Porto
Toward the end of April, we took a side trip to Porto and spent three days/two nights in Portugal’s second-largest city. The weather was beautiful during our visit, which was a treat considering all the rainy days we had been stuck with earlier in the month in Lisbon.
We took the train from Lisbon to Porto, which was an easy two-hour ride. Diego, our Airbnb host’s boyfriend, was from Porto and gave us a list of great recommendations!
We loved Porto. It was a charming, friendly city filled with beautiful architecture along the Duoro River. The dining scene of Porto also exceeded our expections! We found a coffee shop we loved (Combi), a wine bar we loved (Aduela), and a craft beer garden we loved (Letraria).
We also loved our Airbnb. It was a perfect little apartment, located on a quiet old street in a tile-covered building (!). The space had been completely renovated, so it was brand new; we were some of the first guests to stay there! The highlight was the balcony, which had a beautiful view! They left us a bottle of a port wine as a gift, and we opened it and enjoyed a glass on the balcony soon after we arrived, relaxing with the view before spending the night out in Porto.
Here's a recap of our short-but-sweet side trip to Porto!
NEW TILE
We loved the fresh tiles of Porto, which presented new textures, patterns, and colors to admire. The tile in Porto is different than Lisbon; it’s more textured and protruding. Much to my enjoyment, the “signature” tile of Porto seemed to be this beautiful yellow and white design, which we noticed on many buildings all over town.
On our first day, we turned a corner to find the beautiful Church of Saint Ildefonso near the main shopping street Rua da Santa Caterina; it was such a surprising scene to find an old baroque church on a pedestal of steps, covered with blue and white tiles.
In Porto, the old churches covered in blue and white tile scenes are uniquely beautiful compared to the many churches we had seen elsewhere in Europe. We also admired the tile that adorned the interior of the São Bento train station.
São Bento Train Station
RIBEIRA & PORTO TASTING
Porto is the birthplace of port wine, which is known simply as porto in Portugal. Similar to champagne, this fortified wine/liquid dessert can only be called “port” if it is derived from this region; otherwise, it’s just a fortified wine and a port wannabe.
On our only full day in Porto, we booked a reservation for a port wine tasting at Graham’s Port Lodge.
We walked down to the riverfront of Ribiera Square, which was beautiful! Then we walked across the Dom Luís I Bridge (designed by Gustave Eiffel!), which allowed for more amazing views and a new perspective of Porto from Vila Nova de Gaia; it gave me heart eyes at the charm of the city.
Vila Nova de Gaia is home to the many famous port lodges of Porto. Traditional boats called rabelos line the waterfront, which were the original form of transporting the grapes of the Douro Valley down the Douro River to Porto, where they would be fortified to create port wine.
The Graham’s tour was a treat! We learned a lot about port wine, the different varieties, and the Douro Valley. The best part was the port tasting at the end, of course!
After the tour, we walked back to the other side of the river, then up an endless staircase to the higher ground of Porto. At the top, we found the first stop of the #22 tram streetcar, and we hopped on for a lovely loop around the city center.
When the tram stopped near Cafe Santiago, we jumped off to grab dinner. Cafe Santiago was the restaurant that Diego had recommended for trying francesinha; although we had tried it for the first time the night before at Cervejaria Brasão, we wanted to try another version from a different restaurant before leaving Porto, so we decided to share one for dinner at Santiago. Jeff was excited when he saw the little hot dog sandwich on the menu, so he ordered one of those to split, too. It was a perfect tasty dinner after a day with lots of (uphill!) walking and drinking.
TASTY BITES TOUR
We hadn’t realized what a gluttonous, delicious city Porto was. After one day there, it was clear to us that Porto is Bologna’s sister city. While in Porto, we indulged in what later became known as our “Tasty Bites Tour.”
What is the “Tasty Bites Tour,” you’re wondering? Well, after compiling recommendations for Porto from our new friend Diego, and from Bourdain’s “Parts Unknown” episode, along with other random sources, we realized we had a list of key sandwiches to try at a handful of different places. In order to try more things, we opted to split most of the items on our list.
Tasty Bite #1: Pernil @ Casa Guedes.
On the other side of a nice park called Garden of St. Lazarus we found Casa Guedes, our first stop on the Tasty Bites Tour. We were there to try the pernil, which was a delicious sandwich filled with luscious, salty pork. It didn’t need the cheese, but it was even better with it (called queijo serra da estrela)! It was a strong opening round.
Tasty Bite #2: Prego with cheese @ Venhem Mais 5.
Our next stop was to nearby Venham Mais 5 to try their prego, a Portuguese staple. It was too rare for both of us, and somewhat disappointing.
Tasty Bite #3: Cachorro Especial @ Gazela.
Later that day, we visited Cervejaria Gazela, a little “snack bar” known for its spicy sausage sandwich - basically a hot dog split and topped with cheese, sandwiched in a toasted little baguette. It was a scrumptious snack that reminded us of the little sandwich we loved from Mercato Albinelli in Modena, Italy.
Tasty Bite #4: Franceschina @ Cervejaria Brasão.
On our first night in Porto, we had dinner reservations at Cervejaria Brasão. We started with croquettes and a blooming onion-type appetizer with "black garlic" sauce. The main event, though, was the francesinha. The francesinha is a famous dish in Porto; it’s a total gut-buster, featuring a sandwich with layers of ham, steak, and kielbasa-like sausage, covered in melted cheese, topped with tomato-based gravy sauce. We happily split one, but saw many diners conquering one on their own! We also opted for a fried egg on top (obviously). The order came with a separate fancy container of extra sauce, which gave us starry eyes. With dinner, we enjoyed a great bottle of wine (only €15!) which Diego had recommended called Chamine. It was a tempranillo/syrah blend - right up our alley!
The francesinha was amazing and decadent. It came with an order of fries which were perfectly delicious when dipped into the cheesy, leftover tomato gravy sauce (like a Portuguese poutine!). Jeff commented that it was “Like breakfast for dinner.” It was a perfect ending to day #1 of our Tasty Bites Tour.
Tasty Bite #5: Bifana @ Conga.
On our second day in Porto, we sought out our last two tasty bites. Our first stop was Conga, which is known for their spicy sauce bifana (the bifana is a common Portuguese pork sandwich). Uffda, it was too spicy for me! Jeff loved the spice and said that if it had been topped with cheese, it could be a top contender.
Tasty Bite #6: Smoked ham & cheese @ Taxca.
After Conga, we checked out the last spot on our tour at Taxca, which is known for their “smoked ham and cheese” sandwich. It wasn’t what we expected; it was a prosciutto and cheese sandwich served cold. Jeff described it as a charcuterie sandwich, and we agreed it would be perfect for a picnic.
Our favorite tasty bite was, by far, the pernil at Casa Guedes. We liked it so much that on our way to the train station back to Lisbon, we stopped to have one more before we left Porto (though that time there was no sharing - we each had our own sandwich!). We also really liked the incredibly indulgent francesinha, a dangerously good Frankenstein food perfect for meat and cheese lovers like us!
Our two-day side trip to Porto was lovely but too short! In hindsight, we wished we had spent a couple more days there in order to have visited Douro Valley, the nearby wine region.
