Porto, the Unconquered city

 

After more than 9 months without going abroad because of the current pandemic (two trips cancelled: Dubai in March and the Cyclades in May 2020), my cousin and I were finally able to leave France this summer 2020. We wanted to go to Porto and Lisbon but the prices were far too high in August to be able to do both cities. So we focused on Lisbon. Unfortunately, a few weeks before our departure, the hotel we had booked sent us an email to let us know that our booking had been cancelled due to the Covid-19. Given the current events in Lisbon (Lisboet confinement), we preferred to book a flight and a hotel to Porto instead (our flight to Lisbon may be used until March 2021). So we left with Air France on August 12 for a return on August 19, 2020.

Day 1

My cousin and I took off from the CDG airport in the late afternoon. The flight, which lasted 2h10, went smoothly (it has been a long time, probably because we didn’t travel with a low-cost company this time) apart from the many turbulences and the landing a little too “violent. ” 

To get to our hotel, we took the train to the airport and got off at the terminal located about 10 minutes walk from the hotel. The journey lasted about 40 minutes and the ticket cost less than 3€.

Our hotel, Pão de Açúcar, is very well located, both in terms of public transport and in terms of tourist attractions and shops. Once we arrived at the hotel, our temperature was controlled. At each entrance and exit, customers must wipe their feet on two different mats (one coated with a substance to get rid of germs and a second to dry their soles). The mask is mandatory when circulating in the hotel. One of the hotel employees who handled our reservation told us that we had a really great room. My cousin and I looked at each other laughing (we thought she was just saying that to promote the hotel). However, once we got to our room, we understood why she had told us this. We had a private terrace on the top floor with a superb view of the city and the cathedral, a large bedroom, and last but not least, two bathrooms and two toilets each. This is the first time we have seen a hotel room with two bathrooms.

View from our hotel room at Pão de Açúcar hotel

Hotel Pão de Açúcar is a vintage hotel. Each of the floors (six in total) is decorated with vintage items (self-stamping, permanent helmet, old fridge, and many more). Breakfast is served every morning between 7. 30 and 11. 30 a. m. Because of Covid, it is mandatory to reserve the time you want to have your breakfast in order to avoid crowds. The time slot is 20 minutes but nobody respects it, people take their time for lunch. The buffet consists of pastries, yoghurt, various rolls, jams, spreads, butter, honey, cakes, cold cuts, cheese, bacon, scrambled eggs, hot and cold drinks. It is the hotel’s employees who serve the guests according to their desires, always because of Covid. Hotel staff speak English, French, Portuguese and probably Spanish.

After resting a few minutes in our room and making a few phone calls, we walked near the hotel to discover the neighborhood, very nice.

We then returned to the hotel to visit its “museum”, a small room dedicated to various vintage objects (in addition to those displayed on each floor).

We then selected a restaurant (thank you the Guide du Routard), the Ginjal, and went there for dinner. The restaurant was located in our neighborhood and we were the only guests that night. We took a plate of cold meats and cheeses to share as a starter. For the resistance dish, my cousin took a salmon filet with potatoes, as for me, I took a seafood risotto that was really delicious.

Day 2

After breakfast, we went through all the floors of the hotel to take pictures of each of the vintage objects.

Then, we went downtown.

We stopped at O Mundo Fantastico da Sardinha Portuguesa, a shop selling various tins of sardines. Possibility of acquiring a box of the year of his birth.

We then headed for the magnificent São Bento Station, which is an important place in Porto. The walls of the station are covered with the famous azulejos, superb Portuguese earthenware.

Then, we went to Sé do Porto, the beautiful Cathedral of Porto where you can also find azulejos. The Cathedral also offers a beautiful view of the city.

We crossed the Dom-Luís I Bridge to go to Vila Nova de Gaia, part of the district of Porto; we spent the whole afternoon there.

We took the neighbourhood cable car that took us to the foot of the Douro, the river that can be seen in Porto.

Wishing to drink a cocktail, we had to go to several restaurants, one of which was headed by a staff member to a restaurant that was supposed to serve cocktails. After ordering ice cream, we asked the waiter, who spoke French, if he had cocktails. Unfortunately, the restaurant did not serve cocktails, except for beers. Not knowing which ones to choose, we selected the ones whose image gave us the most desire. Very bad idea, they were disgusting, worse than the Hungarian beer we tasted in Budapest, that’s to say. Fortunately, the ice allowed us to “wash” our palate.

Then, head to the Quevedo Port Wine, one of the many cellars in Porto allowing you to taste what? Porto of course! Thanks to our ticket from the cable car, we had the right to drink the famous Portuguese wine for free. So we sat down in Quevedo to drink our glass of Porto while listening to the songs of a Portuguese artist.

We continued walking along the Douro River and stopped at NATAS D'ouro for a drink. My cousin also wanted to taste the famous pasteis de nata but she was disappointed; they were very fat and really not good.

We then took a look at the Casa Portuguesa do Pastel in Bacalhau, a sumptuously decorated shop offering cod and cheese fritters. We only stopped there to take pictures and admire the organ player.

We wanted to do some shopping in a supermarket nearby, but we couldn’t go beyond the automatic doors. In fact, in order to be able to shop in this supermarket, it was necessary to have a professional card to open access to it. Yeah, that supermarket wasn’t for ordinary customers. We found it very strange, and even stranger not to see any supermarkets in the city apart from the small shop located near our hotel.

We dined at Tappas Caffé Regional where we took Portuguese specialities, the francesinha, a croque-monsieur portuan. Unlike the croque-monsieur French version, this one is generously garnished with cheese, it is even completely covered with it. I liked it, but my cousin didn’t like hers at all.

Day 3

For this third day in Porto, we began the day with the Church of the Carmelites coupled with the Casa Escondida.

We then headed to the Palacio da Bolsa to visit the palace but unfortunately there were no tickets left for the guided tours in French (yes, the Stock Exchange Palace cannot be visited without a guide).

So we walked along the Douro before we landed on the terrace at the Quinta do Vallado from where we had a very nice view of the neighborhood and on a couple of cute Franco-Portuguese musicians (the CocoPilots). At one point, the musician climbed up to our restaurant climbing the steps at a staggering speed in order to play a part of his song sitting on the rambarde, his feet hanging in the air.

After sipping a good cocktail and sunbathing, we walked through the small market below and continued our walk along the Douro where many fishermen had landed.

We then came back and went to taste the famous pasteis de bacalhau (the fritters with cod and cheese from yesterday) at the Casa Portuguesa do Pastel in Bacalhau. We chose the formula with the glass of Porto (which we could keep and on which is written the date of the day).

After this rather lazing day, we went back to the hotel to rest a little and then we went out for dinner at Vogue Café, a very chic restaurant located 5 minutes walk from our hotel and recommended by Andréa, one of my Portuguese childhood friends.

I highly recommend this restaurant whose food was succulent. The servers were adorable and listening and the frame was simply magnificent.

Day 4

We started the day at the Majestic Café, the famous coffee shop where J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter's mum, spent days writing her saga (we didn't manage to visit the Lello Bookstore that inspired the author for Flourish & Blotts, there was always a queue at all hours of the day). The decoration of this coffee shop is magnificent, the waiters are very kind and the food is delicious.

We then walked through the city until we arrived at the Museu da Misericórdia do Porto and the Igreja da Misericórdia do Porto which we both visited. The employee who sold us the entrance tickets took our temperature before starting the tour. We wondered with my cousin what would have happened if we had a temperature too high to be able to visit. Would she have paid us back our tickets? We’ll never know.

Once the visit was over, we went to the Jardins do Palácio de Cristal a few minutes before closing.

We sat down at the Café Portas do Olival to drink a small mug of beer before returning to the hotel.

At night, we had dinner at Bonaparte Downtown Porto.

Day 5

On that day, we spent part of the day at Matosinhos Beach. We took the bus (about 40 min drive) to get there.

We took some kind of ice-cream milkshake from Cremosi before returning to downtown Porto. The waiter was so blasé, as if we were bothering him. We found it odd that he asked us to pay our beverages right now while he didn’t ask the same to the following customers. Facial discrimination maybe?

We went to the Hard Rock Café to take sustenance. There, the waiter who took our order wouldn’t stop popping up in the room and sing rock’n’roll at every new song aired. He was going really hard and it was very funny.

We went back to the hotel at the end of our meal.

In the evening, we went out for a drink at the Vermuteria Gastrobar. The decor was really very nice.

Day 6

For this sixth day in Porto, we decided to discover another Portuguese city during the day.

We bought train tickets at the train station the night before to visit Braga known for its religious events.

We went under the Arco da Porta Nova.

We mainly visited places of worship in this city such as the Basílica dos Congregados, the Sé Cathedral, the Igreja de Santa Cruz and the Igreja de Sao Marcos.

Basílica dos Congregados

Igreja de Santa Cruz

Igreja de Sao Marcos

Sé Cathedral

Praça do Municipio

We left Braga earlier than planned because it was raining that day.

We went to lunch at A Grade, a typical Portuguese restaurant whose managers were really friendly.

Thanks to my Guide du Routard, we had a free glass of Porto.

In the evening we dined at La Ricotta, a very chic Italian restaurant whose food was delicious. The waitress who took our order was really adorable.

Day 7

This day too, we wanted to leave Porto in order to discover other Portuguese cities. In the morning we bought train tickets to Aveiro, the Venice of Portugal.

We started our walk by the Ponte Laços de Amizade where ribbons of friendship are hung like the locks of the Pont des Arts in Paris to represent love. From this bridge, one can observe various gondolas sailing along the water.

Then, we entered the Sé Church (well, “Sé” is a very common name for places of worship in Portugal).

Then, we went to Aveiro downtown, so beautiful.

We finished our walk in Aveiro at Ovos Moles de Aveiro for a drink before heading to Águeda on a whim. We made sure that our return trip from Águeda to Aveiro would coincide with our return train to Porto.

In Águeda, the city of colorful umbrellas, we walked through the city centre where every corner was a beautiful discovery for the eyes: colorful benches, painted stairs and umbrellas hanging all over the city. This city is a real open-air museum.

We took the train back to Aveiro and then to Porto.

Once at the hotel, we sat down for a while on the terrace and then went back to dinner at Vogue Café where we were again very well received.

One of the waiters offered us little macaroons for dessert, very nice of him.

Day 8

For this last day in Porto, we went back to the Majestic Café in the morning when one of the waiters recognized us, it was funny!

We went back to the hotel and headed to the airport where we had lunch before boarding the plane back to Paris.

Additional information and feelings

I found the Portuguese particularly welcoming. I was very surprised that we were so warmly welcomed wherever we went and especially to see that many storekeepers and restaurateurs speak French. 

I do not know if this is the case in all Portuguese cities but I still recommend this country if you have never gone.

See you soon on my blog for our next trips!