EUROPE BLOG April 22nd, 2023 - PORTO

4/22/23- Another relaxing morning as we don’t leave our place until after 1pm. The sun is fully out and begging us to explore, so we go straight for the Clerigos Church and Tower. The walk is swift, but unfortunately the wait to go up the tower is over an hour and there’s no lift to the top. Sharece is concerned the steps will be too much on her, so I purchase one ticket to return around 3pm.

The church is free to explore, which is interesting but nothing really new for us. With more time remaining, we head down the road to Largo da Pena Ventrosa (a back alley street with colored houses). We didn’t realize the 8 minute walk to get here is all downhill, so when it comes time for me to return back to the tower, Sharece stays behind. I feel for her as I know she would’ve loved to see the view, but priorities are at play and we still have more places to conquer. There is a church for her to explore (buried behind the buildings).

It takes me 10 minutes to get back to Clerigos and my legs are torn up for the incline. Once I present my ticket for the tower, the steps to go up are even more daunting. There’s no way Sharece could’ve made this without being laid out tomorrow.

 

Steps upon steps to the top I go, checking the views along the way, when finally I reach a landing and blown back by the strong, cold winds. It takes a moment to fight through when I see the entire city laid out before me. This is definitely worth it.

    

Another set of steps takes me further to the bell tower, which gives a 360 panoramic view. The sky couldn’t be any bluer bringing me totally at peace, even though my hair is whipping around.

Once back at the bottom, I get a message that Sharece has ventured toward the riverbank, and as I approach I see a whole new section of the city that we missed before. Crowds gathered harmoniously, listening to live music and watching street performers, all while sipping on their beverage of choice. I spot Sharece sitting at one of the tables with a beer in hand, which I’m all too happy to join.

After a bit of rest, we stroll across the lower section of Luis Bridge to the other side of the river and look up some wine tasting. The first two places we go to have very limited seating and the wait could be upwards to an hour or more. We think about it for a moment, but once we see the prices at almost 50 Euros for one Port tasting, we quickly realize the tourist trap and head back to our AirBnb for more reasonable prices. The trek is uphill, but we find a funicular that takes us to the top quickly.

Along the way, we find an authentic Portuguese restaurant (Restaurante Kapadokua). I could eat another burger easily after all the walking we did so far today, but I choose to go with the Bacalhau Com Natas (Codfish with mozzarella). Decent enough and filling, especially for trying something different and local).

It’s now pushing 6:30pm and we find Taylor Port to end the day on a high note. They didn’t have tastings but we’re able to each have a glass for a small amount, which was so good we bought a bottle. Very glad we left the river bank, because we just got wine and a dinner for less than one tasting at the other places.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another rainy day, and plan to take most of it to regroup, so we’re very grateful for the nice weather while we have it. Strange thing about today though. We’ve been able to use credit card everywhere over the past 3 weeks but suddenly we’ve been faced with “Cash Only” places. Looks like I’ll be hitting up the ATM again soon.