Portugal 2025! Porto

 A short train ride from Braga and we were in the lovely city of Porto spanning the hillsides cascading down to the Douro River. And its loveliness is officially recognized by UNESCO as Ribeira, a large part of the original city situated along the river front and adjoining hillside, has been given World Heritage status.

On the south side of the Douro River in the area of Vila Nova de Gaia. You can see the Ribeira part of Porto in the background across the river left of the bridge, that was designed by Gustave Eiffel, yes, the famous French fellow. 

But before venturing off to Porto, we needed one last powdered pastry powered breakfast at our favorite cafe in Braga. Ada doubling down on her favorite and holding some sort of fruity beverage.

Exiting the old part of Braga via the city gate to get to the train station which was just outside of the old city and a short walk from where we stayed. 

The blue tile work on the building to the left of me and the gate was stunning and we would come across more of it as we traveled thru Porto and Lisbon. 

Yaaayy - a quick train ride to Porto and we stepped off into a throng of multiple tour groups getting the details of the station. Porto was bustling and definitely touristy in many parts but not in a bad way at all. The station was beautiful and decorated in that pale blue tile mosaic that I mentioned in the final Braga image.

Ada in our doorway with the Douro River in the background and Vila de Gaia across the river. 

Our B and B/hotel was situated in Ribeira on the banks of the Douro River. The train station was located about a half mile from the river but all of Porto is on a hill, so navigating the cobblestone sidewalk with Ada's rolly suitcase was a bit of an adventure but it was a relatively short walk to get to our place. I booked all our places kind of randomly. So it was interesting to see what we got when we arrived! This was in an area that used to be all the apartments and such for the dock workers. They were going to wipe it all out a while back and build a promenade along the river like they did in Lisbon, but the people of Porto were not having that so this rather blast from the past area of Porto remains in tact and has become a very popular area - as we would fully experience in our two night there .... LOTS of restaurants and beer gardens and LOTS of people drinking LOTS of beer and fully enjoying all the live music, vendors, and other forms of entertainment situated along the river area. 

Bunk beds and quite small but functional and clean and in a very interesting location. We spent little time in our hotels so it was just fine. It did require quite a walk up into Porto proper every morning as we were at ground zero regarding elevation.

Out on our "balcony" which was a sidewalk servicing the apartments and restaurants above the quay where most of the bars, restaurants, vendors and such were located.

The sidewalk and river quay below. The green doors opened into our room.

Walking up from our riverside apartment into the city, with another lovely cathedral in the background.

Another street scene. It had toasted up a bit since Braga and the sun was out for the remainder of our trip. 

Another fit and another cathedral! This one had the blue mosaic covering the east wall.

So this was random. We were walking about and saw this long line portioned into time slots. It was a long line so obviously something quite popular and maybe something I did not want to miss out on! So after a bit of inquiring, we found out this was the bookstore where Miss Rowling worked for a while when she was living in Portugal and became the inspiration for whatever alley, where the wizard children go to by things, in the Harry Potter series. 

Another cafe kind of situated at the "top" of Porto, where the hillside plateaus a bit. It was in a large square of, believe it or not, a cathedral!

And the Porto McDonalds, or at least the one that gets some mentions in the tourist scrolls. It used to be the Imperial Cafe and is located centrally along one of the main Porto squares. McDonalds kept the original architecture and it makes for an interesting McDonalds experience. I look angry, but I'm not - just my resting bitch face. 

Slick - bit more impressive than an M.

Fancy inside. 

And the infamous francesinha. It is one of the dishes that visitors are typically asked if they have tried it yet. It is various layered meats enclosed in dough covered in melted cheese and a paprikaish sauce and topped with an egg. It was fine but a lot. Ada had a mini version and I think the face was because she had just had a drink of her fizzy beverage not in response to the mini francesinha. 

The food scene was an interesting situation. I would have loved to have tried more seafood and definitely the giant grilled sardines. I enjoy regular old sardines in a can so I can only imagine how good fresh grilled ones would be. Unfortunately, imagine is all I did do to my strange "certain types of fish" allergy that leaves me very ill. I might have been able to eat more but I did not want to take the chance and end up spending a day curled up on the bathroom floor. So, we did try lots of pastries!! But I had to steer clear of the fish. 

This was something I had never seen before. A lot of the streets in Portugal served pedestrians and vehicles. On the streets that were more for pedestrians, they would have one of these cylinders. When a car approached, a sensor would detect the vehicle and the cylinder was retract into the ground allowing the car to pass on to the "pedestrian" street. Then it would rise up again into place blocking motor vehicles. Some kids would ride it up and down which I thought was neat.

One of these things you stumble across that you never expected to see. Most churches are free to enter and others have hours or charge for entry. This one had a wedding going on during the day but we came upon it at night and it looked like people were entering so we thought we'd have a look. It ended up being a light show that was on showing in the church. It was pretty impressive and a different way to bring modern technology into highlighting the beauty of these structures. 

It was about ten Euros and about half an hour and a neat surprise to start our first evening in Porto.

In the alley ways and backyard areas of the apartments where our room was situated.

On the quay below the area where our room was located. Gustave Eiffel designed bridge in the back.

Some Day ..... 

Stop in at Starbucks on our first full day walkabout. Fun to see how US establishments adapt to other places.

And our first cafe of the day on the beginning of our walkabout. 

I went for a run early on this morning to map out what we could do for a walking tour. We began at our place on the Porto side of the Douro River. Walked up into Porto and stopped by Starbucks to check it out. Then went to the cafe in the previous image because thats what you do in Porto to kick off your day, keep your day going and end your day! Then we made our way over to a church with a terrace overlooking the city which is where the next several photos are from. 

Ceramic tile wall of the church.

Ceramic tile wall and the church.

Overlooking the orange rooftops of Porto from the church terrace.

Random duck siting on our walk about.

Douro River and Porto cascading north up the hillside. Our room was just above that green awning in the center of the photo.

Good view of the city and the Douro River. You can almost see the mouth of the Douro where it ends in the Atlantic.

Yaayyyy - fit number 2.

We had crossed the bridge to the south side of Porto which is officially called Vila Nova de Gaia. These are taken from a fort with a good view from the southside.

Another view of the Douro making its way to the Atlantic. I didn't know how close we were to the ocean until we did a boat tour highlighting all the bridges that cross the river around Porto. After the last bridge siting, we could make out the breakwater that protects the mouth of the Douro. So the next morning I excitedly went on a run to the ocean with the hopes of getting into the Atlantic in Portugal. Fortunately, the area where the Douro does flow in was not industrialized at all and there was actually a sandy beach right where the road I was running on turned to run along the coast. So I ventured on to the beach and to the surf and had a splash in the Atlantic. It was about an 8 mile run but worth it. 

"Posu"

And then we took a cable car from the high point down to the shoreline. Why, because it was in the guidebook and seemed to be a thing to do but it was quite uneventful if you have ever been on a cable car before .... 

And then we stumbled on to a motorcycle event along the banks of the river. There were hundreds of bikes there and some pretty slick ones for sure. A bit loud at times because bikers seem to have the uncontrollable urge to rev their engines whilst driving down a crowded street going five miles an hour. Its really annoying and a bit silly, but I get it, sort of.

Giant dog!

He was really big and slobbery.

Squinting as we relaxed a bit on the riverside.

Bridge from the Vila Nova de Gaia side.

After we crossed back into Porto, Ada hit some shops and I went strolling. Cool ceramic exterior.

Charcuterie dinner. It was very nice.

Taken by our waiter, who was from Africa, as the majority of the service workers, and many other "typical new immigrant jobs" seemed to occupy.

Duck siting.

After a busy day, back in our home area, party time on the quay.

Our area looking across the river up the hill to the Vila Nova de Gaia side.