Porto, Portugal, Good food, good (fortified) wine and beautiful sights.

Posted on by Adventures of Dan and Lisa

We spent a few days in the heart of Porto, steps from the River Douro, Se Cathedral and across the river from the famed river port that stores the even more famous Port wines!

On the way to Porto. The transportation from Spain to Porto was a bit…complicated. Dan found a “private tour” that would take us door to door for not much more than a multi transfer trip with hours spent going the wrong way. It was a delightful treat, our driver was great and informative about her hometown of Porto! Bonus. She, like most people in Porto, mostly recommended food and wine. “We love to eat” was a common comment!
Tiled buildings in the center of town. Porto is pretty hilly by the river, we entered the Plaza of the Se Cathedral at street level and this is looking over the wall on the opposite side.
My cod dinner. There were very few places that didn’t have a cod dish on the menu.
The main road along the river heading toward the ocean was built out over the water. The medieval walls and old buildings were in the way of other options, I guess.
Along the Atlantic coast just north of the mouth of the Douro River. Not sure what the concrete boat was before it became this bit of art.
One of many tiled churches in downtown Porto.
Inside the Sao Bento train station. The tiles tell stories from the history of Portugal. Also, a bustling regional train station.
Another, famous (but alas, the name not recorded by yours truly) tiled church. This one is very near the major market in Porto. The historical market building is undergoing major renovations so the market was in temporary digs at the mall down the street. We can’t wait to check it out next time we’re in town.
Another very pretty church we wandered by as we explored a neighborhood a few transit stops from the river.

For some reason we often wander into a cemetery if we come across them on our travels, or even as we wander around closer to home. We are interested in how long they’ve been in use and there always are at least a few interesting comments on the headstones.

This is part of the cemetery at the Lapa Church. The church is lovely, but the cemetery is amazing. These are graveside and many seem to hold multiple members of a family.
There were also a lot of these mausoleums, some dating back to the 1800s and still in use. Others were not in use and a few had signs indicating they were available for use by a new family.
A mausoleum with some of the beautiful tile work.

We had some business to conduct in Porto and the folks we met with pointed us to some authentic franceshina, a local specialty. As we worked our way to the restaurant we heard some chiming bells and stopped to look around. It was an animatronic clock with quite the display. What really intrigued us though was the NO ONE had mentioned anything about this, and we had talked to lots of folks about we should see while in town.

This photo does not do justice to the animatronic show that occurred on this street corner!
Franceschina is a sandwich of steak, ham, sausage, and possibly some other meat, that is smothered in cheese, doused in a tangy gravy and served with a fried egg on top. Apparently the really good ones are differentiated by the sauce. Delicious.
And, when in Porto, Port!

Published by Adventures of Dan and Lisa

When the boat broke down the nice lady from England exclaimed "oh goody, an adventure!" That changed the possible problem into a great story and improved attitudes. It has become the motto for our travels. We hope you enjoy the stories as much as we enjoyed the adventure.

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