Porto

After Lisbon, we headed to Porto for a few days. As you can see, the train station is really impressive. Here are my mom, Zach, Jackie, and Warren with one of the tile murals that covered the train station walls. 

We headed straight for lunch at Cafeteria Pintainho inside the Mercado do Bolhão market. We all ordered fish and everything we had was delicious. The restaurant set up was a bit confusing and we kept getting passed over for tables. That is one of the hard parts of travelling in a group of five. 

There was a bakery close to the market so we stopped to get some dessert after lunch. We tried several things but the best were these chocolate mousse desserts. They tasted like an undercooked brownie with a crisp crust on top. 

Porto puts the "Portu" in "Portugal" as it was the original capital in AD 1000. The name actually dates back even farther to when the city was under Roman rule. 

Even though Porto felt a bit run down in some places, we kept stumbling across the most amazing buildings and squares that weren't even highlighted on our map. 

Featured in the photo below is the Clérigos Church, whose tower is now a symbol of Porto. One morning we climbed the 225-step spiral staircase to see the amazing views of the city. My legs were pretty sore after, but it was worth it.

The view from Clérigos Tower

It seems Porto has loads of well preserved old buildings that are still being used as shops. For instance, the bookstore Livraria Lello and Irmão has the most amazing staircase. It has been a bookstore ever since it opened in the late 1800s. 

We stopped for a break from the sun in Cafe Majestic, another example of the amazing architecture around Porto. 

Porto has so many beautiful churches, including the Igreja do Carmo, below. The front was all carved stone but the sides had a tile mural like what we saw in the train station and around the town. 

Every church we toured in Portugal (Lisbon included) used loads of gold on the interior which made for a very impressive sight. 

Here is Warren outside the Igreja de São Francisco church, built between 1383 and 1410. During renovations in the 17th and 18th centuries the eight altars were covered in 100kg of gold leaf.

I was able to get this photo inside the church (photography was frowned upon) that shows some of the detail of the carvings. 

Porto is known for the Francesinha (Little Frenchi) sandwich which is basically an amped up version of a croque monsier. It is made by smothering bread, ham, several kinds of pork sausage, and steak with a soft yolk egg, melted cheese, and a tomato sauce. It was amazing!

A friend of mine recommended we cross the Rio Douro river and watch the sun go down. We had a great view of the city from across the river at such an amazing part of the day. It was definitely worth it!

Porto was such a great city to visit and I really enjoyed our entire trip of Madrid, Lisbon, and Porto. I see why so many people love visiting southern Europe!