We spent 6 days exploring the city and region (one day to the Douro valley, the Napa/Sonoma of Portugal) and loved every minute. From Fado to Pastel, to green wine and Port Tonic cocktails…just fantastic. A few notes on this image set…
1- lots of images from just wandering the city. One of the best finds was stumbling upon the revitalized Mercado…so many good food choices and full bar to grab glasses of vino for your meals.
2- We sucked it up and went to the Majestic Cafe which is one of those iconic, historic, and celebrated European cafes harkening back to a century ago. Yes, relatively expensive, but…surprisingly…very good!
3- We also sucked it up and purchased tickets for the Livraria Lello – dubbed the most beautiful bookstore in the world. This has become the number 1 tourist spot in Porto, mostly attributed to J.K. Rowling/Harry Potter fame. Though Rowling disavows ever having gone in here, we do know that she lived in Porto for two years and was inspired by many local things for the Potter series. So it leaves little doubt that she knew of this gem back in the day. At any rate, it’s got a constant line of people and it’s always packed, but we were very happy to have gotten the chance to walk through. It’s fantastic.
4- Images from the wine country visit to the Douro Valley. After a nice boat tour along the river for an hour, we did port tasting at Croft/Quinta da Roeda which was excellent. Then we drove back west to a 500 year old estate/vineyard, Quinta de Santa Julia de Loureiro. Apparently started by a French family with aristocratic blood back in the 16th century. Still a working vineyard, they do daily lunch meals for a few busloads of tourists a day…a hearty farm worker style meal – with wine and a piece of cake thrown in. Fantastic!
