PORTO IS AMAZING!

​Porto is the second largest city in Portugal and one of its most colourful! We managed to get cheap RyanAir flights from Marrakech for $50NZD pp (plus all the shitty added extras) but worth the price to tick this destination off the list. The city has been described as ‘’the capital city of food (YAAASSSS) in the country with abundant of seafood restaurants along the Douro river and home to one of the finest port wine’’ (DOUBLE YAAASSS). We are spending three nights and have booked a beautiful Air B n B about 1 km from the center. 

​We headed to the Sao Bento station to grab out tickets for Aveiro on Saturday and I can’t recommend going there enough. It is far more than merely a transport hub for Porto's residents; on the walls of the grand entrance, 20,000 azulejo (traditional painted tiles) depict Porto's history through it’s beautiful blue and white tiles littered across the walks and roof.

From there we spent the day wandering around this beautiful city, making our way down to the famous Dom Luis I Bridge which was designed by Gustav Eiffel. The bridge, ranked #1 for things to do in Porto on Tripadvisor, becomes the heart and soul of the city in the late afternoon and was mobbed when we got there after spending an hour or so soaking up the sun with coffee’s and beers along the river’s edge.
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We walked the bridge from both the bottom and top (not for the faint hearted) and it was truly a spectacular sight. It is definitely worth walking both levels but the view from the top is by far the best lookout point you can get in Porto.

​For dinner we had read great things about Santa Francesinha and as it is a traditional must do in Porto we opted for eating our body weight in carbs there. This godfather of a meal is a meat lover’s paradise. In essence, it’s bread covered in ham, linguica, sausages , roasted meat or steak, a massive layer of cheese completely engulfing this combination, bacon and a tomato and beer sauce soaking the concoction.

Let me tell you, I have been traveling with Leo for 6 months straight, I have lived with him for years and tonight I watched him devour this tasty morsel rapidly and the smile on his face was ear to ear with satisfaction. 100% recommend trying this while in Porto. I had a small steak sandwich and a salad as I couldn’t face that amount of food but instantly was grounded with jealously when Leo was presented this mouth-watering dish. Don’t try and be skinny/be on a diet or worry about calories here…just dig right in!
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If this wasn’t enough, on the way home I bought us a couple of pastéis de nata to eat for dessert and I can honestly say it was the best way to end a perfect day!