Harbor

The city of Porto means “port” and is located in the north of Portugal. She greeted us with drizzle and fog. We walked through the cute narrow streets to our apartment, which was pretty central and really pretty. There was already a carafe of port wine waiting for us here, for which the city is known and for which it owes its name - we liked that better 😉. After a power nap, we had a drink and explored the city. In the evening we visited the famous Livraria Lello, a beautiful bookstore that is said to have served as the inspiration for Hogwarts. There are really long queues here during the day, we were lucky and it wasn't that busy anymore, so we didn't have to wait long. The centerpiece is a red curved staircase and in general the interior design was actually reminiscent of Harry Potter. We bought a little book and then had a delicious dinner.

The next day it stayed dry and we continued to look at the city, which reminded us a bit of the steep and colorful Valparaíso in Chile. We walked along the river bank and then made our way to the neighboring town of Gaia. We walked across a bridge that was built by Gustav Eiffel's apprentice and connects Porto with Gaia. The port wine producers are based in Gaia and that's exactly where we wanted to go. To get in the mood, we had a drink at Sandemann and then we started with the tasting at Cockburns - yes, we chose the establishment with the funniest name 😜. First we were explained a lot about the production and storage of port wine. In contrast to normal wine, the fermentation process is interrupted after 2-3 days by adding high-proof alcohol. This means that port wine has a higher natural sugar content and, at 20%, also has a lot of revolutions. The oldest bottle in the wine cellar was actually from 1861, but no one knows whether the contents are still tasty. At the end we were allowed to try 3 different port wines. Generally there are both red and white and depending on how they are stored the taste changes from fruity to tart. After a total of 4 glasses of port wine, we both had our lights on for a bit and walked back to Porto in a good mood.

For the next day we booked another free walking tour and saw other, very beautiful corners of the city. We walked through the pretty station hall, past the cathedral, through beautiful housing estates and ate delicious pastéis de nata. These delicious little tarts can be found everywhere in Portugal and taste best warm and with cinnamon on top. After a small lunch of the Portuguese specialty Francesinha, a sandwich drowned in sauce, we headed back over to Gaia, this time across the upper level of the bridge. The view was really nice and when we got over there we quickly tasted port wine. This time in the Bar Quinta da Portal and with 5 different varieties (we shared them!). Afterwards we continued to walk through the alleys and at the end we had a last wine in the vaulted cellar near Fonseca. In the evening we found a great restaurant and ate delicious vegan tapas there.

We are now heading south to Lisbon in a rental car with small stops along the way!