Cheap and friendly Porto - Porto, Portugal
Porto, Portugal
Where I stayed
Apartamentos do Carmo (Airbnb)
Friday 25 October 2013
Arrived in the afternoon and took the easy metro ride into town. I got the keys to my private little apartment which was very cozy and nice-looking with art on the walls. And had a great view onto a beautiful church.
I had coffee with the owner, who gave me some suggestions for things to see and do. One of them was to go see live fado in a low-key local cafe which was taking place right then, so I went right away.
Live fado
So within an hour after arriving I found myself in a cafe with an eighties vibe, loads of men with moustaches and funny decorations, €0.80 wine and €0.50 snacks, and people sneaking peeks at me because I was a stranger. [Rua dos Caldeireiros 204, fado Friday 17-19h and perhaps other times as well.]
Soon after, silence was requested because the first fado singer was going to do a few songs. A very old wrinkly lady sang beautifully. More other singers followed, some of them a bit drunk but all singing beautifully. One young girl with a deep voice was my favourite.
I had some chats with some of the singers and visitors and several red wines and tasty snacks.
Saturday 26 October 2013
Many markets in Porto
During the day I went shopping for some food, and explored Porto. I went into the church that my apartment looks out onto, came across a street (non-food) market in Rua de Cândido dos Reis, visited Mercado do Bolhão which is a bustling food & flower market.
I came across a flea market on Praça de Carlos Alberto, which also had a perfect little cafe with a sunny terrace, where I sat for hours having drinks and reading a book in the sun. An old man suddenly gave me a note with all kinds of suggestions for sights to see, in English, that was so sweet.
I also visited the famous bookshop Lello & Irmão which has an amazing interior with curvy stairs that were also used in Harry Potter I. Unfortunately it's no longer allowed to take photos, but you can see many here: http://bit.ly/16HgPB3
And also went to the shop called "A Vida Português" a few doors down, with beautiful old products in a wooden interior.
Dinner and dancing with couchsurfer Xandra
Before going to Porto I had posted in a forum on Couchsurfing to see if anyone felt like meeting up and spending some time together, and maybe showing me some of the gay nightlife in Porto. Xandra and I met for dinner in Galeria de Paris, which is quite a touristy restaurant but I liked the food and atmosphere. It was decorated in a funny way with all kinds of collections of old toys.
Xandra is a Spanish girl from Galicia living and teaching Spanish in Porto. We spoke Portuguese, as I am trying to learn more Portuguese and I didn't want to get confused, speaking Spanish with her and Portuguese with the other people in Porto. I'm still a beginner at Portuguese (I learned it before & during a 6 week Brazil trip once) but we were able to have conversations about most things.
More fado
After dinner we went to a music center (Auditório Horácio Marçal) in one of the outskirts to see a show by "Fado Violado", a group that mixes fado, flamenco and jazz. It was very beautiful, and they had some interesting hand-made instruments. We didn't even need to pay for it.
Porto nightlife
We then went for drinks in a really cool bar on a second floor with a view over the street and a little rooftop park. [The bar's name was "Era Uma Vez no Porto..." on Rua das Carmelitas 162, small hidden door seemingly of an office.] Nice indie music, good vibe.
After that we went to a gay bar with deejay and dancing. [Lusitano, Rua José Falcão, 137.] Even though it was mostly men and not all the music was to our taste, I still really enjoyed experiencing some of Porto's gay scene.
Sunday 27 October 2013
Bike ride to the beach
On Sunday I rented a bike and Xandra came with her own bike. I rented mine at Vieguini, Rua Nova de Alfandega 7 which was conveniently located for going to the beach, and it has a selection of different types of bikes, but I have to say most of them are in quite a sorry state. Rusty chains, and I rented two different ones, the gears weren't all working properly on both of them. But they were okay enough for the simple non-hilly ride to the beach.
I was so lucky with the weather, it was a beautiful sunny, windless day. The ride to the beach along the river is very pleasant. In theory you can do it in 15 minutes (as I did the second time) but this time I stopped many times for photos of the Douro river, boats, fishermen.
Sunset over the river
Spent time having drinks in the sun... then had to go back before dark. Back in Porto we went to the Ribeira area, the main touristy area by the river, where I had not been yet. The sun was setting and a magnificent show of pink and orange cloud took place in the sky for an hour or so, for which many other people also sat down to enjoy at ease.
Noisy students
Students in Porto are being grilled with embarrassing initiation rituals during their entire first year. It means there is a lot of noise in the center on those nights, sometimes until well after 2 am. Leaders shouting things, the students shouting things back in chorus... empty cans tied together to make lots of noise with... hurrah for earplugs! :-)
Monday 28 October 2013
Art galleries and vintage
I slept in and went to explore Porto some more. I liked the artistic street called Rua de Miguel Bombarda with some art galleries, a funky little shopping center with vintage, art and other shops (all were kind of hipster style), and some nice cafes. One of the book shops also had a little cafe inside and very friendly staff. I had some drinks there and read my family history, which a distant cousin has written out and I had brought with me.
I also went over to Casa da Música and to a 'bike cafe' called "Urban Cicle Cafe", a bike shop that is also a cafe. It looked fun, but the staff were kind of aloof and not very friendly.
It had been quite a walk through Porto's up-and-down streets, good exercise!
Afterwards I took a metro back into the center and walked across the "Ponte Luis I" bridge to have a view over Porto from the other side of the river. It was already dusk. Then visited the cathedral on the Porto side and a castle, and went to my apartment for a quiet evening watching a series and reading.