Thank you to the Queen for the Jubilee celebrations that gave us a 4 day weekend where we escaped rainy UK for sunny Portugal (covering four cities in four days), but for those of us who worked the remaining three days - it was an extra quiet working week.
It would have been nice to stay in London to watch the celebrations; however, judging from the media reaction to the broadcast, the weather put a dampener on the entire occasion. But that said, we had an amazing time swapping dreary London weather for stop 1: Porto.
Visiting Portugal
So why Portugal? No real explanation other than it was on the list of countries to see once we had ticked off the 'must do list' which was dominated by France, Italy, Spain. We found Portugal to be a lot cheaper than heading to St Petersburg - the initial destination for the Bank holiday.
On this trip, we were distracted by the majestic beauty of the architecture and monuments, seduced by the history of the country and its people; and feel instantly in love with their passion for seafood, port and egg tarts. As a result of our long weekend travels, Portugal climbed up the 'favourite places' list and we will definitely make a return trip - but perhaps with a different airline.
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| Fun and sun in Portugal |
A challenging Ryanair Experience
This trip was not our first flight with Ryanair and so far on our travels we have had a pretty decent Ryanair experience. Yes the seats are cramped (but at our heights, we don't need the leg room), and they charge for everything (no different to many other airlines), and they play really tacky congratulatory music when they arrive on time (better than having delays).
Yes, fares are cheap and you can expect the service to reflect that.
However this trip almost broke our level of tolerance for the super-budget airline. In short, the queue to board the plane started from Gate 25. It was a long line but we didn't care too much as we had paid extra for priority seats. Then, despite over half the plane having stood their ground in the non-priority queue for 30 minutes to get a good seat; the PA announcement said 'change to Gate 27'. There was a rush of disgruntled passengers as the tail of the queue became the front and people whinging that they had 'lost their spot'. Then within 3 minutes, the PA announcement said 'change to Gate 25' - simply hilarious as people stumbled over carry-on bags to reclaim their original place in the queue. It was definitely clear that someone from Ryanair had looked out the window and realised that Gate 27 didn't have a plane next to it.
As the plane was ready to taxi up to the runway, the cabin crew announced that the passenger manifest did not match the headcount (more delays and recounting - maybe they should check the other Gate). As a result of the delay, the pilot threatened a 2 hour take-off delay if the passenger count didn't speed up. The head steward seemed to have great difficulty closing the front door - so much that it was almost better not to look to see how flimsily the doors are hung onto the hinges.
Arrival in Porto
Drama aside, the flight to Porto took just over 2 hours and we were spared the annoying music on landing as we were technically a 'late arrival'. Porto Airport was easy for us (first-timers) to navigate around with plenty of signs in English. Our first stop was the Tourist Information office to purchase a daily ticket on the metro to get us into the heart of the city. Porto public transport is very well signed, clean and tourist friendly.
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We didn't see the Jubilee flotilla, but here is the
Portuguese version of the Thames: Douro River, Porto |
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| Beautiful Old Town of Porto |
Hotel Pestana Porto
Porto is the second largest city in Portugal and the area we stayed in (next to the Douro River) is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as it has been continuously settled since Roman times. From the metro stop of Sao Bento, we took a short walk up the hill to the Porto Cathedral, then continued along the medieval laneways to the our hotel: Pestana Porto, built on the site of a 16th century building located on the riverfront esplanade, next to the cafes of tourists enjoying grilled sardines and octopus, and locals selling lace and souvenirs.
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| Medieval architecture |
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| The view from the hotel at Porto |
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| In love with monuments |
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| Taking inspiration from an Egyptian obelisk |
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| Knights in armour |
Ponte Dom Luis Bridge
We occupied a room on the top level and had a great view of Ponte Dom Luis Bridge and the port cellars on the other side of the river.
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| Standing on the bridge, looking at the Funicular - quick transport up the hill |
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| Looking over the Old Town from the Ponte Dom Luis Bridge |
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| Always watch your possessions |
Taylors Cellars
Our location was very handy for exploring the old town, but feeling a bit thirsty, we crossed the river to head towards the top rated port house - Taylors. The cellars were located up a very steep hill, not made easier by the pouring rain. On reaching our destination, we bought a couple of tasting glasses and a small block of cheese. Drink prices were a bargain at only 2 Euro for the standard port and 4.50 Euro for the 20 year old. No wonder Porto is a very popular destination for budget travellers.
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| One of the old Port boats |
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| 20 year old Port and cheese |
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| The backgarden at Taylors |
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| Porto is famous for Port. Calem - one of the main cellars |
Lunch Time
We ate lunch along the banks of the river at a small restaurant that was decorated like an old fishing shack. The food served was amazing, starting with cured ham, cheese, a grilled octopus tentacle and a huge pot of seafood stew that tasted a lot like chinese congee with 3/4 of the pot volume made up of shellfish.
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| Cured ham |
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| Octopus tentacle |
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| Seafood stew |
Yellow Bus Tours
Feeling quite full and lazy, we bought tickets for the Porto tourist bus, run by the Yellow Bus tour company and it lived up to the bad reviews on TripAdvisor. Quite a few of the headset jacks didn't work, the commentary was very boring and consisted mostly of Portugese fado music playing in the background. As a result, both of us slept for part of the journey, waking up to see the view from the bridges and where the Douro river mouth meets the Atlantic Ocean.
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Travel by hop on/hop off bus
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| Porto Cathedral |
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| Monument at Porto Cathedral |
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| The Portuguese have an obsession with tiles |
Porto by Night
After the tour, we headed back to our hotel room to freshen up before venturing back outside to find a light snack for dessert, as we were still quite full from lunch. The full moon was out that night, and Olie took some great photos along the river front and we also saw schools of fish swimming almost on top of each other in the moonlight. From there, we found a cafe where we tried some typical Portuguese desserts.
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| Red Port, cake and White Port |
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| Portuguese caramel dessert |
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| Pretty reflections on the river |
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| The Port cellar houses, photo taken from the Ponte Dom Luis Bridge |
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| The Ponte Dom Luis Bridge at night |
The next morning we checked out of our hotel fairly early, then took the Funicular (like a cross between a cable car and a lift) up the hillside and we crossed over the top level of the Ponte Dom Luis bridge, took more photos and walked to the train station for our next stop - Lisbon.
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Thank you to the Queen for the Jubilee celebrations that gave us a 4 day weekend where we escaped rainy UK for sunny Portugal (covering four cities in four days), but for those of us who worked the remaining three days - it was an extra quiet working week. 
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