Where are John and Kara?: Porto, Northern Portugal

Afternoon view of Porto

After our fantastic stay in Lisbon we ventured North to one of the oldest European centres and the city of Porto to find what other delights Portugal has to offer!

Beautiful old cathedral.

Getting to Porto is very easy and we bused from Lisbon with the intention of soaking up the endless countryside but we missed most of the scenery because we clocked out shortly after the bus departed and spent the rest of the ride 'admiring' the back of our eyelids.

Oporto, in English or just Porto in Portuguese is well known for its (drum roll........) port!

Playing at the waterfront

Although grapes for port are actually grown about 100 kilometres up the Douro Valley the grapes were traditionally brought down river to Porto to cellar where the Atlantic climate is more temperate year round (which only seemed to be in the underground cellars).

Then the aged port was distributed and sold to ships from Great Britain or further afield. And - interesting fact, the city Porto is where the name Portugal originated.

On arriving into Porto we wandered, fairly aimlessly around the city for a few hours just absorbing everything. Typically buildings were much older and tired looking than Lisbon but the city had a different feel, more harder, more long standing but also more worn. There wasn't anything that made this so, than perhaps the overbearing heat. Everywhere! Just dry hot heat!

Washing on the line

Central City

Buildings along the waterfront

Our favourite part of Porto was the waterfront that banks the Douro river at the bottom of the city. This is a central hub of eateries mixed with well preserved buildings dating back to the middle ages. From here tiny alleyways branch out alongside the river and its easy to imagine Porto as the small fishing village it once was.

The alleyways are very dark and smell damp, there is a remarkable temperature drop as you walk between the old stone buildings and here you can almost feel how there would have once been bustling markets and streets full of people as boats came in.

Eating a franceschina!

When we started to get hungry, John tried his first franceschina! It was a terribly awful toasted sandwich filled with ham, pork steak and two different chorizo, then wrapped in a thick layer of cheese, sitting in a spicy and meaty sauce. Of course you also get a side of fries to dunk in the left over sauce! It was so terrible that he had to have another the following day!

Rua San Miguel

Ferreira Ports

Port tasting in Porto

Port with a Porto view

For the rest of the trip we were a bit museum'ed and cathedral'ed out so we probably ended up spending quite a bit of our time in the port cellars across the river. Of course this was mostly educational! As with the wine tasting we've undertaken you book in for a 'cellar tour' rather than stand at the bar and taste some port. With not much of a background in port the tours ended up being very interesting and our guides quite humorous! We recommend these tours although you do tend to get thirsty!

Porto across the bay.... beautiful

The three days in Porto flew by in a blur of food, sunshine and colour and then all of a sudden we were back in Lisbon catching our flight home! We recommend little Porto as a great place to stop off, the sights are beautiful.

Tot siens,
John and Kara