Porto - 11 October 2018

11 October

Last night we heard trains, plus planes, the obligatory dogs barking - then we woken by really heavy rain about 2am for a couple of hours. The forecast was okay ish for today, so just took one umbrella in case!

The metro is just across the car park. €6.40 return for both of us. It’s all in English too, plus takes our FX card - felt quite proud of using it, but in reality it was very easy. I’d looked it up last night on line, and written down the 13 stops, just to double check we were going in the right direction - yes, sad!

Arrived at the stop Trindade about 11am, found the tourist information - and off we went. Again, I’d been through the Lonely Planet guide, and we’d copied a suggested walk to take in all the sights. First off, huge building Pacos de Concelho. Visited the Sao Bento train station which is covered in azulejos (hand painted tiles) which depict various events throughout the centuries. Quick stop off at toilets, €1, but at least they were clean!

Visited the Igreja de Sao Francisco - has 100kg of gold leaf! Very ornate!

We saw a little cafe place, which was really busy - and the food looked good. Sadly it wasn’t! Were sat next to an English couple in Porto for a four day break, so chatted with them for a while. Best part was a person who started playing his saxophone nearby - lovely!

Walked down to the port and walked along the river Douro. By the time we got to the bridge, the heavens opened so we sheltered for a while. The bridge, Ponte de Dom Luis I was designed by a student of Eiffel in 1886.  We decided to walk across the top of it - quite a few steps up to get there!  Beautiful views from the top looking over the river in both directions.

On the other side of the river, you could try port tasting at so many different establishments. We wandered all the way along, you could eat and drink at a different place for months there are so many!

In the end we shared five different ports for €5, and the waiter told us a little about each one. Interestingly enough, they serve all of them cold - I’d only had white cold before - ideal temperature is 14°!  After that walked along to Sandeman’s - as they have a free museum.

By then my ankles and Tintin’s hip were letting us know we’d been walking for a while - so finished off by seeing the Cathedral Se (was having lots of work done inside) on the way back to the metro. Over 16,000 steps and we managed to get back on the correct train!

Between us we took over 200 photos, so there’s just a small sample for you to look at. Porto is a beautiful place to visit, the most popular things to see and do are all within walking distance (tuks are available!). Quite glad it wasn’t a really hot day though, and I imagine it wouldn’t be pleasant when in high season!