Welcome back for the next installment in Adventure Awaits: Traveling the World with Alex and Ani! This week, Rachel shares the conclusion of her time in Porto, Portugal. The sights are simply breathtaking and are sure to make you want to book your next vacation!
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Porto is a city known for its many bridges. I believe that there are six different bridges in Porto and each one is known for something else. The Dom Luís Bridge is the most famous metal arch bridge that spans between the city of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia. When the bridge was built, it was the longest bridge of it’s kind at the time. Its arch is 172 meters. The next day, Alicia and I went walking across the bridge to see the view of Porto from the other side.
In front of the Dom Luis Bridge. I loved seeing boats like these with the old wine barrels in Portugal. The city was beautiful!
One of the many photos I took of the view. I loved the colors and skyline.
That night led us to dinner in a Portuguese styled restaurant where I tried famous Port wine and listened to a woman sing in Portuguese. The language is similar to Spanish so we were able to understand a bit.
The next day saw us visiting the São Bento Railway Station before we went to an outdoor craft fair. The craft fair is one of my favorite memories of the trip. From jewelry to bags, clothes, signs, and unique products made of cork, we wandered up and down the aisles of the outdoor fair. Cork is one of Portugal’s most famous exports. We met an older gentleman who was selling all these products made of cork from cup holders, lamps, place mats, and iPhone holders. The man was so passionate about his city and his products. He told us the only reason he made these products was to because it was his passion and he enjoyed to give them as gifts to his friends and family. I could see his eyes light up as we spoke with him. He was one of the nicest people I have ever met.
One of the things that I have learned from all of my travels is that a majority of the people you meet are very nice. People are not out to hurt you for the most part. You must always be careful of who you trust and be smart about it, but when you travel you have the ability to meet people who can really impact your life. This man was part of the working class of Portugal and it was refreshing to meet someone so passionate and animated about where he was from. He was proud to be living in a city like Porto and took time to talk to us about it. He wanted us to be able to understand the importance of cork to his city and enjoyed our conversation and company.
After the craft fair, we wandered across the Dom Luís Bridge and into the other city. We walked along the shore of the river before heading up the hill to get a tour of a famous Port house.
For 5 euros, Alicia and I visited Taylors, one of the founding Port houses in the city. It has been around since 1692. The Port house tour was well over an hour long and we were able to try three types of delicious wine: Chip Dry – extra dry white, late bottled vintage, and Tawny 10 year old. I loved learning about how wine was produced and stored until it is ready to be enjoyed. It was really interesting to me that it had been a family business for so many years. The Port house was beautiful and featured a courtyard in which a real peacock wandered around The inside of Taylors was gorgeous as well and had a stunning rainbow ceiling. The tour definitely made me appreciate wine even more!
Another awesome thing about Porto was the fact that the city was very affordable. We had lunch for less than five dollars after our Port house tour. Dinner that night was around four dollars for the two of us. The next thing on the agenda after lunch and walking back towards our hostel was taking a bus ride out to see the Atlantic Ocean from the other side.
Once again, we had more pleasant interactions with the people of Porto, this time with our bus driver. We were in a long line of people who were waiting to buy their bus fare and we were not completely sure of how to use the system. We told the bus driver that we didn’t know Portuguese but could speak to him in Spanish. He told us to practice English with him and even though he spoke broken English, went out of his way to explain the bus system. He also kept asking us how his English was. The bus ride to the beach wasn’t long and it is hard to describe the emotions I felt standing on the other side of the Atlantic.
I am so used to being close to the Atlantic after growing up on the seacoast. Even though it was a drizzly and cloudy day, the sea was still beautiful. It had been a long time since I had been this “close to home” in a way. I waved hello to Boston and New Hampshire as I watched the waves crash against the shore. I knew that I would be back on the other side of the Atlantic in a matter of weeks. That was a bittersweet feeling for me. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to leave Europe. The beautiful beach was empty other than Alicia and I. It was nice to walk barefoot along the shore despite the cold sand. We didn’t stay for long but we stayed for enough time to treasure the moment before we grew too cold and waited for the next bus back to the center of the city. We had the same bus driver who took us to the sea. He asked how our time was and instantly remembered us. It’s little interactions like those that make me smile.
On the other side of the Atlantic waving “hello” to America!
That was our last day in Portugal. We also did a bit of shopping and went to a small dessert place to eat more delicious food from Porto. We ate dinner at a little Mom and Pop place very close to our hostel because it was raining. We tried a famous dish from Porto called the Francesinha. It’s basically a heart attack on a plate! It’s drenched in beer sauce and is a sandwich covered with cheese and topped with a fried egg. Some of the other toppings on the dish were sausage, ham, and steak. It’s served with fries and traditionally supposed to be eaten with beer. It’s a very heavy but ended up being pretty good. All of the food we ate in Porto was amazing and unique.
The woman waiting on us that night was the lone waitress amidst a packed restaurant full of kids. She had a very sweet disposition and seemed to know everyone coming through to eat. She kept putting her arm around some of the kids and had long conversations with them. She wore a pair of slippers and worked with her husband who was the cook. She wanted to make sure that we enjoyed our meal and kept talking to us. She had been the one to recommend what to eat and it was nice to have someone who genuinely seemed to care about our happiness. She was another one of the people in Porto who really made my time special.
After the restaurant, we went to bed and had to catch a 3 AM bus back to the airport to get our plane to Barcelona. I had fallen in love with the kindness of the people, the beautiful city of Porto, the river and the wine. I hope to be back in Porto one day again as we only had two and a half days there. I would have loved to see more of what the city had to offer!
There were just a few more weeks remaining in our time abroad and I was beginning to not want to head home. I still had time for a few more adventures that were yet to come.
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Excited to see where Rachel’s journey takes her? Be sure to check back next week for more Adventure Awaits: Traveling the World with Alex and Ani!