Porto, In (mostly) Pictures

Portugal was one of the countries on our list of places to visit before leaving Europe.  When we found a cheap flight for this past weekend, we decided to hop on over and see what Porto could offer us.  The weather was a bit rainy, which is typical for this time of the year, but we still really enjoyed the city.  In between showers, the sun would pop out and we were able to get out and explore.  We stayed in an awesome apartment that was in a great location {this is it!}.  We actually laughed about how many decorating ideas we're taking from the apartment for our next home.   

The trip was pretty unplanned.  We just took the advice of our apartment host and tripadvisor to figure out where we wanted to eat, what we wanted to do, and things we wanted to see.  It ended up being super relaxing, but a really good time.  I would definitely recommend the city to anyone looking to travel in Europe.  

Our flight got in really early on Saturday morning, so we dropped our bags off at the cafe under our apartment and set out for a walk.  One thing I quickly noticed was the street art all around.  

Throughout our trip, both of us kept having a weird deja vu.  We don't know if it reminded us of Italy, or somewhere else we've traveled, but we definitely kept feeling like we had been there before.  

All of the streets had a very old, run down feel to them, but at the same time I thought they had a lovely charm.  Like a really, really, loved and lived in home.

Throughout the city, houses were covered in beautiful, painted tile.  This was the side of an old church.  

I'll definitely miss the unique façades of Europe.  

Many of the doors had these awesome knockers.  Another cool thing about old doors around here.  We looked high and low but couldn't find one to bring home and call our own.  

This little fella was friends with some neighborhood kitties.  

Some guy (or girl?) named Hazul had painted little "moments" all around the city.  Colorful and amazing artwork.  

More of Hazul...

And more...

Ok...and one more.

Clérigos Church, and the tower that made me have an anxiety attack.  No kidding.  

Another deja vu street.  

This is the district right before the river.  I like that the statue man is pointing like "There!  Yep!  There's the river!"

It was laundry day for most of the city although it was raining.  I guess when it rains every day you just hang your wash out and eventually it'll dry.  Maybe that's how it gets washed too?

Riverside

Cafes and rainbow houses.  

Catching dinner.

One of Porto's seven bridges.  They are pretty proud of the seven.  Not sure why...we didn't ask (or read, or research).  We were just glad it connected us to the Port district.  

Looking across the Douro back at Porto.

Boats like these used to bring the port up the river from the sea.  They don't do that anymore though, because trucks are way cheaper and faster.  Now the boats just provide people like me with a cool picture.  

The navigator.  

Prepared for lunch and for rain with a baguette and an umbrella. 

Tasting port at Taylor's with some baby peacocks.  

We took a tour of the cellars and learned all about the port making process and the different types of port.

Then we drank some more. 

This guy.  He was being a huge show off.  

I'm not sure what was with the crochet trees, but they were all over the place and I thought they were cool.  

Ok, so the anxiety attack on top of the tower.  I don't like heights, but I can usually just suck it up and deal with it.  Well something about climbing to the top of the tower just freaked me out.  I don't know why, but I didn't feel secure and the higher we got the more I noticed my knees were getting a little weak...

I know, I'm a huge wimp.  Anyway...

We got to the top and I tried to take some pictures and I just got really dizzy and nervous.  Seeing the fear in my face, John Ralph decided (in his sick, twisted little mind) that it would be funny to act as if he was jumping up on the railing. That just sent me over the edge.  I started crying and had a nice little anxiety attack right there at the top of Porto.  Maybe now he'll think twice before being annoying.  

Wishful thinking.  ;)  

One thing Porto is not, is dairy free for breakfast.  So while the hubs got to enjoy yummy Portuguese  pastries, I typically enjoyed some fresh fruit.  

We were pretty surprised with how hilly the city was.  It was a lot like San Francisco.  

One of the restaurants that our host recommended was Caraças.  A mother and her twin daughters owned and ran it.  We had three meal options to choose from for dinner, and they let us go back in the kitchen to see what they were cooking and decide what we wanted.  It's literally a hole in the wall, and if you don't know to look for it, you won't even notice it's there...but it was really good!

I plan on getting my life together enough to do another post on the food we had, and to include all the pictures I took on my iPhone.  (Again, wishful thinking)  Hopefully I'll be able to do that in the next few days.  

Overall, Porto was a great city!  Definitely one of my favorites yet.