You will love porto! All the things to do, where to eat, and more

I left South France super early at about 4:00 AM, and headed to Porto, Portugal. Portugal has always been on my list to travel to, and I finally made it happen, but I didn't go to Lisbon; the capital where everyone seems to go. I wanted a different experience, so I went to Porto. I touched down early and checked into Selina hostel. It was one of the most highly-rated hostels in the city. My only issue is that the room was extremely, extremely cramped! But I got to meet some fantastic people on the trip. 

After crashing for about five hours, I explored the city. I noticed that many restaurants closed and reopened for dinner around six or seven PM. I had a lovely lasagna and a limoncello spritz at this quaint place called La Salumeria (highly recommend), and the crazy thing is, just the first couple of hours in Porto, I loved it. I fell in love instantly with the cobblestones and the art on the wall; everything was just the vibe that was perfect for me. I'm just like, you know what? I need to come back here next year and live for three months, and my lover and l will do that next year.

It wasn't as warm as I would've liked in Porto. But thankfully, I had my purple Kai Collective to wear a jacket every day. So because Porto is in the north, it was a bit chillier, and it sucked that I didn't get to go to the beach. But it didn't even matter because the trip was wonderful. 

I want to give a special shout out Porto because the city's look and feel reignited my passion for writing and travel. My creative side, just that jolt, that spark of whatever it is that I needed to pursue my travel blog and be a travel blogger and content creator. I got that renewed zest for life from my trip to Porto, and here I am executing that, trying to keep that flame alive by blogging my experiences, sharing it with other people, hoping that they learn stuff and that all began in Porto! So Porto will always have my heart. 

I must also say that Portugal was my 19th country. Right now, I've been to 19th countries and counting…

Here are some of the things you should do when you're visiting Porto:

One of the best things about Porto is its  blue-tiled buildings. A lot of buildings in Portugal are adorned with these blue tiles called Azulejo. And for my second Airbnb experience, I went to a tea-drinking and tile-making class in an art studio, where I got a detailed history lesson on why the Portuguese used tiles as storytelling and got to make mine from scratch too. And so many parts of Porto on the walls are just decorated with tiles, and it's so beautiful. It's just, just even closing my eyes right now. I see all those beautiful places with tiles on them, and of course, everyone's trying to get a photo of these places because they're so beautiful. 

Some places in Porto have these iconic blue tiled walls:  São Bento Train Station, Capela das Almas, or Chapel of the Souls, Casa da Musica, and Igreja do Carmo.

I recommend going early in the morning because it's usually crowded with people having whole-ass production photo shoots in front of it. And honestly, I don't blame them. It’s truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

•  You need to ride the Gaia cable car. It's called Teleferico de Gaia. So Porto and Gaia are two completely different towns. Gaia is cheaper, but all you have to do is walk across the Dom Louis Bridge and take the cable car to Gaia.

• The first place I had breakfast at was Garden Porto. Thankfully it was within walking distance from my hostel, and the food was sooooo good! I kept returning there for the next three days because the food was just that good. I recommend going there before 10/11 AM because a line of people will be waiting to get in; that's just how good the place was. Plus, the food was also really affordable. My meals cost about 11 Euros for a complete meal. 

• You're going to want to do is go to Majestic Cafe. It’s existed for over a hundred years and is a great place to drink coffee, drink tea, eat a snack, and get a glass of wine. I had an apple tart and hot chocolate pause. I did not like the hot chocolate in Porto because, at most places, the hot chocolate had the consistency of fudge, it was thick, and I couldn't deal with that; it felt like swallowing mucus, so that didn't work out for me. But you should go to Majestic Cafe. I don't believe they take reservations; you might have to wait in a bit of a line, but nothing crazy.  Also, there are many different things to do on that strip.

• Another thing to do in Porto is ride the street cars. They are about a 20-minute ride, costing about 7 Euros one way (you can check here for my travel expense list). I hopped on with no destination in mind, I just wanted to see more of the city, and I could see parts of Porto that didn't have a swarm of tourists. I didn't notice that a lot of the public transit in Porto had free wifi!

• In usual me fashion, every time I go on a trip, I will book an Airbnb experience. For this trip, I booked two. I find Airbnb experiences give me a richer and more immersive experience of the culture of the places I visit. I recommend! The first one I did was book an experience where a photographer takes photos of you around the city. As a solo traveler, this comes in handy because, while I can carry Nessa, my excellent tripod, everywhere with me, sometimes it is extra helpful to experience the city through the eyes of the locals while taking photos of you. And I did that. That was great. The photographer's name was Lais, a Brazilian immigrant, and she taught me so much! She even taught me how to get into the transportation system because the transit system is highly tricky. Watch the video here, where I explain how to use a transportation system In Porto.

• Visit Mercado de Bolhao Porto. It’s a bit like an indoor historic market with a lot of food. You could buy cheese, port wine, and many other things.

• If you eat meat, go to A Cozinha do Manel, the food will blow your mind! I had veal shanks with potatoes, rice, a basket of bread, and a glass of port; the food was perfect.

• Porto also has their version of French croissants; they are called croissã and are so delicious, so delicious. I'm so mad at myself that I only discovered it on my second to the last day; that shit was so good I could eat it every day. I should add that their texture is a bit thicker and has more of a brioche texture, plus they are sweet! Unlike the light flakiness of the French croissants.

• Team Ravenclaw, Assemble!!! I'm a huge Harry Potter nerd; I do have a deathly hallows tattoo on my arm that helps other Harry Potter fans gravitate toward me, and one of the things that drove me to Porto was the fact was one of the world's most magical and beautiful libraries called Livraria Lello apparently inspired JK Rowlings to write some Hogwarts scenery in Harry Potter (It's still fuck JK Rowlings though).

• Livraria Lello coined itself as the world's most beautiful library, and I couldn't agree more. If you're trying to visit,  You need a reservation and be prepared to wait in line. It costs about $5; check my expense list for accurate numbers. I cannot stress enough that there will always be a line, and it becomes more ridiculous the later you arrive, 40 minutes before your time slot if you can. Visiting this library was a peak experience for me. The upstairs walls were covered with Time magazine Covers of past Nobel Prize winners, and seeing Toni Morrison on the Wall was very satisfying. Besides more recent books like Harry Potter, the library also has many classics like Edgar Allan Poe, Shakespeare, and George Orwell.

• Most importantly, you NEED to eat pastel de nata, a national heritage and treasure. It's like an egg custard-tart-something. It's nice and flaky on the outside, and when you bite into it, a warm, delicious goo comes out, and they're sold everywhere. I recommend tasting pastel de nata at this place called Manteigaria, a bakery spread across Portugal, and you get to watch them make it from scratch. I ate so many during the trip, but it was still not enough!

I had to work quite a bit on this trip as well. So I tried to balance being a tourist and an employee without faltering because I didn't want to give the impression that I was slacking on work because I was outside the country. I did some outstanding work that I was proud of during my stay in Porto.  

Phewww… there was an incident where a man was stalking me for about two hours. Yeah, the woes of being a female solo traveler. Every time I would come out of stores, he'd be there waiting for me and trying to engage me. In hopes of losing him, I kept going into the stores, acting like I wanted to buy something to avoid him, but he kept waiting for me. When it became unbearable, I walked into this souvenir shop and told them to help me and yo; the way the woman and owner jumped to my rescue was incredible. 

She got up from the chair and walked outside, looking for the man. She was ready to defend me, and I appreciate that. She told me to sit in the store with her husband and not leave till she was sure I was safe. It was a whole thing out. But I'm really glad that these people were there for me.

I left Porto four days later and hopped on an Easyjet plane to Tenerife, Grand Canaria. A great flight but the air hostesses were racist.

I’ve made it easy for ya’ll by hyperlinking all the important spots. If you want some more juicy deets on my Porto trip, click here. Until I book another flight somewhere… who knows where, follow me on Instagram and TikTok for more travel stories, tips, itineraries, and gist. 

xxx

- Summer