Many people have asked me why we chose Portugal. Here are my reasons:
I wanted to go on a trip just the two of us
I wanted to go to a place that was not too cold
I didn't want to go tropical because we had a cruise booked in April in the Caribbean
I found a good deal on the flights
We had never been to Portugal
Our flight went from SLC to Chicago to Madrid, Spain and finally to Porto Portugal. We left on a Sunday morning and landed in Porto on Monday morning.
Day 1
This was the entrance to the place where we were staying. If you walked too fast, you would miss it haha
Right across the street from our hotel room there was this cute market: Mercado do Bolhao
They had delicious treats!
And these sweet white strawberries that we just sat and enjoyed in the sun!
We were a little jetlagged but we had to just power through the day so that we could adapt to the time change. We just took the afternoon and explored some of the sites in Porto.
This is the Sao Bento Train station. The azulejo tiles are beautiful.
Clerigos Church and Tower
The views from up here were amazing!
Igreja Paroquial de Santo Idelfonso
The host at our hotel recommended that we eat one of these because they are traditional in Porto. They are Francesinha Sandwiches. They were delicious! Egg, cheese, ham, and some sauce on top! But they are very filling also!
Se de Porto
It's so peaceful!
We deiced to walk across the Douro River to take in some of the views
We weren't sure what this was so we hiked up the hill to see it. It was a former monastery called Serra do Pilar.
Ponte Luis I overlooking the River Duoro
Igreja da Serra do Pilar
Day 2
This is by the Avenida dos Aliados
Livraria Lello was built in the Neo-Manueline style and it is one of the oldest bookstores in Portugal.
This is the inside of the bookstore!
That ceiling!
They had an entire room dedicated to The Little Prince. Books in every language!
After the bookstore we went to see the Igreja do Carmo. Twinned Baroque church with tile façade. There are two churches next to each other.
Inside the church
They let us climb up to the roof! It was a little unsafe but interesting.
We were standing up here ahh!
Here you can see the twin churches from the front.
I didn't even know what I was taking pictures of most of the time but there were just so many cool things to see!
Torre dos Clerigos
It was a beautiful day! We walked down the hill to see the area down by the river. This is Ponte Luis I
My handsome travel buddy and Valentine!
Casa Portuguesa do Pastel do Bacalhau. An entire store dedicated to canned sardines!
Gotta have gelato :)
Day 3
The view from the window in our room
Cute little breakfast at our hotel.
Farewell Porto. We still had a little more exploring to do but we needed to check out so they held on to our luggage and we went back later to pick them up before going on the train to Coimbra.
We took this cool bus to the beach area of Porto.
There is a lighthouse at the end of this pier "Farolim de Feigueiras" When the water hits the pier it splashes really high and Casey wanted to get closer so this is what happened :)
Exploring the Fortaleza de Sao Joao da Foz
The tiniest car that I've ever seen!
Can't keep him off the toys!
They have exercise equipment at the park!
We went back to our hotel to get our luggage and to get some delicious crepes!
We took a train to another city but we had like two hours before the next train left from there so we walked around the city.
