highly in conversations and in recommendations of places to visit. we left Aveiro with high expectations….we wondered if it would live up to the hype.

Both the journey to and arriving in Porto didn’t get off to a great start. We needed to find a place to empty the toilet and visited 2 campsites. We offered to pay to use their facilities, both declined and said we could only use it if we stayed the night…as they were way outside of the city and €25 each, we decided we would make do. On leaving the second campsite, they didn’t fully open the barrier and it caught the top of the Moho on the way out….D’oh – Hopefully it will polish out!

Our spot for the night was a piece of abandoned land on Vila Nova de Gaia side of the river Douro. It was scruffy and smelt like piss, but it was free and there was space for us (A bonus considering we had arrived at Saturday lunch-time) so we were happy enough. (GPS 41.1426393,-8.6325809,339) There was however a thumping baseline sound coming from across the water – more about that later.

It was a good 20-25 minute walk along the river or a 5 minute bike ride to reach Vila Nova De Guia proper and the waterfront bars, port shops and restaurants and as it wasn’t too hot a day we decided to head out to explore the city.

The best views of Porto are from the Vila nova de Guia side as you can appreciate the tall, skinny and colourful old buildings and how they cling to the hillside. It really is like no other place we have visited.

We followed the river until we reached the start of the tourist trail – about a half mile long stretch of converted warehouses containing bars, shops and restaurants and (if you were feeling particularly lazy) where you could get a chairlift up to the top section of the spectacular ironwork Luis 1st bridge.

We parked the bikes and decided to take the rest of the route on foot as the roads on the Porto side didn’t exactly look like they were made for cycling up!

We crossed the bridge on the lower level and struggled with Marley on the ridiculously narrow pavements (he’s got no road sense yet and was trying to pull towards the oncoming buses!) before heading up to the top of the town.

We had no real plan other that to explore the historic part which is only relatively small. Our first stop then was the train station to take in the azulejo tiles in the main entrance. They depict the history of the region through battle and farming and are definitely worth a visit.

We then headed through monument square towards the book store where JK Rowling used to work before she wrote Harry Potter. It’s what apparently inspired the Hogwarts library. Sadly we didn’t make it in as the queues were horrendous. Here is what we missed.

As we left towards Carlos Alberto square I remember saying, I don’t know where to turn next – Porto is one of those places where everywhere you look, there is something interesting to grab your attention.

We walked around the trendy area behind Carlos Alberto square where we saw lots of nice little bars and cafes. Feeling the heat rising, we both agreed it was time for a much needed beer to cool off – lucky then that opposite the Book store was a very cool bar called Base that occupied the best part of a low-level green roof complete with a proper lawn and olive trees.

The best part was that the bar was almost completely fenced in, so we got to sit on the grass in the sunshine whilst Marley could run around and say hi to the other dogs and people enjoying their Saturday afternoon beers. This was a very cool place. One beer turned to 4 and by the time we left we were somewhat tipsy.

Making our way down the hill, we stumbled across another bar overlooking the river Douro from the other direction and had our first sample of Tremoços – (Lupini beans) Portugal’s equivalent to salted peanuts. Ours were the very garlicky and spicy variety – Very Tasty.

We continued to make our way down to the riverside and through the colourful old buildings that we had seen from the other side of the river.

En-route I tried taking a photo of something and ended up dropping my phone and completely smashing the screen to the point that I lost all of the days photos. They are still in there, I just can’t get into the phone to back it up or get them out of the phone.  Do’h!

Walking along the riverfront was really pretty – we did try to look for something  to eat, but as most Portuguese restaurants only serve meat or fish, veggie options were extremely limited. Lorraine was gutted not even to see fries, which she would have settled for.

We settled on having a White Port and Tonic (popular here) back on our side at the George – it’s an unusual drink, strangely familiar, although neither of us could place where we had tasted it before of what it tasted like. Before heading back to the Moho for a drunken home made dinner.

Oh, that thumping music turned out to be a dance festival called RPMM that went on all night. Lorraine did make enquiries, and was hoping to go for free, so we got a bit of a shock at the price – 45 Euro’s per ticket!, for 1 day! It is fun going to a festival, but trying to sleep to one is not so enjoyable. In Portugal they don’t seem to care how loud the venue play it, or until what time.

The next day, feeling somewhat shady, partly from the lack of sleep and partly hungover, we decided to walk over and explore our side of the river where we walked around the back streets around the warehouses. We continued to pass the port shops and up to the Jardim Do Morro right above the city where there were some great views.

I think we would have stayed in Porto for a few days had we not been so far out of the centre and had we not had Marley with us. He cant walk that far, particularly  when it is so hot.

We will definitely be back with some friends for a long weekend as it really it a beautiful city that worth exploring in greater depth and trying some of the night action too!