Port from Porto... who would have guessed?

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After our huge day the day before we opted for a lazy morning and Mick and I wandered along the beach and found a local bakery. We met up with Bern and Shaun for lunch at a beachfront café before heading into Porto for a look around. Porto is a city of cobbled streets, old terraced houses with decorative tiles and statues, lots of them. We saw a police chase with 5 or 6 cop cars chasing a tiny hatchback down the crazy little streets. We crossed over the river to Vila Nova de Gaia, the home of Port houses where all the Port made is brought to store. We toured the large Sandeman Port Wine house complete with tasting. We stopped at a café for a “tower” of beer and some cheese watching rain showers pass by. We were feeling pretty lazy so avoided the steep streets by taking the funicular, basically a funny little train, up the steep hill.

Shaun had an early flight back Monday morning to see Pearl Jam in London and Mick got the job of taking him to the airport while Bernie and I slept in. We headed into Porto and were frustrated again in our search for the famous “Churresqueria” char grilled chicken that we had yet to find. We found a restaurant but it was packed so we went to another place nearby and picked randomly by pointing as we couldn’t read the menu. In the afternoon we drove out of town and then back along the river. Later when the town was quieter we finally found some reasonable overnight parking. We splurged on dinner at a great restaurant with a nice bottle of red.

We wandered around Tuesday, checking out the not very impressive local markets and without even looking finally fulfilled our quest for chicken which was delish! We went down to the river and bought some gifts and local tile art and visited a local church with an unbelievable interior. Every inch was covered with intricate carvings and it was all covered in gold leaf. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take photos but it was amazing. Afterwards we relaxed in a local café with some wine and beer before we had to make our way to the airport for our flight back to the UK, and work.

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Photos

Porto
Looking acrooss the River Douro