A Day of Shopping

I'm getting better at remembering my way around Porto...though it has changed quite a bit since 2018. Elaine's new place is next to a metro stop so we met up at Manteigaria for coffee and pastry before heading out to the look for things for Elaine's new place.  

We took the metro out to Norte Shopping Center in Senhora da Hora about 30 minutes from Porto.  Norta Shopping is the Portuguese version of The Mall of America as you need to do a pin drop when you arrive so you know which door to exit. This place was huge and has multiples of some stores so it makes for some confusion when you think you are where you need to be only to find that is store number 2.  We hit the mother load at Continente (think fancy Target/Walmart) where she filled up 3 very large bags with household items.  Back to her place we headed to unload our loot.

Before heading back out to shop some more, we popped into a cafe for a little pick-me-up and I decided to try a Mazagran.  This drink originated in Algeria and is iced coffee with lemon. I haven't figured out how they layered the coffee and water.

It was definitely a different taste and refreshing though not sure I would get again.  It was like iced tea with lemon and not typically one to have lemon in my tea but had to give it a try.

After our little respite, we hopped back on the metro to held to El Corte Ingles over in Vila Nova de Gaia (just on the other side of the Douro River).  El Corte Ingles is a vertical version of Norte Shopping Center (they like their malls big over here!).  We got there around 7:30pm and thought we had a few hours as the site said they closed at 10:00pm but we quickly learned it was 8:00pm on Sunday so we'll head back over tomorrow.  

Travel tip: when in Porto, purchase an Andante card if you plan to use the metro or bus.  You purchase by zone and number of trips.  To be safe, purchase max zones so that way if you cross zones you don't have to pay extra.   

It was time for some dinner so we popped into a great Italian spot Elaine found earlier in the year.  We started with mozzarella frittata with honey and wow was it good.  A spicy spicy salami (aka pepperoni), onion and mushroom pizza and wine finished off our dinner. I noticed a couple times servers doing a fancy table side pasta service so of course I had to take a peek. They take a large wheel of cheese and shave off some on the inside and add hot pasta then toss in the cheese. Once they’ve tossed it, they place in a bowl and top with a mushroom cream sauce and truffle oil. Definitely will try if we end up there again. The server was kind enough to let me take photos and explain the process to me.

 

After dinner, it was so nice out we decided we would walk back to my place (Elaine now refers to her old apartment as my place).  For those of you familar with Porto, we were still in Gaia and were walking back to Clerigos Tower. I must say I do love my new iPhone 13 Pro as the camera is so much better.  Never would my night photos have looked so good with my iPhone 11.

We passed a cafe with these signs and i just couldn't resist taking a few pics.

Today was a 21,000 steps kind of day and not going to lie, I was a little tired and excited to lay my head down for the night.  As someone that is not a good sleeper, all these steps since I've been here have resulted in me sleeping 6 straight hours a night which is truly Christmas in July!