Porto was overrun with tourists, which is good for a struggling economy like Portugal’s, but takes a bit of the gleam off things. And after a few days of travelling around Europe, I didn’t really warm to the idea of seeing more churches, museums and towers. Nevertheless, wandering around Porto was fun and we had some good and/or interesting experiences.
Accommodation was in the old town and fairly well apportioned, though the massive roadworks just down the street made navigation a little tricky. We survived though. The first evening, thanks to daylight savings and it not getting dark until 10pm, we saw a lot of blue tiles inside and outside of buildings, either depicting historical scenes (as was the case in the station) or adorning churches. After a lot of walking around, we went back to the accommodation. I needed a lie down. Glen and I eventually went for dinner at a small place just next to our accommodation while Simon and Julian went to somewhere else by the river.
The next day was a full day in Porto. We got up early to go to Livraria Lello, a bookstore that has an ornate red curling staircase in the centre of it. Sold as the “world’s most beautiful bookstore”, it has to charge and time entry because so many people want to get in and take photos on its staircase. The staircase is nice, but it was an experience I would never do again. I was fascinated though by how many people were queuing to get into a bookstore, and wondered how many then went on to by books. You get the price of your ticket (€5/€6) off the cost of a book if you buy something, which is actually really smart, because most people will think they’ve made a saving and want to use it. Whether they do would be interesting to find out. One of the displays inside had six first editions, one being 1984 that seemed to be strategically placed so you’d look at it and see the masses ahead. Anyway, we did it. It’s done.
After that we went to Porto’s (or maybe Lisbon’s) oldest cafe, Majestic Cafe, which isn’t that old really, and had an expensive but tasty breakfast. Julian was living his fantasy, which was nice to see, and we ate and drank in beautiful surroundings. The crowds were less in the morning than in the evening, probably because most tourists are rushing off to get into places early.
We then went down to the port to buy tickets for a boat cruise down the river to see six bridges. We were early so went for a walk then went our separate ways as Glen and I went to grab something quick to eat. We then sat down on a stone wall, ate and drank, and I lay down, dozing and listening to a busking guitarist for about an hour. It was heaven. I really enjoyed this moment of sitting and soaking in the atmosphere, even with all the tourists around. More of that, please!
The boat cruise went for about 50 minutes, going one way and then back up the other. The audio narration repeated each snippet of information in five languages, one after the other, as we approached bridge after bridge. The bridges are actually pretty cool, each one different from the last, most having held some world record at one time or another. One of the rail bridges was discontinued for trains and sits completely unused, which seems such a waste. The cruise was relaxing and Glen and I had good seats.
Later that evening we went up the Clérigos Tower, which was right near our accommodation, and got a good view over Porto. The very top of the tower was chock-a-block with visitors who didn’t move around to give other people space or a chance to see so I eventually gave up and went down a level and had a wonderful solitary time looking out over the city.
We went for dinner at a recommended Portuguese cuisine restaurant, ordering a lot of food that overflowed over our table. Simon ordered the local delicacy, a Francisenha sandwich thing that came late but we had fortunately downsized it from full to half. We managed to get through just about everything and sensibly forewent dessert.
Afterwards we went back to the Clérigos Church to watch a light and sound projection on the interior, with it being late enough to have it mostly to ourselves so we could lie down on the pews. I enjoyed the rest and the sensory overload for thirty minutes. When it finished, despite it being Friday night, we went home to bed. No late night raging in Porto for us — though knowing what we know of Mediterranean nightclubbing, nothing gets started until well after 1am.
Travels with Dan 
What do you say, eh?