Pouring Drinks in Porto, Portugal

Since Bryan was on duty for Christmas this past year, he had a free 72 (three days of leave) to make up before the end of the summer, so you know what that meant for me- TRIP PLANNING! We looked at the places we still wanted to visit and had to choose one that was doable over three days, flights included, so we landed on Porto in Northern Portugal!

You may remember we spent time in Lisbon with Sabrina and Caleb in May 2024 and then spent last July 4th in the Algarve region of Southern Portugal. Knowing how much we loved these areas of Portugal, we were eager to visit the north and see if it kept up with our expectations of the rest of the country!

Tuesday, July 14: Tile Painting & Celebration Dinner

So Tuesday morning we hopped on an airplane and took off to Aeroporto Francisco Sá Carneiro outside of Porto, Portugal! By 11 am, we were dropping our bags and grabbing a coffee (and a morning mid-week vacation beer for Bryan) at our hotel!

Conga: Restaurante Conga Casa das Bifanas

At 11:30, we popped down the street to Conga for lunch! Conga has one item on their menu: the bifana pork sandwich. This Porto classic is seasoned with garlic and spices and served on a white bread roll, dripping in grease and all. Conga sells thousands of these sandwiches every day, and we were some of the first customers to try them on this Tuesday afternoon!

While not my favorite sandwich (I did just eat my way across Florence with their killer sandwiches), Bryan liked this pork and cheese creation. As we left, we knew we had visited the right place with a line forming outside the building!

Livraria Lello

Next up on the day's packed agenda was Lello Bookshop! You know your girl can't miss a unique bookstore, but dang it if I didn't wish everyone else would forget about this place! Livraria Lello is regarded as "the world’s most beautiful bookshop," and became famous when J.K. Rowling admitted that her inspiration for Hogwarts was within this tiny shop's walls.

Stunningly beautiful on the interior, Lello Bookshop does look like it stepped off the pages of a Harry Potter book. With the upper bookshelves topped with marble statues and ancient-looking books and a detailed, wooden staircase leading to the second floor, I have to admit it reminded me of an old-world library more than a bookstore!

Now the downside to this place...and what took away a bit of the magic...the crowds. TikTok has done its thing, and this place was flocked with InstaModels and wannabe influencers. The sheer number of people I saw pull random books off the shelf to "read" while someone took a short video of them looking poised. Gross.

Even to get inside the bookstore, you had to buy a timed entrance ticket for €10 and wait in the blazing sun to have your ticket scanned. Luckily, they did take the price of the ticket off a book purchase, but many visitors just used this as a photograph spot rather than an actual bookstore... So if you plan to visit, buy your ticket in advance and plan to be bumped and crowded in this unique spot!

Speaking of that €10 ticket, Bryan and I added a new Portuguese cover to our Harry Potter collection! Being famous because of the wizarding series, this store had the Harry Potter books for sale in many languages. While we had a lot of them (subtle brag), we were excited to get the Portuguese 25th Anniversary Edition cover for our collection!

After swinging by the hotel to drop our books off, we headed to our day's next activity: tile painting!

Gazete Azulejos - Tile Painting Workshop

Portugal is famous for azulejos, hand-painted tiles. Most Portuguese tiles are used to tile the exterior of buildings as a way to reflect heat in the summer and warm up the homes in the winter, while others are used to decorate the interior of public spaces across the country. While I hope to one day have Portuguese tiles accented in my dream kitchen, I have to settle for learning to paint just two tiles today during our 3 pm tile painting class!

Bryan was a trooper! One of only two men in our class, he patiently worked on his tiles and stressed over their perfection! Since we each got to paint two tiles, we picked out four different designs and chose to stick with our mostly-blue, some yellow, color scheme that would match our other pottery. All four of the tile designs we picked were copies of tiles located on building exteriors around the city!

Using stencils and powdered glaze, we patiently painted our tiles with the hopes that they would fire well. A quick two hours passed, and we left eager to see our finished products in the coming days!

Armazém da Cerveja - Craft Beer Bar and Shop

Continuing with our tile fun, we enjoyed walking around the city and spotting stunning patterns! While I didn't fall in any holes (like Lisbon...) I did catch myself holding on to Bryan for extra stability as I goggled at the beautiful scenery. I. Love. Portuguese. Tiles.

Once Bryan was "tiled-out," we grabbed a beer at Armazém da Cerveja, a cute craft beer spot with at least a hundred options behind the bar! The bartender was great at picking out the perfect drinks for each of us from all he had on tap and in his coolers. We enjoyed lounging here but did have to move inside from their cute garden area after a lot of "joints" started lighting up. Good vibes, but I don't care to smell or inhale their fumes!

Brasão Coliseu

Then it was time for dinner! At 7 pm, we were at Brasão Coliseu for their opening reservation and were delighted by the moody, pottery-centered design of this place that was full of Portuguese character.

As we sat down at our private table, I decided this was going to be a celebration dinner! That's right, we found out just last week that Bryan was accepted into the Navy's Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS) residency program and will be starting his 4-year residency back in the States next July! We don't know where that residency will be (yet), but we are beyond excited that Bryan gets to pursue this dream through the Navy!

So in celebration, we ordered a bottle of wine and clinked glasses while dreaming of what our next journey will look like. I can honestly say, I had no idea that this would be our life, but I love it and I am so proud to see Bryan pushing himself for a dream he never thought was possible.

Dinner at Brasão Coliseu was the perfect celebration restaurant! Together we split the restaurant's famed Francesinha, Porto’s famous stacked sandwich that is smothered in a tomato sauce, alongside their steak and cheese. Dream meal, dream date, dream future! See ya in a year, USA!

Wednesday, July 16: Douro Valley Wine Tour

Our morning started back at The Social Hub Porto Hotel, which Bryan refers to as "the coolest hotel we have stayed at in Europe!" Reminding us a little of the hostel in Amsterdam, The Social Hub Porto is a brand new hotel situated in the middle of the city and featuring meeting spaces, a restaurant, coffee shop, pool tables, and all sorts of meet-up events for their visitors! If you find yourself in Porto, THIS is the place to stay!

Lamego

Our day began with a bus pickup, and we were off to the northeastern parts of Portugal for, I bet you guessed it, another wine tour! Along our way, we stopped in Lamego for a coffee break! Lamego is a small town known for the Escadório de Nossa Sra. dos Remédios, these massive stairs leading up to the 18th century chapel.

Solar dos Dragos - Quinta de Sequeiros

Then we were off to our first vineyard of the day, Solar dos Dragos! Here we tasted a rose, a classic red, and two different port wines. We also met our wine-tasting friends for the day: a couple from Connecticut and a couple from Austin, Texas. The guy from Austin, TX, is an ER doc and has a sister who is a general dentist, so Bryan enjoyed chatting with him and hearing about his interactions with the OMFS residents he's met along the way!

Pinhão Waterway 

As we made our way along the Douro River, our guide taught us a little about this region. The Douro Valley is a UNESCO World Heritage site made famous by its unique terraced vineyards that have produced port wines since Roman times. It's the oldest wine region in the world and, I'd argue, is the most picturesque of all the wine regions we have visited. (And that's a lot!)

Quinta da Roêda - Croft Port

At our second wine stop, we were given a tour of the grounds and introduced to Croft's ancient tradition of stomping grapes for their vintage port wines. We learned that Vintage Port Wines actually get better with age once they are bottled, leading many Portuguese families to purchase a vintage the year they have a child and then holding onto the bottle until the kid's 18th birthday to celebrate together! What a unique cultural tradition!

Miradouro Torguiano

While the fields are hot in the valley, the wines are refreshing! We continued our winding journey through the Douro Valley and passed ancient terraced fields that have been abandoned.

This region earned that UNESCO label because of the unique land carving performed for the grapevines. The Douro Valley is known for the slate ground, so the vineyards are hand-carved out of the slate and fortified with surrounding soil. This unique terrace-structure leaves behind picture-perfect lines among the rolling hills, and reminded us of Indonesia's leveled rice fields.

The striped hills opened up to a perfect photo stop at Miradouro Torguiano, where we were able to see the Douro River down below. As we made our way around the hilltop, we spotted huge clouds of smoke coming from the area we were headed. With temperatures rising and drier climates in the valley, it's not uncommon for forest fires to break out, and we witnessed this first-hand. As we continued towards the plumes of smoke, our guide checked local alerts and learned the fire was just outside the wine valley in a pine tree forest.

Casa dos Barros

At our final stop of the day, we explored Casa dos Barros, an old home-turned-BnB, where we enjoyed walking the grounds and even spotted the family's private chapel. For lunch, Bryan enjoyed the cod and crispy fried potatoes, while I tasted a local porkloin dish.

During this lunch break, we also enjoyed another tasting of white and red wines, alongside three different port wines.

At the end of our wine tour, Bryan and I both agreed that Port Wines are too sweet for our taste, but we were very happy to experience them for the first time in the valley famous for their production.

Parque das Virtudes

As we made it back to Porto, we decided this day should end while watching the sunset, so we found a cute park and a nearby pub, Musa das Virtudes, and enjoyed a drink as the sun began to set! Nothing beats a relaxing evening, vibing with the locals, and enjoying a drink along a stunning landscape. We truly are living our best life!

Delirium Café Porto

Before the day completely ended, though, we had to make one final stop at another bar. (We sound like we have a problem, but this one is just for the memories!) We first found Delirium in Lisbon, and then enjoyed it again at their Amsterdam location, so we had to go three-for-three and knock off their Porto location!

With beers in hand, we enjoyed watching the breakdancers perform while also people-watching. Getting a little hungry, we split a plate of nachos for dinner before slowly walking back to our hotel! We tried to go to the hotel's rooftop bar for another small bite to eat, but the kitchen was closed by the time we arrived. Instead, we snapped a pic of that rooftop view before calling it a night!

Thursday, July 17: Porto Exploring & Home

Our final day in Porto began with a tile-painting pickup! We made our way across town to Gazete Azulejos, where we received our tiles from Tuesday's painting class. I won't lie- I was a little disappointed in how the dark blue color bled, but I guess that gives it the handmade touch!

Along our journey, we also ran into Hugo's Portuguese brother! From the back, the pups look identical, and this guy was off-leash and exploring with his owner right alongside us! I'm sure the owner thought I was a creep sneaking photos, but LOOK! It's Hugo's twin! Now I'm ready to catch that flight home to my fur babies!

Garden Balthazar Caffe

Bryan's growling stomach caught the attention of Garden Balthazar Caffe. This cute brunch spot served chicken sandwiches at 10:30 am, making me happy, and a Francesinha-inspired pancake dish that had Bryan drooling! Much like his celebration dinner dish, this plate had ham and sausage that was sandwiched between pancakes, and topped with the traditional tomato sauce! I have to admit, if I knew how good those pancakes were going to taste, I would have ordered them too. Alongside two cappuccinos, our morning was off to a splendid start!

Porto São Bento

One can't visit Porto without also visiting their famous train station. Porto São Bento is a National Monument and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Construction began in 1904 and quickly became a Portuguese icon with the installation of these massive mural tile paintings that cover the train station's entrance. Made out of 20,000 azulejo tiles, the blue-and-white murals represent moments in the country's history, and the multicolored panels depict rural scenes showing the people of various Portuguese regions.

Let me just say, this place is a showstopper. Floor to ceiling tiles that were all hand-painted and meticulously plastered to the wall to form these impressive art displays- all just for the entrance to a train station?! This is something that you would think to see at the entrance to an art museum!

Clearly, I was impressed! I don't feel like the pictures do it justice, so maybe this video will help showcase this beautiful lobby!

Time Out Market Porto

Located right next to Porto São Bento is Time Out Market Porto. With a twin location in Lisbon, this restaurant hub was a great spot to seek shade and enjoy one final glass of Porto red wine before we had to head home!

Monastery of Serra do Pilar

Bryan surprised me with one final lookout point- thanks to his great navigation, we crossed the Ponte Luís I bridge to reach a stunning overlook of Porto's city from up high! The Ponte Luís I is a unique bridge allowing cars to drive on the bottom part, and trains and pedestrians to cross along the upper part!

Bryan led us up to Monastery of Serra do Pilar, where we had the perfect view of the city! With the Douro River emptying into the Atlantic Ocean to our left, and the city's skyline to our right, this was the perfect end to our time in Porto, Portugal!

Lisbon International Airport Humberto Delgado

At 3 pm, it was time to grab our bags from the hotel and take the train to the airport. We had heard that the Portuguese Airports were notorious for crazy-long lines for security, so we played it safe and gave ourselves plenty of time for our 6 pm flight. Lucky for us, everything went smoothly and we enjoyed over 2 hours in the airport lounge, where Bryan got to watch golf on the big screen while I read on my Kindle!

We had a few-hour layover in Lisbon before catching our final flight back to Sevilla. It's been a while since we have seen Lisbon's skyline, and I have to admit, I'm already wanting to go back!

Eventually we made it back to Sevilla around 1:30 am...thank goodness it's still summer break for me! While Bryan may have had a sleepy Friday morning back at work, at least he got to come home to these perfect babies!

Until next time,

-Katie