P is for Porto

You know how a couple years ago suddenly everyone was going to Iceland? We all drank the Northern Lights kool-aid. Well last year, the expats of England all went to Porto and I was like 'wait what?' and missed the boat. Fortunately, so did one of my expat friends so we popped on over to Porto for a weekend of sun and, of course, port!

Obviously I was expecting to have port and a bunch of pastel de natas but I was not prepared for peacocks. We spent part our afternoon walking around the botanical gardens and I was shocked by the shear number of peacocks hanging out! I'd never seen a full blown peacock in person, just individual feathers. They are beautiful and majestic and at one point, I was so close, I was worried they were like swans and might attack me (they didn't but I'm sure that's because they're use to people).

Here are some of the other places we went, things we ate and other things we drank!

• Tapabento- This was recommended by a friend who had previously been to Porto (like I said, we were late to the party). You absolutely need a reservation here but it's not a super fancy place. We were able to email them ahead of time for a table while we were in town. The menu was primarily seafood but it was delicious. 

• Letraria - This place is a diamond in the ruff. Located on a quiet residential street, it's the gateway to a magical beer garden complete with an orange tree, wild strawberries (maybe they're not wild if they've been intentionally planted...), mint bushes and adorable cats bouncing around in tall grass. Oh and their beer selection is great. Plus the staff are very friendly and gave us multiple samples to decide which beer we should taste in full.

• Franceshina - The typical sandwich of Porto, this is a thick sandwich stuffed with two types of meat and cheese, covered in more cheese and then doused in a tomato-tasting sauce. It's like a grilled cheese on steroids doused in soup. And it's amazing. Oh and it's called franceshina but we ate it at a restaurant called Franceshina and it was served by a waiter named Franceshina--just kidding, the waiter part didn't happen. The place was very quiet but the staff were very accommodating. They gave us sauteed mushrooms as an appetizer fo' free and then we finished the meal with a sample of port, to "help with digestion". They also had Wimbledon on so that didn't hurt either.

• Port - Cue all the port in Porto jokes! There's a stretch of wineries along the south bank of the river (generally referred to as Gaia) where you can choose from any number of places to do a tasting. We selected Calem, just out of convenience of time and price. After an opportunity to view their museum, we were taken on a tour of the winery. They don't bottle the port there but they do have the giant barrels and vats of port, ready and waiting to be bottled off site. 

• Zenith - In an effort to avoid super touristy places, we searched for 'hipster places in Porto' and Zenith popped up for brunch and cocktails. To be fair, it also appeared on a TripAdvisor list for top cafes in Porto. But for real, it's very hipster. We enjoyed smoothie bowls (#healthyaf) and shared sweet potato toast with avocado (because can you even have brunch without an avocado and not be a hipster?) and poached egg. We also saw yogurt parfaits and pancakes go by that made us second guess our choice of smoothie bowl. 

• Nutellandia - This magical place is just what it sounds like: a land of nutella. They had nutella milkshakes, nutella ice cream, and my favorite, Pastel de Nata (traditional egg custard pastry of Portugal) with nutella on it. And no, they don't have wifi, just enjoy the nutella. 

After all that eating, we opted for a nice, lazy beach day but unfortunately, the beaches were past the wall of mist so it wasn't very sunny or warm. But there were still loads of people on the beaches and we sat at a cafe sipping beers next to the water before heading back to the sunny side of town, pictured below.