A spontaneous weekend in Porto Travel Guide || Travel

Happy Easter! I know, long time, no see. But as I said before on my Twitter sometimes we need t take a step back to be able to take a few steps forward. Anyways, I started my Easter break with a spontaneous trip to the beautiful city of Porto, Portugal. I've been there twice before but this beautiful place is always a great place to spend a few days walking around and relaxing.  I think if you are to come to the north of Portugal Porto a city that will not disappoint. 

How to get around: I caught a flight to Porto around lunchtime on Friday, if you are flying from another airport within Portugal the flight will be only 30 minutes long and it's for sure my favorite way to get to the city, you can also take the train, or drive, but I believe that flying is just easier and faster. From the airport to the city center it's around a 35 minutes underground journey. And the underground is for sure the best way to get around. Porto is equipped with a great underground line that goes around the whole city and some of the cities nearby.  To move around the city center the best way to explore is simply to walk around the main touristic attractions that are within a 10-minute walk (tops) from each other. 

Where to stay: When traveling I like to go for Airbnbs, it's a cheaper alternative and it feels a bit more personal than a hotel room. When it came to picking the one in which we were going to stay this time, was a no-brainer. We stayed in the 156 Trindade House  Terrace, a beautiful house in the center of Porto. The house had 2 bedrooms and it provides bedding for a total of 6 people. It is equipped with everything you might need to cook a meal, to shower or to stay at home and relax. Besides that, the decoration is super simple and spot-on trendy. I loved the entrance wall with the vinyls and fact that the rooms were inspired in Hollywood divas one being named after Marylin Monroe and the other one after Audry Hepburn.

Where to eat: Porto is a place in which I've never been disappointed by a meal, being there on three different occasions and having tried a bunch of different restaurants and cafés I've always been happy with the choices I made. This time I stopped for a late lunch at  Café Progresso, the Instagram dream café. The decoration was spot on with tones of blues and yellow, woods and bricks, I was really happy with the surrounding environment. I had a lime and watermelon juice, a Progresso Salad, a slice of coconut cate and a macchiato (because could I not have a cup of coffee when it looked that cute?) I think that if you are walking around Aliados and need a place to eat this is the one I would recommend, especially around lunchtime.

If you don't know where to have dinner my number one choice will always be The Wine Box, a wine, and tapas bar with a selection of 500 different wines for you to try. You can ask whatever you want from the menu and you won't be disappointed. This is probably my favorite place to eat in Porto, I was there last year and when I knew I was going to be there again going back was for sure on my priorities list. 

For a small snack, or sugary temptations I would recommend going to Tavi, a bakery near the Foz area in the city (you can take a bus, or an uber to get to this part of Porto, but is totally worth the visit), I had the best croissant and amazing cup of hot cocoa. To finish it off I had a slice of cake and it was absolutely delicious! Everything is homemade and you can taste the love the baker put on the making in every slice. 

 What to do: Walking around as I said is the best option, start by walking down the Avenida dos Aliados, look at the beautiful city hall building (showed here in the first picture of this post), if you fancy going shopping go to Rua de Santa Catarina, a beautiful street with antique buildings and shops such as Zara or  H&M built inside them. This is the main shopping street in the center of Porto and if you are looking for something to buy this is the place to go. Walk to Ribeira, passing by Rua das Flores, the houses, churches and other buildings all look amazing and full of history to tell. You will pass by Palácio da Bolsa, where the stock market used to be, a building that even though it's expensive, it's absolutely a must visit place. Once you get to Riberia you will be greeted by the beautiful view of the Douro River, walk to D.Luis Bridge and cross it in a 10-minute walk to Gaia, where you can have the view to Porto and visit the caves in which Port Wine is produced.

If you, like me are a Potterhead, you will know that Queen J.K. Rowling lived in Porto for a part of her life and that many of the things you see in the Harry Potter movies were inspired by the beautiful city. The Hogwarts Uniforms were inspired by the University Uniform (which is something that makes me super excited once I have my own uniform), Diagon Alley was inspired by the narrow streets of Porto and of course, the next stop in our must visit places, Livraria Lello, the bookstore that inspired the Hogwarts staircases. The bookstore is a magnificent place, it has a million and one details that will take a while to notice, it is an overwhelming place, where books and magic touch each other in the most perfect way. I think this is my favorite place in the whole city, even though it is super busy due to all the tourists and the huge line to get in, I feel like its totally worth it and I honestly felt like I was at Hogwarts.

Another place that I think is super worth to visit is the Serralves Gardens, Serralves is a contemporary art museum in Porto, that has the most amazing exhibitions in the north of Portugal, but the gardens are what makes it all worth it to me. If you want to escape the city and find some peace and quiet, to meditate and breath fresh air, here is where you should come. You will be overwhelmed with the green landscape ahead of you and you will feel like you are lost in the middle of the woods, while at the same time you feel as if you are in the gardens of a beautiful mansion. I think that this is another great place to visit. 

In conclusion: If you like gothic architecture, and if you would like to take the weekend and visit a beautiful city Porto is the place to visit. I would 100% recommend the magnificent historical city as the perfect place to go with friends or with your boyfriend/girlfriend for a romantic getaway. The people are super friendly and the food is amazing, the views are beautiful and you will enjoy the best glasses of Port Wine you've ever tasted!