This should have been a post about Marrakesh but 2 weeks before Thomas Cook went bust and we couldn’t find alternative flights so having loved Lisbon last October, we decided to head for Porto! The first few nights we booked an apartment right in city centre which was an ideal base for exploring.
Our first day we pottered around the Aliados & Bolhão area near to us, stumbling across the many beautiful tiled houses and churches and made our way to popular brunch spot, Zenith. After a bit of a wait we sat down and pigged out on various dishes washed down with a few cocktails, a great start to the day! Next we swung by Clerigos tower and then up to Sé, the hilltop cathedral and our first view over the city. We made our way down the cobbled streets of Ribeira to the colourful riverfront houses and booked our seats on one of the many river cruises. While we waited, we visited Igreja de São Francisco, a church famous for its intricate gold leaf covered interior, quite the sight! Then it was time for a quick beer in the sunshine. After a rather dramatic reaction from some other tourists as a tour grouped pushed their way to the front of the queue, the boat set off. It’s 45min trip which takes you under the 6 bridges and is a decent way to get your bearings, but it was very breezy and you don’t really see much you can’t see from the banks to be honest.
Afterwards we headed back up the hill to Base, a bar we had spotted earlier and a great spot for a couple of beers. This is also right next to Livraria Lello, the book shop said to have inspired JKRowling while she lived in Porto and was writing the first Harry Potter book. I spent a very happy half hour wandering around the beautiful, if busy shelves. After heading home for a quick change we were booked into Muu that evening and had the most delicious steak dinner with some local red wine and the host Miguel was awesome!
Day 2, after a quick breakfast of pastéis de nata, we boarded the train at the Saõ Bento, the station famous for it gorgeous tiled walls and spent a lovely 2 hour journey up the river to Pinhaõ, in the heart of the lush green Douro Valley. It’s stunning up here and very peaceful! We were booked into Quinta de la Rosa for lunch and picked a table over looking the river for a delightful meal, of course accompanied by one of the vineyards wines. Next we joined a tasting tour which gave a really interesting explanation of how they produce the various wines and ports and then we got to try a few which was great fun! We had a couple of hours to kill before the train and happily spent them in a bar down by the river, a really lovely day. Dan rounded things of with a francesinha, a local sandwich filled with various meats, topped with cheese, egg and a beer sauce. Awful.
The next morning we had brunch at O Diplomata, famous for its pancakes, which were delicious! Stuffed we walked via a couple of modern art galleries and some impressive street art, over to Jardins do Palácio de Cristal which start as bit of a building site but has some super nice views of the river from the south side. Making our way down to the banks again we decided to stop for a bottle fizz and some people watching before walking over the lower level of the famous Ponte de Dom Luis bridge to the Vila Nova de Gaia area of the city. We wondered down to Mercado Beira-Rio stopping for a snack and a very strong Aperol spritz! This area is famous for the many Port houses which offer tastings but having done that the day before we decided to head up to the Yeatman hotel which promises a spectacular view back across the city. When we arrived we learned seats in the sun are reserved for hotel guests only and not ones for sitting in the shade we took a couple of quick snaps and instead settled at Esplanada do Teleférico bar which sits on top of the cable car and enjoyed a few beers as the sun went down. It was getting pretty cold up there so we walked back across the top level of the bridge as the city started to twinkle. That evening we tried out the Galerias bars and had a perfect espresso martini but we were clearly out too early and most bars were still quiet so we opted for dinner at A Dispensa and some really tasty pasta!
After breakfast in bed we left the city behind and headed 20mins out to the Atlantic coast and our wonderful spa hotel, Villa Foz. We dropped bags and walked straight down the promenade along the rugged coastline to the lighthouse and watched some enormous waves crash against the pier. On the way back up we stopped at Praia da Luz for some lunch before checking in and chilling out in the spa for a while. We headed back to the beach for an overpriced beer to catch the last of the rays and then moved to our sea view balcony for a glass of port as the sun went down in front of us and provided a beautiful sunset. That evening was Casa Vasco for dinner, both opting for fish which was delicious!
Our final full day started with an epic breakfast at the hotel including a couple of glasses of champers before we borrowed bikes from the hotel and peddled up the coast to Matasinhos for a day on the wide sandy beach. Dan was thrilled to see surfers everywhere and soon rented a board to join them. We spent the rest of the afternoon in a beachfront bar, enjoying pina coladas before the slightly tipsy ride home and that evening we relaxed in the spa which was a a perfect end to our trip.
We had a brilliant time in Porto, the weather was perfect and the city really does have it all, amazing restaurants, beautiful riverside setting plus vineyards and beaches within easy reach, what more do you need?
If you like Piña Coladas... 