Portugal Day 6 - Porto 5/17/16

Was hoping to have the pictures ready too bit as usual uploading in Europe is slow, so it'll have to be later. Anyway, on with the blog....

6:45pm - taking a rest before dinner after an uneventful trip from Lisbon to Porto. The taxi from Rossio to Santa Apolonia station for about 6 euros, I grabbed a coffee at the station and enjoyed my delicious pastries. The train was about half empty and there was free wifi. Can't complain!

Another 6 euro ride from the train station and we arrived at our apartment, literally steps from city hall where thre is a huge rally on Friday for something for other that they are setting up for. We started wandering around and found the Bolhao market, which feels kind of rundown but is still awesome. I mean there is a woman with live chickens and pigeons right next to the eggs and chicken she is selling. And a lot of stalls are delapidated or closed. But I still loved it. There was one place selling so many kinds of olives in huge vats that I wanted to go swimming in it. 

We then wandered around the area around the market, which is a lot of shopping and lively streets and had a quick lunch at a bakery. Kept wandering, visited the impressive cathedral, and made our way down the long winding staircases to the river. And I do mean long and winding (check the pictures) I had a gelato and after we wandered the busy, touristy river area, we went to Vinologia for a port tasting. It was educational and I tried five different young white ports. Not a huge fan (big surprise there!) 

We tried to tour the stock market palace but the English tours were sold out for the day so we'll try again another day because it looks very worthwhile. Kept meandering back through the city to our apartment.

10:00 - back for a fairly early night after a long day and a great dinner at Flor dos Congregados, which I had read about. Luckily it is only a five minute walk from the apartment. It is a cute slow food place. We split a bunch of petiscos - snacks - like chourico, ham and cheese plate, and olives. Two glasses of vinho verde, waters, and a cookie cake for dessert and the total was under 25 euros for the whole thing! Porto definitely seems less expensive than Lisbon, and it feels like fewer people smoke here too, which is so nice.

Today's totals, not too bad considering we were on a train for three hours in the morning: 19,698 steps, 7.83 miles, 40 floors.

Tomorrow will be a very long but hopefully fun day touring the Douro Valley!