When I visited the beautiful city of Porto over Easter, my friend Emma and I spent a lot of time wandering around. But we weren’t aimless – far from it. Instead we discovered plenty to do and see tucked into the hills beside the Douro River. Here’s my top picks – and one for next time!
Our last day in Porto dawned sunny and gorgeous. After checking out our final panorama from the top of Torre dos Clérigos, Emma and I decided to head for the coast to make the most of the sunshine. We promenaded for kilometres alongside the pounding waves, marvelling at the gorgeous houses and breathing in that beautiful salty air. A wonderful end to our long weekend in Porto!
One of the activities I added to my Porto list almost by chance was Mercado do Bolhão. I say almost by chance because I rarely pass up the chance to visit a market. I love the opportunity to ogle a city’s fresh produce, watch the locals conduct their daily or weekly shop, often with a side of gossip, and see what’s popular wherever I’m visiting. But when I turned up at Bolhão I wasn’t sure whether it would be a market seeped in tradition or a sleek new emporium. The beauty of not doing too much research – this time it worked out!
One of the beautiful things about visiting a hilly city, apart from the thigh toning possibilities, is that every twist and turn in a street can review a new landscape. When my friend Emma and I visited Porto at Easter, we stumbled upon some hidden gems of viewpoints and sought out others. But rest assured, we combined the healthy aspects of near-constant stairs with an afternoon of hiding from the storm in various port warehouse cellars – an option I can’t recommend highly enough. [Read more…]
