Portugal
Porto
6 days / 7 nights, October 2023
We wanted to fall in love with Porto but didn’t find it as charming as Lisbon. Waterfront area is beautiful but touristy. Sunsets are gorgeous.
Day 1: Food tour, Ribeira de Gaia
As we walked to our food tour from our Airbnb came across a “waiter race’.
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Met our guide at 10am for our Secret Food tour. We were with a foursome who were great. Highlight of tour was the food market - Mercado do Bolhao. Will definitely go back. Note: Closed on Sundays. We enjoyed the food tour but didn’t think it was great value for the money compared to other tours we have done. We left a little hungry as portions, except for the last stop at Casa Das Bifanas, were small and last stop was the gut bomb/francesinha (white bread filled with meats covered with melted cheese in a thick spicy sauce) which I didn’t care for so didn’t eat.
We spent the afternoon strolling on Ribeira de Gaia (river front on other side from Porto) in Vila Nova de Gaia. After walking the bottom level of Dom Luis I bridge
We had a 5 port tasting for 5 euros at one of the bars. It was appropriately priced 👎. Looking forward to a proper tasting at one of the port houses in the next couple of days.
Dinner at Intrigo just down our street. Lovely deck. Food was very good but small bites for big prices. Left hungry.
Enjoyed a fabulous sunset at the park (Miradouro das Virtudes) a block up from our apartment
Day 2: Dom Luis I bridge
Breakfast at Nola Kitchen. Food was healthy (egg white omelette with avocado, feta, … yogurt, bananas, peanut butter, …) and delicious.
Had pastel de nata at Manteigaria - amazing (close, but not equal to Belem). Where you purchase these treats does matter.
We then had a glass of wine at the riverfront. Crowded, poor service and expensive. For a fraction of the price, stopped for another glass of wine in a less touristy sidewalk place. Perfect!
Walked to the upper bridge - Dom Luis I Bridge. View is amazing! Kids were jumping from the lower bridge, but no way on this one.
Dinner at Incontro. Warm and welcoming staff. Italian owned. If you want salad and pasta very good.
Day 3: Bike trip to Foz
Rented bikes for 4 hours and rode along the bike path down river to the Atlantic and the line of beaches (Foz). The gulls dominated the beach. Saw many pilgrims making progress along the Portuguese route of the Camino de Santiago. We have seen markers we recognized on the streets. Great way to cover lots of ground and see bit outside of Porto.
A little over 6 miles on the bike path is Rua Henors de France street that has a row of restaurants grilling fresh fish. Ate at Tito II. The fish was simply grilled and delicious! Highly recommend.
Ended up going back to Mercado del Bolhao and buying fresh vegetables for almost nothing and having a wonderful fresh salad with canned tuna at our Airbnb for dinner.
Day 4: Port tour
Brunch at Say Cheesecake & Co. Sitting in an atrium in the back. Very good avocado toast, pancakes and yogurt/ granola
Port tour - Pocas. The tour including tasting was about an hour. We choose this port lodge as it is the only one owned by a Portuguese family. The others are mostly larger and British owned. Tour was interesting and samples were good.
On the way home stopped off at the Mercado in Gaia for dinner. Had a very good salmon salad and focaccia chicken sandwich.
Another amazing sunset at our nearby park - Miradouro das Virtudes
Day 5: Palacio Da Bolsa, Crystal Palace Garden
Stopped by Palacio Da Bolsa and bought tickets for the 3pm English tour. Note: except for the 10:30am English tour others were available. Go first thing in the morning to avoid lines. If you’re first to select a time slot, you get to specify the language.
Brunch at Do Norte👍. Waited 15 minutes to get a table, and even though the line was intimidating it went fast. Great ambience and service. Got a mushroom feta toast and a quinoa avocado salad bowl. Portions were huge and delicious!
Walked to the Crystal Palace Garden. Beautiful multi tiered garden. Fairly large so can spend a good hour or two wandering or relaxing a bit.
Palacio Da Bolsa - good tour although just 30 minutes. Arab hall was stunning.
Dinner at Lucky Duck 👍. Very small diverse menu but everything we had was very good - zucchini seaweed salad, duck risotto, green curry shrimp and cheese cake. Note: Cover charge is not on menu 3.5 euro pp. Also no drink menu offered a port tinto which we accepted (10 euro per drink). House wine good (20 euro). By 30%, the most expensive meal of Portugal so far. Need a reservation.
Day 6: Douro boat cruise
Went to lunch at Conga. Large 3 story building that serves a great pork sandwich (famous “Bifanas”). Fries were so so. Fortunately, we got there early and had no wait, but when we left there was a long line.
Took a Douro boat cruise under the 6 bridges. It was about 40 minutes. If you care about where you sit (we wanted outside top deck chairs) be sure to queue at least 20 minutes before departure. This is a great way to experience a different perspective of Porto. There is some commentary.
Dinner at Tapabento👍. Be sure to make reservations well in advance for this wonderful restaurant at the Sao Bento train station. Good ambience, very good food, large portions and pretty reasonably priced. They do accept walkins for bar seating, but the line for walkins was long even before opening, and only a handful got in when it opened at 7pm. Host (son in law to the owner) is super nice and really tries to accommodate as many people as possible. The pao tomate was quite good as was the tortilla espanya.
