Porto! Portugal!
Porto!
Wow was this an amazingly nice change of pace. I'll start at the beginning though. Grant and I took a "wonderful" RyanAir flight from Bergamo, Milan to Porto, Portugal. I had promised him that after our first RyanAir flight we would never fly them again but I totally forgot that we had already booked one.. oh well. This one was only 30 minutes delayed and was actually really funny because the landing was so fast and most of the cabin thought we were going to crash into the fast approaching bank forward of the airplane. I've been on my fair share of flights and that was easily the hardest and fastest landing I've ever been on and the breaking at the end as we approached the end of the runway was the most desperate and difficult break I've seen too. The entire plane laughed super nervously the way people do when they think they just escaped death. Impressive.
Our first day was awesome, we had an early enough flight that we were checked into our Airbnb and settled by like 3 or 4pm at which time we went out to go find our first meal. Our Airbnb was in the heart of the old town of Porto which was absolutely beautiful. It was actually much prettier and more charming of a city than either of us was expecting, I think Naples and then Milan kind of dropped our hopes a bit. When we arrived a large public viewing of the Brazil game was going and we were going to go watch it once we were settled but it actually finished. The world cup is going on right now and in tons of major squares and outdoor areas cities in Europe put on the games so that people can see. They're pretty crazy about soccer.
Our first meal, pictured below, was a schmorgis board of random choices based on what sounded good and price. We had a meat board, an amazing bean and chorizo dish, and fried cod. It was Amazing. We both agreed right there that it might have been the best most surprising meal of the trip. A bit overly meaty looking back on it but I'm happy all the same.
After that we walked around, got some super amazing gelato that was made fresh in the shop, took some touristy pictures with the big PORTO sign, saw the views, and visited this hilarious little canned fish shop. The middle picture below is the shop, they were decked out like a crazy Willy Wonka candy shop and all they sold were tons of types of canned fish, primarily cod. Cod is a thing in Porto apparently.
Porto is something out of a Miyazaki film and the olden days. I'm not even kidding. At least the old town is. Super cute cobbled stones on sloping streets lined with shops and flats. They have a thing for doing their apartment fronts in tiles (usually blue themed) that make you feel like you're looking at an elongated tiled bathroom. They're pretty though and give the place a really unique feel. They even have a legit train car thing like a little old time trolly that people actually use to get around even though it sounds like its been working as long as it is old.
Our next two days in Porto we went to the beach, went to Sao Joao (next post), and had a foodie day. The beach I don't have any pictures of because we finally took Grant's fancy camera out and I don't have the photos off of that. We walked along the peer, laid out on the sand, played in the water, and stopped for lunch. Grant had the smarts to order "Brazil Beef" which is this super special beef out in Porto and it was unreal. I've never had a steak like that. I was unprepared (still a bit salty he didn't warn me) and I got some honestly kinda gross pasta. But the beach was worth it. I've decided I need to start tracking not only what countries I've been to but also major bodies of water. Super glad to have some time at the beach though, it was fun to just relax and be at the water. Not sure why the beach has that effect but its just such a nice way to spend the day, even though Grant did get burned again, and we needed the little break. I totally understand why people do entire vacations surrounding just going to luxurious beaches and not actually doing anything... It sounds nice once in a while, I mean we've done it to. Mexico!
The next day was our foodie day. We had steak at one of the top rated steakhouses in all of Porto according to Trip Advisor. It was more of that Brazil Beef stuff which we paired with black beans, potatoes au gratin, write rice, and this confusing coos coos/falafel/stuffing from Thanksgiving thing. It is officially the best meal of the trip for me and I'm so glad we went. If there's one thing I've really learned on this trip so far its that nothing is above you. I've been to some of the fanciest places in different cities, had the best tables, and zero reservations. It's not even that expensive if you're willing to split meals and share appetizers. We didn't even dress well. Grant walked in with swim trunks and a T-shirt, I was wearing shorts and a tank top, and although the front desk girl asked if we had a reservation and we didn't, we were sat immediately. We didn't even pay an outlandish amount, we paid no more than we had for normal dinner the night before. I mean sure, there are super high end expensive places out there but normal high end is within reach. The meal was fantastic and I will be happy if we don't beat it on the rest of this trip.
Ending it out, Porto was an exquisite city beyond our wildest dreams which Naples and then Milan both considerably lowered anyway. It was charming, walkable, accessible, friendly, cute, great food, cultural, just all around wonderful. I know I forgot to mention this earlier but the people were some of the nicest and kindest and genuinely happy people that I've ever met, and I'm from Oregon. Like wow. Seriously, Porto people blew us out of the water. Every. Single. waiter, shop keep, etc. was super happy, funny, easy to smile, and just good people. I'm so seriously impressed with Porto that it is officially one of my new big travel recommendation. More on our special night of Sao Joao in the next post!