Oh, Porto!
We made it to Porto! Our flight with SATA was uneventful, which was great. We took an Uber to our hotel, no issues this time, and checked into the Rebello, which is actually in a town across the Douro river from Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia. The hotel gave us a welcome gift of brownies and strawberries for our honeymoon and we also get our frist round of drinks free (water, coke, a bottle of wine, etc). The room is incredible - it’s huge and has a large window overlooking the river and Porto.
Evan was feeling a little sick from the car and is still getting through his cold so we ordered room service from the restaurant at the hotel - Ev got a Francesinha, the famous Portuguese sandwich from Porto, and I got a veggie feijoada, a slow cooked stew featuring beans.
Yesterday was our big Porto day! We started with a walking tour starting at city hall with our guide, Melissa! Before we met up with her though, we took a picture in front of the Porto sign and I dropped my phone, thankfully flat, onto a grate that led to nowhere - what an adventure that would have been! We asked someone to take our photo (and I took theirs), but I see today that the whole “Porto.” didn’t quite make the shot..
Anyway, our guide was great - she was really funny and we learned a lot about the history of Porto and Portugal and there were also a ton of nice people on our tour. We went around introducing ourselves so I of course mentioned my new husband and that we were on our honeymoon! Everyone clapped and we got to show photos to some people that asked since our photographer, Randall Garnick Photography, sent us a few previews the night before! We met a couple from Chicago and found out the girl was actually from West Bloomfield, and then a couple from England, whose daughter lives in NY but they had a friend living in Michigan as well!
We saw all of the Porto highlights and finally tried a pastel de nata! The tour ended at the Porto cathedral, which we went inside and to the top of the bell tower (only 80 steps). Sao Bento train station was another highlight of the tour - we got to go inside and see the beautiful blue and white tiles the city of Porto is known for. We also saw the University of Porto, Torre dos Clérigos (tallest building in Porto), and Livraria Lello.
Later we walked across the top of the Dom Luis I bridge, sipped beer and Porto Tonicos in the sun, and took a six bridges river boat cruise along the Douro! We started the audio tour a bit late so that was a little bit confusing and there was a fire happening in a building along the river so that was kind of scary but overall it was a lovely hour on the water. We continue to be very lucky with the weather.
To end the evening, we did a guided tour and Port wine tasting at Bermester cellar in Vila Nova de Gaia and then had a late dinner at Perto do Cais, a short walk from our hotel. We had a bottle of green wine (vinho verde), I got a vegetarian francesinha, and Ev got a burger!
Today is a free day so we lounged in bed and enjoyed breakfast at the hotel - they have an incredible buffet! Now off to explore more of Porto!
