Beautiful Porto with its endless entertainment and azulejos. I can’t say that I ever saw myself coming here, I’ve never been that interested in Portugal to be completely honest with you. But when one of my closest friends in this world told me he’d be there with his family for the summer, I jumped at the opportunity to see him. We hadn’t seen each other in three years and are going to university in countries so far away I thought we had seen the last of each other, but of course, we always find a way back to the people we love.
My first day in Porto was great, my friend picked me up from the airport and brought me back to his family home where I managed to drop off my things. After that, we went to the mall near his house where he completely obliterated me at bowling, much to my chagrin. We ate a few things then made our. way to Casa da musica because he had a job interview. While waiting for it to be over, I walked around the area, sat down a cute café and had orange juice with a slice of red velvet cake, it was delicious!
Once I got the news that my friend’s interview went great, we met up at a nearby park where we managed to see the Rotunda da Boavista and walked to the Crystal palace gardens. Peacocks were everywhere, it was like a scene out of a picture book! We even saw a few frogs in the water bassins, they were so cute! Honestly, the entire city reminded me of Brazil, Porto too has a very welcoming and warm population, everyone is smiling and being so hospitable.
We walked along the Ribeira where I managed to buy a couple of magnets that would suit my fridge. We crossed the river to get to Vila Nova de Gaia where we witnessed a saxophone band playing Can’t Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli at the foot of the bridge. It was lovely, I’ve always loved live music but street performances have a special place in my heart, they have a way of bringing people together in a way I haven’t seen before. There were many couples dancing around us, it felt like a scene straight out of a movie! After enjoying that for a few minutes, my friend showed me a really beautiful tinned fish store and joked about having found all the Brazilian gold Portugal stole.
I suggested to steal it back but we opted not to for fear of getting arrested. We left the store and saw people walking around with piña coladas in pineapples in their hands and decided to get some. Because we are gluttons with no fear of damaging our livers, we didn’t realise that you were supposed to share the pineapple and got one each. Absolutely no regrets though, it was delicious. It was nearing the end of the day and we were getting a bit peckish so we went to a nearby food market and had some pizza, after which we went to the Pink Palace to watch the sunset.
On my second day in Porto, we hung out with my friend’s family and their friends in Cunhas. We had an all-day churrasco, played with their daughter who truly is the best uno player of all time, and then went swimming in Poço Negro, the water was refreshing crystal clear. We stayed in there for a long time before eventually getting cold and leaving to go back to the house.
My third day was nice, my friend and I walked around the city to see landmarks such as the chapel of souls and the carmo church. I absolutely loved the azulejos on them, I can’t even imagine the amount of detail that went into them. I’ve always been fond of ceramics, mosaics and tile art so if you love all those things Porto is truly for you. Being a massive bookworm, I also really wanted to see the Lello bookstore. After waiting in line for around 10 minutes we managed to go inside. The stairs in the middle really made me feel like I was in an ancient magical library honestly it was beautiful. I wouldn’t recommend buying any books from there though, especially if they have a Lello designed cover because they were quite pricy for what they were in my opinion but if you know someone in your life that would appreciate it, it could be a nice souvenir. That night, we went to a movie theater to watch Sinners as I hadn’t seen it yet, it was so great, I honestly loved it.
On my fourth day, and sadly last day, my friend had his orientation at his job which left me with the entire morning and the better part of the afternoon to travel around town. Porto is quite small but there are endless things to see. While I was waiting for his work to be over, I went to the Porto cathedral, saw the muralhas de fernandinas, went to the Saint Lawrence church, went back to the chapel of souls because I loved it so much, and went to the church of Saint Ildefonso. If you go down the stairs of the Portho cathedral, you’ll come across a very beautiful street lined with many shops to buy cute souvenirs called Rua das Aldas, it also has a viewpoint where you can see a lot of the city which is really nice. I also walked through Rua das Flores which was so pretty honestly I don’t think there was one thing I disliked about Porto!
Though unfortunately for me, all good things must come to an end and I had to leave in quite a rush as Easyjet betrayed me by delaying my flight by three hours and then it being fixed and only being delayed by 30 minutes which almost made me miss my flight because I got the notification when I was back at my friend’s house watching Derry Girls together. Probably one of the most stressful times of my life, especially since I’m usually one to go to the airport 2 hours early, which in my opinion is pushing it. You can imagine the cold sweat that washed over me. I managed to make it on time at the last minute!
Porto was a dream and I hope I’ll be able to go back soon!
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