When planning this trip we thought that on arrival in Porto we should pause for a day to take in the sights of the city. We chose a hotel close to the Sao Bento station, as we arrived quite late in the evening. The state of the hotel sign (see above) and the fact that I had to use the universal sink plug says it all really. But to be fair, it’s not their fault that an extension to the underground is being built in the street outside. Seriously though, the hotel is fine – art deco, but very old. Much like the receptionist – charming, but with few teeth! We were welcomed warmly and got a solid night’s sleep after eating a late night paella, grabbed from a supermarket as we left Vigo.
We didn’t know Porto at all and didn’t fancy being part of a walking tour so Jane went online and found this website: Porto in 1 day.
This was perfect. We didn’t follow the route precisely but it gave us a list of things and places worth visiting.
But before I get to that list, let me tell you an improbable story. A year or so ago someone thought it was a good idea to open a shop in a premium retail spot in Porto to sell nothing but sardines. Improbable but true. This should be on the above
map.
It’s called the Mundo Fantástico da Sardinha Portuguesa. We happened to walk by and it was one of the busiest shops we went in. It’s got 5 stars on Google reviews. There were hundreds of different designs of sardine tins including tins of sardines that looked like gold ingots.
There were tins for each year going back at least 70 years.
And loads of other very imaginative ways to make you buy sardines! Crazy and very innovative. My guess is that 99% of sardines that leave this shop stay in the tins.
Back to the list on the map.
Porto boasts the world’s most beautiful MacDonalds .. wonderful art deco designs and glazing, only 90% ruined by enormous touch screens for your Chicken McRubbish. For the record this is only the second McDonalds I’ve ever been in.
And how’s this for a green roof? A level or two up from the standard sedum roofs you get back home.
And while we are on green roofs, here’s another one we passed.
A highlight of the day was to be the Lella Library, famous for the inspiration it allegedly provided J K Rowling, who wrote there, and for the library in Hogwarts. But unfortunately, like many streets and squares in Porto, it was closed for renovations.
As we walked we came across this immaculate Renault 4; a memory of the car we had in the Dominican Republic (1980-83) except ours was white.
Our DIY tour took us over the Dom Luis Bridge. We crossed via the top level which is incredibly high and which pedestrians share, rather intimately, with trams and after exploring the far bank returned on the lower level.
The highlight on the other side of the river was the Half Rabbit. An incredible piece of public art made from rubbish. Here it is featuring me for scale.
If Emma’s reading this – we need one of these in Cambridge.
Another interesting place on the other side of the bridge was the ship repair yard. We arrived at siesta time.
But there was some great repair work being done.
Back on our side of the bridge there were many streets like this leading down to the water.
At the recommendation of our friend Julie we took a 30 minute tour of the Bolsa (Stock Exchange). We went through some incredible rooms with marquetry floors and incredible decor. The “Arab Room” was particularly spectacular.
Jane’s research had identified Fado as part of the bedrock of Portuguese culture – a sort of folk/jazz. Whilst we sat and ate our first lunchtime ‘açorda’, she booked us into a 1-hour Fado session at the Ideal Clube de Fado for the evening. It was a wonderful, intimate concert, set up in a room about the size of our village hall, with cabaret seating in just the way we do for our live music nights.
Today we’ve covered 14 kilometres without really trying and feel fine. Tomorrow we start on the Camino and the first stage is to Angieras 15km away. Very doable! Fingers crossed.
