📍 Porto, Portugal 🇵🇹
Don’t mind us as we eat our way through this entire city.
We arrived in Porto pretty late and absolutely nobody will be surprised to read we were hungry and wanted food before bed. There wasn’t much open, but we found a place that was a whopping three minute walk from our AirBnB called Healthy Food. Ah, we could use some healthy food so we ordered. We split a chicken dish and a burger. Healthy. Our expectations were set low, but that chicken dish was ahhmazing. We ate, hung out in our home, and went to bed.
Day 1: We started the day exploring the city mostly by trying the foods. If you read this blog you have now been warned: there is no surprise why we came home much larger. We put our name on the waitlist for Brasao Aliados because we were told by one too many people we needed to try a francesinha and this was the place to do it. While we were waiting we explored a bit and found the fanciest McDonalds in the world (no we did not eat, we are not animals, we have SOME control). Ok fine, J here: so maybe I needed a snack to see if the food was any fancier too (you know, for research).
We then went to Liderdade Square and saw a fancy building (Town Hall) in which we were told not much happens. Seems useful. It was finally our time to eat! And by eat, I mean voluntarily take five years off our lives.
We were seated and it all happened. I can’t properly explain the francesinha so I turned to Google and here ya go: “Francesinha is a mixed sandwich that is made with a layer of bread, a steak, two different sausages, cheese, ham, bread, cover the sandwich with cheese, then melt all the cheese, egg on the top, fries on the side, and everything covered with a hot sauce (a little bit spicy without being too spicy).” The fact that the population is not 650 lbs knowing that this is their most famous dish is impressive. Must be the hills. With full bellies and clogged arties it was time to walk.
We walked through Town Hall and I can confirm nothing much is going on in there. We then walked to the main train station, Sao Bento, to see the famous tile art. We may or may not have stopped to taste the famous pastry on the way. This may or may not explain the excessive weight gain referenced above. Not one regret. Anyway, the tiles were nice, the station was pretty, and the dessert was good (5/10 taste but still worth it; I type this as my pants feel tight).
It was really rainy and not that warm so we decided to relax in the Airbnb until it was finally time to pick up our friend April from the airport.
We got to the train station early and waited for the airport train to come. To get from one platform to another you had to take stairs down from one platform, then walk underground a bit, and stairs back up to the other platform. It is also important to note that the train stops for about 2 seconds once it gets to the platform (offloading alighting, onloading boarding, departing [Metro made me do it]) and the platforms were very poorly marked. We patiently waited at one platform for a while, but it seemed like there was another train coming on a different platform that we could take to the airport and it was leaving sooner. So, we ran down the steps, underground, and up to the other platform. Turns out I was wrong (first time for everything). As we realize I was wrong, the train on our original platform was approaching. We looked at each other, nodded and sprinted (at what felt like Olympic speed) and somehow made it to the train…on the original platform. Who’s idea was it to listen to me!? Panting (my body was probably still recovering from the 3,500+ calories we consumed and was in utter shock), we eventually made it to the airport, found April, and welcomed her on her first trip to Europe!
We found a restaurant who’s menu changes every day called Miss Opo Lda. There is no real menu and they just gave us what looked like a scrapbook with the daily options. We enjoyed our first meal all together and obviously had to end it with the famous pastel de nata pastries from Manteigaria (this time they were 10/10 delicious).
Day 2: Thank gosh our Airbnb was on a hill since this girl needed some form of exercise and this city was ready to give it to me. Somehow, that exercise (of 5 minutes) lead me right to brunch at Swallow Decadent Brunch.
Ready to explore Porto, our first stop was the most narrow home in the entire city (and third in the world).
The house is in between two buildings: churches. In order to view the home, you enter through the church. So, we explored both churches and the narrow home.
From there, we visited a tile bank that helps preserve the history of its city. When a building is to be destroyed, the owner can deposit its tiles for preservation and use by other building owners. When a building is renovated or just needs a little TLC, the owner can withdraw tiles that match (since most are custom and no longer made).
We aimlessly roamed around the city a bit until it was time to enter the famous bookstore Livraria Lello.
The bookstore is famous for being the most beautiful in the world. Turns out everyone and their mother cares about a pretty building because it was insanely crowded.
We stopped for a lil’ photoshoot and then it was time to head towards the water to do a boat tour to see more of the city. We saw a lot of colorful buildings, some bridges, and relaxed on the water.
If you don’t know J, lemme give you a little inside scoop. Once he sets his mind on a mission, said mission WILL BE accomplished. There is a famous bridge in Porto that takes you from one side of the city to the other. J was walking this bridge. It didn’t matter that we had a walking food tour and we were crunched for time. The bridge was going to be crossed.
We BOOKED it across the bridge, up hills that felt like Mt. Kilimanjaro, and finally made it in what must be record time. By this time we were running late and I was in need of a bathroom. Badly. I found a nice hotel and they told me the bathroom was only for customers. That answer wasn’t going to fly, this was not up for discussion. Within a few seconds I was using their nice customer toilet.
Once J’s mission was complete and we spent a quality four seconds on the other side of the city, it was time to take the train back to the other side for a very important event. Our Porto food tour 🤤. Thankfully “Taste Porto” sent a full recap of our tour and what we ate as I was too focused on the food to be taking notes. So, here you go!
A Loja dos Pastéis de Chaves
- Pastel de Chaves – Chaves pasty (the original minced veal meat)
- Pastel de chocolate – chocolate pasty
Bolhão Wine House
- Vinho verde branco (Chapeleiro Alvarinho 2020) – white wine from the Vinho Verde region
- Vinho tinto do Dão (Quinta de Saes Tobias 2017) – red wine from the Dão region
Queijaria do Bolhão
- Cow’s milk cheese with chili peppers (piri piri)
- Cured goat cheese
- Queijo da Serra – Sheep milk cheese
Charcutaria Princesa
- Salpicão – Black Pig Salpicão marinated in white wine
- Chouriço – Black Pig chouriço marinated in red wine
- Paiola – Dry aged Black Pig Paiola
Flor dos Congregados
- Terylene – slow-cooked roasted pork & smoked ham sandwich
- Espumante tinto Bruto da Bairrada (São Domingos) – brut red sparkling wine from the Bairrada region
Café Guarany
- Cimbalino or café – espresso coffe
- Carioca de limão – lemon-peel infusion (for non-coffee drinkers)
- Chocolatinho – little chocolate
Popina
- Pataniscas com arroz malandro de tomate – cod fritters with “naughty tomato rice”
- Vinho branco do Douro (Porrais 2021) – white wine from the Douro Valley region
And THAT is how you wrap up your city visit. Next stop: Madeira.