6 Reasons Why You Should Visit Porto, Portugal

Last weekend we made our own "long holiday weekend" when we found cheap flights to Porto, Portugal. Having heard great things about Portugal from many friends, including Lillian who is Portuguese, we decided we had to check it out for ourselves. Many people choose Lisbon for their first visit to Portugal, but I am so glad we went with Porto. Although the weather was not as warm and sunny as you might think {in fact, Porto is typically very foggy and rainy}, it didn't stop us from having a great time. As I was describing to my French teacher what we were going to be doing in Porto, which included a food tour, she kept telling me that in French it would be called a sejour gastronomique. I kept trying to tell her no, it's just a 3 hour tour because sejour gastronomique actually translates to a gastronomic visit or stay. But, in fact, it turns out she was right; it definitely was a sejour gastronomique--a weekend that focused around walking, eating, and drinking!

Since most of our days were pretty much the same....walk, eat, walk some more, drink, walk, repeat, I decided not to bore you with a play by play of our weekend. Instead, I'll leave you with six reasons why you should visit Porto for yourself, and why we loved it so much!

1. Food

This is number one because it was such a focus of our trip, but it probably shouldn't be because it will probably be the longest section, and you may be sick of reading by the time you get done with this section and architecture, which follows. :)

We jumped right into the food, scheduling a food tour with Taste Porto starting at 4pm the afternoon we arrived. Skee and Michelle took this tour when they were in Porto this summer {the founders/owners are some of their friends}, so when they raved about it, we knew it was a must-do on our visit. We got lucky and were the only 2 that signed up for the tour, so it was a private three and half hour tour through the city, filled with history and, of course, delicious food! I'll let the pictures do most of the talking, but our favorites were the Pasteis Chaves and the slow cooked meat sandwich (cooked for 24+ hours!). Andre, our guide, was very informative and friendly.

Our tour also included a visit to Bolhao Market, 150 years old!

A few of the places we loved so much, we returned to them later in the weekend. We spent a few hours one afternoon reading and enjoying more Pasteis Chaves. Just imagine a flaky, butter pastry that melts in your mouth and is filled with spiced veal meat, yum yum! We also returned to Taberna do Largo, which serves appetizers like cheese, meats, and wines all sourced from local farms and vendors throughout Portugal. The owners spent a year traveling all around Portgual to find their products before opening this restaurant. On our return trip here, we enjoyed Port Tonics and lupinis (tremocos), which are my new favorite snack with a drink. Think a mix between fava beans and lentils in a pickled, salted fashion.

Nick is not sure about the tremocos, but they quickly became our favorite snack!

Porto seems to be in a bit of a revitalization phase right now...there are a ton of abandoned buildings {see architecture}, but there are little, quaint, cozy restaurants popping up all over. In fact, it didn't seem like there were any typically "touristy" restaurants, except right along the river. On the recommendation of Andre, and the host of our apartment, we ate at O Caracas one night, which was Portugeuse grandma style cooking. In fact, mom cooks, and her daughters serve! We had cod the Portugeuse way, preserved in salt, with some delicious rice.

Eyeing up the 24-hour slow cooked sandwich!

We ate a few traditional foods, as well.  Porto is known for the francesinha sandwich, which is basically a heart attack on a plate. Sausage, ham, beef, all layered on bread and the whole thing is covered with cheese and a spicy sauce. This is a half serving here...say what?! Natas are a traditional pastry, originally from Lisbon but you can find them everywhere in Portugal. They have a flaky pie like crust, but are filled with egg and custard. I could eat so many of these!

     2. Architecture

Ah yes, one of my favorite parts of Porto. No, it's not like the typical architecture you'll see in Paris, or most of Western Europe, but I fell in love. There's something about the rustic charm of hilly, cobblestone roads lined with colorful, and sometimes abandoned, buildings. Although there are quite a few abandoned and run down buildings, it still feels very safe, and many of them are beginning to be turned into stores and apartments again {like the place we stayed!}. During renovations, they seem to be maintaining the original feel of the city, which I'm glad about. Monthly rents in downtown Porto are 300-500 euros--so cheap, and I know that in 15-20 years this is going to become an even bigger tourist location where rents will skyrocket and there won't be any abandoned buildings left! Go now while you can still enjoy some rugged, rustic beauty!

Blue tiles abound on the churches and train stations in Porto

There are also quite a few ways to find stunning views in the city since it's so hilly. Our favorites were above old town from the cathedral and from the Gaia side of the river on the upper level of the Luiz I bridge.

Cathedral view

Bridge view

Speaking of bridges, nothing is more iconic than the bridges in Porto. The Luiz I bridge reminds me of the Eiffel Tower, and in fact the architect worked with Gustave Eiffel on another Porto bridge prior to this one. Interestingly, once you cross the bridge, you are no longer in Porto but in Gaia, which is actually much larger than Porto.

3. Wine (Port)

Yep, Porto is where Port wine gets its name from. Although it's not actual grown or made here, all of the big houses have their storage facilities here. The producers are actually farther east on the Duoro River, but Porto's access to the Atlantic lends itself to being the end point for storage. We toured one of the houses, Taylor's, upon recommendation of Andre. It was a hike up the hilly roads of Gaia to get there, but it was worth it. A very beautiful location and setting. We especially loved the tables and chairs made out of old wine barrels.

     In addition to touring the storage facilities and learning about the port making process, we were able to sample 3 different ports-white, ruby, and tawny. They add "fire water" {aka 77% alcohol} early in the process to stop the fermentation and increase the sugar and alcohol content. We decided we aren't really huge fans of port wine...a bit too sweet for our tastes but we couldn't let all of our tastings go to waste. Our favorite was the crisp dry white because it is less sweet, a bit more dry and makes a great aperitif {especially mixed with tonic water}.

4. Seaside

I know, it's November, so why am I mentioning this? It definitely wasn't warm enough to take in any beach time, and actually it rained the day we headed to the shore, but I would still recommend it. The waves are incredible where the ocean meets the river, and it's mesmerizing to watch the waves crash into the barriers repeatedly. We saw quite a few big waves when we were there, but apparently they get even bigger.

It's a quick bus or tram ride from downtown Portugal, and you never know, you might just find an old, beautiful mansion while you're there!

5. Touristy but FUN things

Normally I'm against things that are created solely for the sake of tourists, but there's two on the this trip that I was willing to put up with. The fact that there weren't many tourists at this time of year probably helped too. :) The first is tram #1 that goes to the seaside. It's an old time tram car refurbished, and while slow, is a fun way to make your way along the river. Bus 500 is much faster and more frequent, so I would recommend just tacking the tram one way and the bus the other.

The other activity is visiting the acclaimed Livraria Lello, which was inspiration for J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books and named one of the world's most beautiful book shops. Rowling lived in Porto for a while and reportedly spent a lot of time in the bookstore. While she's never admitted it, the staircase in the store supposedly was the inspiration for the one in the Harry Potter books. Unfortunately, this has become a major tourist destination and no photos are allowed in the store \{they are like vultures watching you}. I read online that between 9 and 10am they open it up for pictures before actual opening time. However, this apparently only holds true Monday-Friday, as we found out after waiting 40 minutes on Saturday morning. I was able to get one photo from the door looking in, but you'll have to have admire some other people's photos for anything inside the store. A bit disappointing, but still a beautiful bookstore.

6. Cost

The only thing I really need to say here is that it's cheap! Take, for example, our gorgeous apartment in the city center for only 50 euros a night. While we've paid 50E for places in Germany before, they certainly haven't been nearly this nice and rarely in the exact city center.

Also, it costs approximately 2E to get from the airport to the city center. If you've traveled in Europe before, you know this is amazing (Paris is 9-12E on public transit). A beer cost between 1-2E, a glass of wine only slightly more. The food overall was very reasonable...at O Caracas, we ate two entrees, one desert, wine, and lots of appetizers for a grand total of 27E!

Complimentary bottle of Port in our apartment

And if I haven't convinced you to go yet, check out some more pictures here.

Recommendations:

Mouzinho 134, 50ish euros/night for an apartment with full kitchen. The owners are incredibly welcoming and give lots of great tips.

Taste Porto food tour. Well worth the money, and you will get a lot of other tips and suggestions for the rest of your trip.

Food: A loja dos Pasteis Chavas. Confeitaria do Bolhao for Natas. O Caracas: home-cooked, family run. Go early or make a reservation. Taberna do Largo for local wine and small bite foods.