Portugal!

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This weekend we took our first trip out of Spain to visit Porto, Portugal - I LOVED it! There was a 100% chance of rain for the weekend, yet somehow it didn't rain the entire 2 days we were there, and it was also off season, so there were hardly any tourists and everything was sooo cheap. This all added up to a great weekend.

We had a super early flight on Friday and arrived in Porto at our gorgeous guesthouse around noon. After dropping off our stuff, we wandered around the city admiring the historic architecture and beautiful churches before having a delicious, traditional menu of the day for lunch. We stepped inside the Casa do Infante to see some recently discovered Roman ruins, then headed down to the Rio Douro to walk along the riverfront. Across the bridge, opposite La Ribeira, are the porto wine caves. They were so cool, and unlike any wine region I've ever visited. They were so elaborate and grandiose, and all the visits, tours and tastings are free. We shopped a little before dinner as one super nice store owner explained some of the Portugese legends and history to us. We enjoyed another amazing Portugese meal before heading back to our guesthouse - stopping for traditional pastries for dessert on the way home, of course.

The next day we woke up early and enjoyed a lovely breakfast made by our guesthouse owner. We walked to the city center and bought tickets to visit the Palacio da Bolsa, or palace of the stock exchange. The woodwork and paintings inside were gorgeous, and the Arabian room was so incredibly ornate that our whole group walked into and out of the room speechless. We visited a couple more churches around the city, and then walked to find the Palacio do Cristal, which is not really a glass palace, to visit the jardims behind the old palace. They were soooo beautiful and so relaxing - we especially enjoyed the pond in the middle with the peacocks and waterfowl! We left the gardens for another great meal at a Portugese churascaria, and then walked around a little more in this area of the city. We toured the Museu do Romantic, which is the former house of the prince of Sardinia while he was in exile during the romantic period, and we visited the Solar de Vinhos next door. We walked back down to the river and tried to take an early evening river cruise, but since it's still winter here, they all finished early for the day unfortunately. We instead decided to take the funicular up the little mountain to the top of the hill, where there are some more historic, majestic looking churches and old homes to admire. We took a walk across the bridge and received an incredible night aerial view of the city. We climbed back down the hill and headed to Cafe Guarany for dinner, since we knew that on the weekends they had tradional live music. So Saturday night, we enjoyed an awesome fado jazz performance with our meal. It was the perfect end to a wonderful weekend.

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Comments

[Aunt Mb]

Me too!
I just loved Portugal when I visited! :) I am so happy you have these wonderful experiences and memories. Love you!