Our last night in Porto, we were quite tired and aching from all the uphill walking, so we just went to check out Cafe Majestic. It’s a well-known cafe in Porto that’s from the Belle Epoque. It used to serve famous Porto residents, so naturally it was the perfect place for me to dine!
The inside was opulently decorated, but there was also an air of faded grandeur, as if the cafe’s best days were behind it. But then again, it continues to be filled with tourists and residents so perhaps not.
It was certainly a pleasant place for our last dinner in Porto, especially since I had a plate of forbidden cheeses and red wine!
After our walking tour of Porto, next on the itinerary was touring the Port wine cellars across the river. Now that I knew my luggage was (allegedly) on its way, I could drink enjoyably instead of drinking myself into oblivion.
Boats sailing in barrels of Port wine to the cellars
We walked down to the riverside (past the Ribeira houses and street vendors selling cute Portuguese crafts and foods) and towards the bridge. You can cross the Dom Luis bridge on two levels – either the lower one or the higher one. The higher level is way up there, and our first night in Porto we thought we’d like to explore it, but it was really high, so we stuck to the lower level. Plus, that would get us to the cellars faster.
Sandeman Port wine cellars
We took a tour of the Sandeman Port wine cellars and learned some facts:
Port wine is always produced in the Porto region
There are three types of Port wine: white, ruby and tawny
Vintage Port wines actually age in the bottle (as opposed to just the casks)
Port wine is stopped in the fermentation process, which is what makes it so sweet
A Sandeman billboard in Porto, featuring the brand's icon - a cloaked figure
Either way, we got a tasting at the end. Unfortunately, we only got one glass of white wine and one of tawny, and of course I was most looking forward to trying the ruby. But learning about Port wine does kind of make me want to host a Port & cheese/nuts party.
After the Sandeman cellars, we took advantage of two free cellars: Croft and Offley.
Finally, it was time for me to pick up my luggage from the hotel. I’ve never been so happy to lug around that heavy backpack! And, most importantly, I was reunited with my tulip slippers.
Our first full day in Porto was filled with – what else? – tons of walking! We got up super early (7 a.m.) and started walking towards the Sé Cathedral. It’s a large, stone church atop a hill overlooking the city. Great views of Porto from this vantage point. There’s even a “magic train,” whatever that means.
Porto's Cathedral and its "magic train"View of Porto from the Sé Cathedral
We walked down some random, steep, narrow streets to get back towards one of the main roads that run towards the river. Another opportunity to witness Porto’s “faded grandeur” and get a peek of city life here.
One of Porto's hidden corners
We decided to cut west and explore the city’s various squares, churches and landmarks. For some reason, I kept getting hot and cold flashes. Crazy Porto weather – hot sun, cool river breeze. Or crazy me.
We walked past the stock exchange and stopped inside of St. Nicholas Church, which has a beautiful, blue-and-white-tiled facade.
I love Porto’s hills, just lined with run-down houses with faded and peeling paint, and red roofs. And the river that runs through the city, separating it and then bridging the gap with that indescribably massive steel structure.
Faded buildings of Porto
We walked all the way to the western border of Porto and climbed up several flights of stone stairs, through the once-Jewish district, to try to find the Crystal Palace.
We finally found the Crystal Palace and gardens thanks to a mix of my map skills and Frances’ iPhone map. We had lunch at the cafeteria there, sitting next to a little pond. Very peaceful. More peaceful was that my second call to the airport (the first was largely inconclusive), I was informed that they found my luggage!
Crystal Palace
There were also peacocks in the park – I guess peacocks must be native to Europe, because I see them in almost all the parks here. I wonder if they roam around anywhere else? We even saw several male peacocks chilling up in the branches of a tree, pretty high up. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. How do they get up there? Can peacocks fly? I need a peacock expert asap!
I tried to stop thinking about my lost luggage (and lost tulip slippers) as we wandered through Porto towards the river. Porto is very beautiful. Or as Frances’ guidebook described it: full of faded grandeur. Lost of buildings with faded, colored paint, that look kind of run down yet have a certain character. The city is really hilly, so there are lots of steep winding streets and stairs.
"Faded grandeur" of Porto's buildings
Even though I was starving, I wanted to make it down to the river for dinner so I could at least be cheered up by some nice views. We found a restaurant with a patio by the Ribeira area, along a row of old, colorful houses lining the river.
The "Ribeira"
The restaurant was charming, decorated with antique items like old-school phones and sewing machines. It had a great view of the river, the Port wine cellars across the water and the impressive steel Dom Luis Bridge crossing the river.
View from the restaurant
I think we ordered half the menu. We started with a liter of red wine, then on to appetizers. We ordered the Franceshina, which was described as bread with cheese, ham, meat, etc. We thought it would be a platter of food, but apparently it’s a traditional Porto dish which consists of a piece of bread with ham, steak and cheese piled on it. All of this is swimming in a gravy made of beer and other ingredients. Oh – and there’s a fried egg on top! Yummy.
Frances also ordered an octopus appetizer, which I actually tried. It wasn’t bad – the octopus didn’t have a strong taste, other than the vinegar it was soaked in, and the texture was probably less out there than calamari.
For dinner, I ordered a traditional bacalao (cod) dish, with potatoes and veggies. Unfortunately, it tasted way too fishy for me! At least we had a super authentic first meal in Porto, surrounded by beautiful scenery!
Our trip from Amsterdam to Porto was eventful, as most of my flying experiences seem to be. We were flying Iberia Air, so there were no check-in issues. Then again, it helped that we were at the check-in counter over two hours before take-off.
Our first flight was from AMS to Madrid. I tried to sleep through it, but really I was just sitting in my seat with my eyes closed, paralyzed in fear most of the time. There was some turbulence, but I guess it wasn’t that bad.
Unfortunately, the plane landed a little late in Madrid, so we had to speed walk to the gate to catch our connecting flight to Porto.
This time, we were flying on a little jet, which made me kind of nervous, but it actually ended up being much better than the first flight. Maybe it was because I wasn’t near a window and couldn’t see anything. Or maybe it was because the flight was only 45 minutes long.
Anyways, we got off the flight and headed to get our luggage. Sure enough, the luggage had all come out, and I was still standing there empty-handed. Iberia Air lost my luggage!
Waiting in line to talk to someone about my lost luggage, I realized that the Porto airport lost and found is a popular place! And sure enough, as we walked past the baggage claim, I saw more tired travelers standing in front of empty luggage belts, waiting for their lost suitcases to appear.
I felt stressed out (especially since my tulip-covered slippers were in my luggage – although the idea of buying a new wardrobe wasn’t that bad), but the lost and found lady assured me that my luggage was quite possibly still in Madrid, and if that was the case, it could be in Porto by the next morning. In the end, my luggage arrived the next day and someone from the airport even delivered it to our hotel.
In the meantime, we cab it to Residencial Girassol, walk in, and are told that they overbooked and would have to move us to another hotel. I suppose at that moment it was beneficial not to have a huge backpack to carry around since we had to walk a few blocks to Residencial Paulista.
And of course when we got there, the elevator was broken, so we had to walk up four flights of stairs! And then down a long, narrow, winding hallway to our room. But in the end the room was fine, and at least we had a nice view onto the square in front of the hotel. The bed was kind of tiny, but all the better for cuddling. Just kidding!
View out the window of our room at Residencial Paulista
Multiple Destinations 