Coast to Coast

Porto

admin Uncategorized

Porto

7-10 June 2019

After walking over 700 km in the last two months we had a few days off in the World Heritage city of Porto. We had been here before (click here) and enjoyed it a lot. Here’s a few pictures from this time.

We stayed at Porto Riverside Apartments, just below the Cathedral and above the Ribeira riverside area. With a view of the Luis 1 Bridge and the Duoro River it was a very pleasant place to spend the time.

Porto’s medieval Ribeira (riverside) district
There’s 88 steps up from Ribeira to our apartment
This seagull sat on the roof outside all day
Porto Cathedral, from the 12th century
Old Porto from the Cathedral
Church of Saint Ildefonso, completed in 1739
Approximately 11,000 azulejo tiles cover the facade of the church
20,000 English football fans enjoying the sun and the beer
(England came 3rd in the 2019 UEFA Nations League finals which were held in Portugal)
Luckily we found a very nice and calm wine bar to try some fine Portuguese wines
We went 4 times to The Wine Box, our second favorite bar in the world
When in Porto, drink Port – tasting at The Wine Box
Bacalhau, dried and salted cod – reconstituted it tastes much better than it looks
A Porto specialty – Francesinha tastes worse than it looks
Steak sandwich with ham and fried egg smothered in melted cheese and floating in spicy beer gravy, plus chips
Old wooden port wine boats at Vila Nova de Gaia opposite Porto
Afurada is a fishing village about an hours walk towards the sea from Porto …
… we went for the large and sweet freshly grilled prawns
We left Porto for Madrid from the São Bento railway station
The interior is covered with 20,000 azulejo tiles, dating from 1905–1916, depicting famous Portuguese stories