Blogs from Porto, Northern, Portugal, Europe - page 28

Pri has her roots here, so naturally we had to visit :) Amongst other things we walked around in the very non-tourist streets of Matoshinos which was a nice change. Got a copy of the birth-certificate of her grandmother, but it turned out to be more difficult to find an address where she had lived before emigrating to Brasil. We also took a boat-trip on the Porto river and under the six bridges there.... read more

Currently staying at Gabby's house in Porto (yes, AGAIN!!). Will write more later just wanted to get started on the blog. ... read more

Here,s our second day in Porto. We seem to do much better when we spend two days in the same place.you can,t really discover a city in one, plus the second day gives us a chance to sleep late and recharge. The hotel (hostal) is great except for the fact that the laundry it listed on the website whhen we booked meant laundry that is sent out which is very expensive anfd takes 49 hours.no good. That means we was panties in the bathroom and hope the rest of our clothes don,t stink!! Evita went to the beach yesterday...you can get there right offf the metro (subway) and I went to the cathedral 1300,s.very dark and gothic... way up on a hill in the old section of town. The streets around the cathedral are a maze ... read more

Well, I did have to consume some of the local product. As they same, when in Rome..... Anyway, Porto rocks! Again, the architecture was beautiful and Porto had the extra advantage of being on the river Douro and therefore was even more picturesque than either Lisbon or Sintra. I had a short cruise along the river, called the 5 bridges tour for obvious reasons, and later tasted some good and not so good ports at 3 cellar doors. For some reason they seem to be big fans of chilled white port. Sweet or dry, neither is to my liking. The tawny and ruby ports, however, were worth the wait. I also did a tour at Taylor’s cellar door which was interesting. The vineyards are well up the river, Porto is simply the storage facility so it ... read more

'Ola! This blog recounts my trip to Portugal last month, my first journey to the continent and a much-needed escape from the drudgery of London in mid-winter. Back in December, Kate (genius friend who masterminded the trip to Scotland) suggested we take advantage of the new year seat sales that the discount carriers (Ryan Air, Easy Jet, etc) put on in January to lure desperate, pale-skinned and swollen Londoners away from their few quid remaining from the excesses of Christmas. And frankly, a trip to the continent is far less expensive than the consequences of the new year sales here in London, where one could find themselves in a total frenzy of bargain heaven. This is a lesson I learnt early upon my arrival in London - I am still recovering from the cost of having ... read more