Porto, Portugal

I am just back from a 6 day trip to Portugal with two friends. It was a beautiful break between deadlines for uni (although now I have to knuckle down again!). First stop was Porto, which was possibly my favourite city we visited. It was small but picturesque, a perfect long weekend getaway.

We stayed at the Bluesock Hostel which is a stone’s throw away from the river, and very centrally located. It was a good price for a clean and modern hostel, not much of a kitchen but a decent continental breakfast. The rooms and bathrooms were fine except for the plug sockets not working very well.

Porto is famous for its wine – port. So we went on a tour of the most famous cellar – Sandeman, for only 10 euros you gained some knowledge and sampled two of its wines. You also should try a porto tonic – port wine with tonic water!

Everywhere we went the views were amazing! One thing we didn’t get to see was the Livraria Lello bookstore, because the queue was loooong and we didn’t realise you had to pay entry (4 euros). Disappointing because I was looking forward to getting lost in there, but I always love a reason to return to somewhere I love.

Porto is also famous for it’s local sandwich – the francesinha. It is made up of many kinds of meat including beef, ham and sausage, and then topped with cheese and tomato sauce. Served with chips and sometimes an egg. Will not lie, it was not my most favourite of things to eat. It left me feeling quite ill after. After trying we then discovered a cute tearoom with desserts which suited us much more.

I loved Porto, I also got to see a friend from my Burgos days who was also visiting, which was a great surprise. It was chilled but evidently also knew how to entertain. A great start to our week!