Porto City, A Wonderful Place

Palácio da Bolsa and San Franciscus church

First full day to discover Porto City. We started with a visit of the Palácio da Bolsa (stock exchange palace), a neoclassical building constructed in the 19th century. We took the French guided tour because it was the next one scheduled and we did not want to return at a later moment.

*Central courtyard of the Palácio da Bolsa, Porto City Centre*

*View from the stairs in Palácio da Bolsa, Porto City Centre*

Wow, what a beautiful building… incredible! We had not foreseen this visit, but we were so pleased that we had given in to this spur of the moment.

*One of the rooms in Palácio da Bolsa, Porto City Centre*

Next we visited the San Franciscus church, the museum and the catacombs … a bit strange to be in a cemetery that is more reminiscent of a wine cellar.

San Franciscus church, Porto City — *San Franciscus church*, *Porto City*

Catacombs of the San Franciscus church, Porto — *Catacombs of the San Franciscus church*

After so much culture, we were definitely in the mood for a good coffee and were very please with ourselves that we had found a nice coffee bar C’Alma. There was not a lot of choice, but the coffee was very good (of course accompanied with a slice of banana bread).

Coffee at coffee bar C'Alma — Coffee at *coffee bar C’Alma*

We then walked on to Lello, the famous bookshop where JK Rowling drew inspiration for her Harry Potter stories. In my opinion this store earned more from the € 5 entrance fee paid by tourists than from the sale of books 🙂 … you should see the very long queues in front of the shop.

*Waiting queue at Lello, the famous bookshop in Porto City*

We absolutely wanted to get inside, but we did not have the courage to wait for hours… We were going to give it another try the day after and if the queue would not be shorter, then too bad…

*Walking though the streets of Porto City*

It was already after 2 pm when we decided to have lunch. We were no that hungry, so we were more in the mood for a snack. We then stopped at Puro4050 … a mozzarella bar. This was a fantastic place and all of a sudden, we had much more appetite :-). This was so tasty!

We then returned to the hotel for a rest. Just in time because upon entering our room, I felt a severe pain in the muscle of my leg and I immediately feared that further walks were history….

Dinner at Artesão Bistro, Porto City

After a long siesta we got ready for the apéro and dinner … those were certainly part of my favourite moments in the day :-). We went for dinner at Artesão Bistro, a recommendation received from friends. The food was again very well presented and extremely tasty. They even served Blue Chimay as a food pairing with one of their dishes (so a bit of Belgium in Portugal).

Tomato salad at Artesão Bistro — Tomato salad at *Artesão Bistro*

Tonight there weren’t many people, yesterday it had been completely full. Compared to e.g. the Spanish tourists, we were early diners. It was not unusual that the Spanish could drop in until 10 pm, by then we would have finished eating …

We were getting a bit sad that the holiday was almost over. To ease the pain, we had booked our last diner at Tapabento, the wonderful restaurant that we found the previous evening.

The Lello Bookshop and Gaia

For our last day in Porto we had planned another serious walk to the other side of the bridge so we could have a view of Porto. However, we were not sure if it would be possible since I was still a bit handicapped because of the muscle pain which had only increased.

Ah yes, I forgot to mention that for the first time in my life I drank porto-tonic … It was definitely not my favourite, gin and tonic is in my opinion still the better choice….

First visit of the day was Lello, the bookshop that served as inspiration for JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books … a true gem ones you get inside… we immediately understood why some tourists wanted to queue for hours.

Ceiling Lello Bookshop — *Ceiling of the Lello bookshop*

We were lucky to have arrived before the opening time and were nr 19 & 20 in the queue in front of the shop. 23 Persons were allowed in at the same time. The last in line at this point, would already have to queue for 3 hours !!!! We were so happy to have made it!

Then we walked towards the Luis I bridge, after which we took the téléferic to the port houses on the waterfront. We tasted and bought some Porto … and then brunch in the same mozzarella bar from yesterday (because it was so good and we did not have the chance to taste everything that we wanted the day before :-)).

Stunning views from the bridge in Porto — *Stunning views from the Bridge in Porto*

Last dinner and breakfast in Porto City

Our last dinner at our favourite restaurant in Porto (or even of the entire trip), Tapabento, was again fantastic… we were going to miss this so much… Food was definitely a highlight of our Portugal trip !

Diner at Tapabento — *Last diner at Tapabento*

Steak at Tapabento — *Nice steak at Tapabento*

For our last morning, we had a nice breakfast not so far from the mozzarella bar. We took our time and remained there until we were ready to recover our bags from the hotel and to take the taxi to the airport.

The North of Portugal was surprising, especially because it was such a last minute decision with so little preparation . Food and culture were so much better than expected. A lot of religious buildings, a bit like temples in Asia, but there were certainly gems in between. In any case, it tastes like more … so we will definitely return to explore the Lisbon region next.