Country within the country | #3
District: Porto. Porto, Portugal
My absolute and continuous ❤ from the first sight.
Where to begin and how to cover up all Porto I have no idea… Because I have to admit, it’s my favourite place in Portugal, for so many reasons. First of all, it’s absolutely charming, it’s evolving every day and becoming only better and better. Whenever someone goes to visit Portugal (Lisbon, Sintra or Cascais) I insist, please take one-two days on your trip to go to Porto. You won’t regret it.
First tip, might seem ridiculous, but I do advise to take a ticket for red/yellow sightseeing buses that go around Porto and Gaia. Why? Because it’s totally worth it. For about 13€ whole day you can move all around easily. And believe me, Porto is not just an old part in the center, so whenever you get tired of all up and downs, you just take a bus and go to Foz do Douro for example, it’s full of great restaurants.
Ribeira, Miragaia, Clérigos… please pass by Miradouro da Vitoria, some taking-breath-away views to Gaia you won’t forget. Not far away from there, there is nice eatery As 7 Maravilhas to have some not portuguese falafel, indian, goulash or just to try out some craft portuguese beer, they have quite a variety.
Well as I started talking about food, my general comment would be, that unfortunately as it often happens, you should stay away from top tripadvisor places. Actually, that would be one of my greatest desires to share here the good ones with you.
To the most I’ve been myself already, but on my last visit we’ve got to talk to one of the girls at Miss’Opo. We came to have brunch there on Sunday, yummy. So she recommended a lot of places she likes to go.
Japanese, Shiko and Ichiban. Bar Tolo in Foz do Douro, have been there before, cute compact bar with 3 levels and a terrace on top. Panca — Cevicheria, next to parque da cidade, relatively new place but with very good reviews. Back to the center, Flow Restaurant & Bar, and when I asked for some cozy bar to have drinks with the live music, RUA Tapas&Music Bar. Went there, very good, mostly spanish tapas with some ‘chet faker’ singing and porto tonic, recommended!
And the last one from her list, that we’ve tried to find before — Tapabento (couldn’t get where it was, though it’s right on the side of São Bento Station, you wouldn’t assume there is a great place to have a meal).
Absolutely recommended, it’s like this great classic iberian dishes, but rethought in a modern, healthy, well presented way. You don’t find that often in Portugal… We took tomato salad, freeeesh gazpacho and prawns on pão alentejano. Gorgeous homemade lemonade ❤
So, the rest of things, I bet you choose on your own, depending on what you are interested in. You can go to Casa da Música, just to see architecture, azulejos hall, or check the current concert program. Pass by Livraria Lello & Irmão. Go to Gaia, choose a port wine house, take a tour, taste ruby, tawny, branco, lbv… and realise you can’t live without a porto anymore. Go up and have a different look at these panoramic views from a Funicular dos Guindais or if you prefer water to heights, take a boat tour at Ribeira through all the bridges.
Porto will be the way you want it to be, staying absolutely authentic.
What can I say, enjoy! I envy you already… ;)
