Porto (or as we call it Oporto in English) is the 2nd largest city in Portugal, it’s the home of the famous Port wine. The architecture is a mix of historic medieval with the influence of 21st century additions and it’s beautiful to say the least.
We had the pleasure of staying for a couple days and touring all around town and it’s surroundings. We decided to stay on the side of Vila Nova de Gaia so we could stay a couple nights on the beach. We stayed at a hotel called Casa Branca, quaint boutique hotel, friendly staff and very nicely located as you can walk down to the beach, there are several restaurants and little shops and short car ride away of going to Porto.
We had our 1st lunch right on the beach at a restaurant called Mar A Vista. Being on the beach and knowing that your fish and seafood couldn’t possibly be any fresher that’s what all of us ate. One of my favorite things to eat in Portugal is always the Seafood rice, every restaurant makes it a tad bit different, but I haven’t met one I did not love! We all shared the food below which was great, I have to say the BEST thing we ate that was so pleasantly surprising was that fresh Cod Salad! I am so going to make that at home!
The beach around here isn’t your typical sand beach that you walk around the coast line and bathe, surf and swim. The Atlantic ocean is very cold to begin with, but this beach has huge rocks and it’s dangerous to swim, so most people sun and wade. It’s still beautiful and relaxing to watch the waves break on the rocks! So half a morning of soaking in Vitamin D and getting a little wet was sufficient for us 🙂
Once that “beach itch” was done with we decided to go visit Porto and tour around the city. It was a really hot day and the ups and downs in this city are crazy! So keeping cool and hydrated was tough. But I loved every inch of this city, there was always an interesting corner, always have to look up to not miss any architecture, and OMG watch out for the crazy drivers as you cross the streets 😉
To get to Porto from Vila Nova de Gaia you have to go over “Ponte do Infante” or Prince Henry Bridge (named after Prince Henry the Navigator). We parked the car right in the Plaza of same Prince. The plaza has a nice view with a statue of the prince along side of some “creepy looking angels” which of course my 2 geeks kept saying “Mommy DON”T BLINK!” and in a historical place like this… it became the joke of the day as there are tons of angels around! Our first stop was to eat lunch at Chez Lapin, which was delicious!
After tummy’s are happy we go to Mimi’s surprise: arriving to the most amazing beautiful library I’ve ever seen in my life, oh yeah and the one that where JK Rowling got her inspiration to write the beloved Harry Potter books (when she lived in Porto). The library comes out in the 2nd movie, when they are all getting their books in Diagon Alley and they get their books signed by proffesor Lockhart. In case you didn’t know, the library I’m referring to is the “Livraria Lello”. This place is just absolutely magical. I took a couple pics before they told me no pics were allowed… We got Carolina 2 books and they are signed by the owner along with a bookmark, definitely something she will treasure for life! That’s not the end of the surprise by the way… Right next door to the library is an amazing dessert place! Holy yum is all I have to say. Silly fact: did you know that the smell of baked goods and chocolate facilitate book shopping? hmmm
Not sure that after the special visit to the library we could see anything more special, I was wrong, the architecture in Oporto is magnificent, I leave you with some pics below!
After all that walking up and down streets we were exhausted and ready to head home, but we saw a place for Churros and we got some for “dinner” as we watched the sunset over the River. What a great ending to a super busy day!
We did some Port wine tasting as well, you can find that on my previous post
Off to the next adventure… leaving Portugal heading north to Galicia, Spain…
ccarretero 