2nd day in Porto
We had a full day in Porto today. Porto is the second-largest city in Portugal after Lisbon, located in the northern part of the country. It has a population of around 1.7 million people.
We had a simple breakfast around our apartment before making our way down to the Riberia (Porto's old town). I could not help snapping pictures of the colourful tiled buildings, they were so pretty.
Before long, we were attracted by the Church of Saint Ildefonso. The facade is covered with beautiful azulejos.
We wanted to walk to the Porto Cathedral but Seong was distracted by this Rua de Santa Cantarina. We walked into shops that caught our attention, clothing stores, shoe shops, pharmacy,
Before long, we went into a mercado -- Mercado do Bolhão. This market is housed in a historic, bi-level neoclassical building with vendors selling fresh produce, flowers, canned food, bacalau, homewares etc.
Unknowingly, we strolled past Sao Bento station. We made our way to the Porto Cathedral from there.
Where the cathedral stood is a big lovely square, filled with music from cello, the view from the lookout was beautiful. We stumbled upon this viewpoint when making our way to the Porto Cathedral, Mirador Vitoria.
From the Cathedral, we checked out Rua da Bainharia, a narrow street with some small restaurants.
We walked down to the riverfront. It was drizzling and we decided to break for lunch at this restaurant Fish FIsh.
The rain lightened up after lunch and I was so happy to see the sun and so we quickly grabbed the opportunity to walk across the Luis I Bridge to Gaia.
We walkd down the river front and admired the view of Porto old town from Gaia. We found ourselves resting again at the food hall - Mercado Beira-Rio. Ashley got herself some condensed milk balls.
We managed to check out the nearby “Half Rabbit” piece by Bordalo II. It’s essentially a giant rabbit sculpture made out of recycled materials on the corner of a building.
Gaia is known for one thing and one thing only - port wine! This is where ALL the port wine in the WORLD originates - how wild! Naturally, there’s plenty of cellars and historic port houses offering tours and tastings of the sweet stuff. We walked past Augustino and went in for a port tasting tour. Augusto’s is one of just three completely Portuguese port wine companies, the wine processed mostly manually (they still step on the grapes) and stored at their quintas in the Douro Valley. They sell direct to consumer and don’t mass produce, export, or sell to supermarkets, which is why it's not a well known brand outside Portugal. The tour is 15 euros and if you buy product then €10 is waived, making the tour fee just €5. We ended up trying 5 different port and Seong bought the 40 years white port. I was glad I could still walk steadily out of the cellar.
We walked up to the Jardim do Morro.
and from there, we ubered to Corte Ingles on Avenida da Republica. This is such a pleasant mall, there is a cafe on the top floor and we took turns to browse. Even Ashley loves the mall. We ubered back to our apartment to wash up. Ashley chose to just have instant noodle and stay in the apartment. o
Seong and I went on to have a late dinner at Cantinha do Baranga.
We had a simple breakfast around our apartment before making our way down to the Riberia (Porto's old town). I could not help snapping pictures of the colourful tiled buildings, they were so pretty.
Before long, we were attracted by the Church of Saint Ildefonso. The facade is covered with beautiful azulejos.
We wanted to walk to the Porto Cathedral but Seong was distracted by this Rua de Santa Cantarina. We walked into shops that caught our attention, clothing stores, shoe shops, pharmacy,
Before long, we went into a mercado -- Mercado do Bolhão. This market is housed in a historic, bi-level neoclassical building with vendors selling fresh produce, flowers, canned food, bacalau, homewares etc.
Unknowingly, we strolled past Sao Bento station. We made our way to the Porto Cathedral from there.
Where the cathedral stood is a big lovely square, filled with music from cello, the view from the lookout was beautiful. We stumbled upon this viewpoint when making our way to the Porto Cathedral, Mirador Vitoria.
From the Cathedral, we checked out Rua da Bainharia, a narrow street with some small restaurants.
We walked down to the riverfront. It was drizzling and we decided to break for lunch at this restaurant Fish FIsh.
The rain lightened up after lunch and I was so happy to see the sun and so we quickly grabbed the opportunity to walk across the Luis I Bridge to Gaia.
We walkd down the river front and admired the view of Porto old town from Gaia. We found ourselves resting again at the food hall - Mercado Beira-Rio. Ashley got herself some condensed milk balls.
We managed to check out the nearby “Half Rabbit” piece by Bordalo II. It’s essentially a giant rabbit sculpture made out of recycled materials on the corner of a building.
Gaia is known for one thing and one thing only - port wine! This is where ALL the port wine in the WORLD originates - how wild! Naturally, there’s plenty of cellars and historic port houses offering tours and tastings of the sweet stuff. We walked past Augustino and went in for a port tasting tour. Augusto’s is one of just three completely Portuguese port wine companies, the wine processed mostly manually (they still step on the grapes) and stored at their quintas in the Douro Valley. They sell direct to consumer and don’t mass produce, export, or sell to supermarkets, which is why it's not a well known brand outside Portugal. The tour is 15 euros and if you buy product then €10 is waived, making the tour fee just €5. We ended up trying 5 different port and Seong bought the 40 years white port. I was glad I could still walk steadily out of the cellar.
We walked up to the Jardim do Morro.
and from there, we ubered to Corte Ingles on Avenida da Republica. This is such a pleasant mall, there is a cafe on the top floor and we took turns to browse. Even Ashley loves the mall. We ubered back to our apartment to wash up. Ashley chose to just have instant noodle and stay in the apartment. o
Seong and I went on to have a late dinner at Cantinha do Baranga.