Porto - Oh How We’ve Missed You

Oh how we love this town and what makes it even better is Elaine is here. As always when traveling, you just have to go with the flow…this time it was boarding our plane in Amsterdam only to have to deplane because on the previous flight there had been a bird strike which caused damage. I am always amazed when other passengers get upset about a delay when it involves a mechanical issue.  I do not know about you but the last thing I want to do is be on a plane with a mechanical issue!  But I digress.

Elaine and a friend of hers have decided that LuLu needs to have her own blog called “LuLu on the Loose” so when Antonio met us at the airport, he had a sign especially for LuLu 😂 LuLu is definitely known internationally ❤️

We really do love this town and it feels like a second home for us.  After we got settled into “our” apartment (when we come for these short stays, we have a place in the building next to Elaine and refer to it as our place), we set out to see what was new in town since our visit last January.  It is the little things that get us excited like the new Continent Bom Dia (local grocery store) that opened at the end of our pedestrian street.  Before this store opened, we had to walk a whole block and a half to the Continent inside Via Catarina (the mall) 🤣

Honest Greens is one of our favorite places to eat so of course it was one of our first stops.  They have this amazing salad called Ginger Honey Goat…don’t worry, the goat is goat cheese.  Normally we add chicken but I was so excited to be back in Porto I forgot to add it.  They have an H20 bar where they have all sorts of infused waters…with free refills (a really big deal in Europe!).

I gave Elaine and LuLu some quality time and did some more exploring.  It was great seeing all the new things in town but I was sad to see one of our favorite home good stores was now a clothing store for Gen-Z.  For the last two years they have been talking about a Time Out Market coming to Porto and it finally opened.  TOM is like gourmet food court with the top restaurants and chefs in town having a booth in the market.  This one is a much smaller version of the one in Lisbon which is good as there was so much concern it would be so overpowering for the quaint town.

My stroll was also part of a mission Elaine asked me to do…get some flowers for LuLu as her birthday was the next day.  The Mercado do Bolhão is literally right outside our door so I visited Maria’s booth to get a bouquet.  Maria makes beautiful arrangements and is so kind to put up with my very limited Português. Lulu loved her flowers and they brightened our place for our time in Porto.

Of course we had to have a
pingado (espresso with a spash of warm milk)
and a pastel de nata

No trip to Porto would be complete without a walk down to and across the Dom Luís Bridge…so off we went for a birthday walk.  With the exception of the hike up the hill by the Sé (cathedral), it is all downhill which of course means it is uphill all the way back 😂 

Not going to lie, we did not do the uphill walk back to our place but instead took the metro…it was her birthday after all.  Not sure how we have missed Garden Porto Café on previous visits but so glad we came across it on our way back from the metro station.  The food and service was fabulous…when the server found out it was LuLu’s birthday, she gave her a big ol’ bear hug! The Portuguese are definitely our kind of people ❤️. When the table next to us ordered their second round of what looked like a really good drink, we had our server bring us one.  The name alone was enough to get one…Porn Star Martini (vodka, passion fruit, orange juice and vanilla with a shot of sparkling wine).

We spent a day with Antonio exploring Northern Portugal along the Spanish border which was fabulous as we have never been out that way.  Part of our journey took us through Parque Nacional Peneda-Gerês (national park) and we joked he must have paid them off as for over an hour we didn’t see another car! It was so peaceful and the only thing you could hear was the sound of the waterfalls and river.

Our first stop was São Bento da Porta Aberta (St. Benedict of the Open Door).  Until our visit, I had never heard of the church and was surprised to learn it is the second largest church to be visited by pilgrims after Fatima. The small church drew such large crowds that a larger more modern church as built next door.  The original church is still operational but for special holy days with large number of pilgrims, the new church is used.  While the new church is modern in design, they have done a very good job of connecting it with the original church.  

Always a comfort to see our old friend, St. Anthony

Old and New Churches

Like at Fatima but on a much smaller and more spiritual scale, they have an outdoor area for lighting candles.  At Fatima, you basically buy the candle and then throw it in a giant fire.  To be fair to Fatima, the day we visited was the summer of World Youth Day when a million Catholic teenagers were making their way to Lisbon so it was very crowded and completely overrun with tourists.  Antonio and his family go every May 12 & 13 to Fatima to celebrate when the Blessed Mother first appeared to the three children.  It is such an important time and tradition for his family that when he was traveling the world as a businessman, he would make sure he was home for this particular time.

Photos from our drive through the national park and around the countryside of Portugal and Spain...

Yes, there is a town named Covide in Portugal!
Antonio said during the pandemic, people would
drive up just to take their photo with the sign.

Antonio found a great lunch spot on one of his trips with his family (our drive was basically a drive he takes with his family which made it an extra special day) in Soajo.  We went with the house specialty...Cachena no Forno.  It is an oven-roasted beef from a cow in the Northern Portugal and Spanish region of Galicia.  Along with the beef are roasted potatoes and a side of vegetables and a soup of rice, beans, vegetables and chorizo).  The food was great as was the atmosphere of the restaurant.   

Throughout the region, there a espigueiros all over the road side.  The name translates to grain harvester and they were used to store grains after the harvest (basically a silo but much more attractive).  The design is pretty ingenious as the pillar design makes it so the rats could not get inside.  If you look at the pillars, you will notice they are not flush with the top which means the rats would have to crawl upside down which they cannot do so they would fall back to the ground.  As you enter Soajo, there is a small hilltop with about 12 of them so you can see them up close.

The cows really fascinated us as they were everywhere including the road!

Not only did the cows take over the streets, this fella was lying in the middle of the road.
He was all cute until we pulled up beside him and I went to take his pic...then he jumped up and started barking.

ccasionally we would see a horse on the side of the road. This one looked like a hippy with his long mane covering his eyes

Our final stop of the day was Senhora da Peneda (Our Lady of Peneda).  This church is another popular spot for pilgrims but it is definitely off the beaten path.  Like Fatima, there is a long walkway many pilgrims will make on their knees and then up 217 steps to reach the church.  Or you can do like we did and drive up to where the steps begin and take the newly installed lift.

Double the LuLu, Double the fun

On the feast day of Our Lady of Peneda, the statue of the Blessed Virgin is placed on the rock and carried throughout the festival.

For the lift to work, you have to pay £0.50 each way...definitely a bargain to avoid the steps!

Since it was getting late, we did a little drive through of Valença do Minho, a little town inside the walls of a fortress.  It is definitely a place we plan to visit again as it was very charming even though many of the shops and cafes were closed.  Driving into the fortress is not for the faint of heart but clearly it was not Antonio's first rodeo and fortunately he has retractable mirrors! 

We really enjoyed our day with Antonio!  When he dropped us off at our place, it was like saying good-bye to an old friend.  If you are ever in Porto (and I do highly recommend a visit), please do yourself a favor and book a tour with Antonio of Traveling Spirit.  Reach out to me and I will connect you with him as he can customize a tour specifically for you.  Each time we visit Porto, we are fortunate to meet more and more of the wonderful people and fall more in love with the people and place.  We are so thankful Elaine introduces us to her friends and they in turn become our friends. 

On our way back to the apartment after Elaine's appointment, we stopped for a cup of hot chocolate and enjoyed the brisk early evening air.  You know that scene in Beauty and the Beast when Belle is walking through the village speaking to everyone and everyone speaking to her?  Well, Porto is the village and Elaine is Belle!  She seems to know everyone and everyone seems to know her.  When I went into a few shops to pick up things for her, I would give her NIF (Portuguese ID...at the end of the year, residence receive a report that shows all their purchases and they submit for their tax returns...sure wish we had something like that in the US as it would make tax prep so much easier!) and say it is for my friend and show her photo.  Everyone would always say the same "Ah Senorha é muito simpática" (she is so nice).  It is really quite impressive how she has become so engrained in the city and culture.  It is amazing the conversations she can carry on in Portuguese.  She was definitely meant to be in Porto!

Father's Day is celebrated on March 19 in Portugal so all over town the bakeries (padarias) had cakes for dads

LuLu and I took a final stroll around the city and made our way down to one of my favorite little stores...I call it the broom store because they make all sorts of brooms and brushes by hand. A cappuccino and a pastry (not really sure what it was but it was good!) set us on our way.  We have decided that Portugal has the best pastries of all the places we have visited in Europe so you know that is saying something about how good they are!

It was time to say our good-byes to Elaine and the town we love and head back home.  These words are on the steps inside the Via Catarina mall and they definitely sum up Porto.  When people ask us why we like the city so much, we always say it is just how we feel when we are there.  Até à próximo Porto...Obrigada pelas memórias (Until next time Porto...thank you for the the memories).