Today we decided to take it easier, and had a late start at 1pm. First stop was the Livraria Lello bookstore. Apparently many authors in the past were inspired by its architecture. They also (unfortunately falsely) have claimed that JK Rowling has elements of Diagonal Aly inspired from it (she confirmed in an interview this is incorrect).
The book store itself was architecturally interesting, and they re-printed classic books in a smaller form which was cool. Since the tickets could be used towards the cost of a book purchase (10 euros off), we bought two books: The Art of War, and Picture of Dorian Gray.
After the book store, grabbed a quick Aperol Spritz and headed towards Muu for lunch (great recommendation from a friend):
Then walked to the Chapel of Souls to take pictures of the blue and white tile art.
Then visited a nearby shopping mall called ViaCatarina (seemed like a typical mall).
After, took a small rest, and then headed towards the beach area Praia da Luz. (Note for future. Apparently Porto is typically windy in the afternoons, but not the mornings. So it’s better to go to the beach in the mornings).
There is a beach club in Praia da Luz (with the same name) that was great, and would highly recommend going back (ie EDM music was on point):
Although it was a cloudy/foggy, we ended up walking (and partly running) from Praia da Luz to the town of Matosinhos. Doing this instead of ubering was a great idea. Got to see other beach hangout spots (ie beach clubs) along the way. Also for next time, the beach at Matosinhos is highly recommended.
For dinner we did end up going to this seafood restaurant (5 Oceanos) to fill a friends seafood craving:
And that’s a wrap for Porto! (Note the next day when flying out, EasyJet bag drop off line was super long). Definitely get to the airport 2 hours before.
We started off the day with a 2.5 hour walking tour. Highly recommend, and this is the website of the tour guide:
https://diogotourguide.wixsite.com/takeporto
We met the group at the Porto City hall building (5 minutes from the hotel. We then walked to the area where the bookstore, Livraria Chardron is located (allegedly JK Rowling was inspired by some of Howard’s designs, but she herself claimed this is false.
Here are some facts along the tour:
– Year 858AD Portugal became a country
-Olive oil , garlic and xxxx is the three main ingredients
-Not good in military, but great explorers
-Blue and white tiles are from Portuguese architecture (people and tiles)
-Oldest alliance with England (traded alcohol /wine with commerce, military and stability from Spanish people)
-Late dinners at Porto (between 8pm to 10pm)
-The Harry porter uniforms are from the university students here where they optionally where black robes
-Slytherands founder Salazar was named after the Portuguese dictator
-Tower of the clergy (useful for a landmark for knowing where the trade is, but also a bell tower). Connected to the church, but was only donated to the church by its creator Masoni, only wayyyy later when he discovered the church. Unofficially they lost his body (but officially it’s in one of the tombs in this church )
-Each city in Portugal has their own saint. Porto is Sao Juan (St John).
The second last part of the tour was at the Sao Bento station. Mainly talked about the art that was there.
The last part of the tour was in front of Porto Cathedral. When we were there, he gave the advice that the south part (pointing to Gaia) was the tourist area, the north was where the locals are, and the west is where there is history.
After the walking tour, we had lunch at TimeOut. Details here:
We then ventured off into Gaia (officially Vila Nova de Gaia) by crossing the lower part of the Pont Luis bridge (which was constructed by the architect of the Eiffel Tower, which is why they look similar), and went to the WOW museum area.
The first museum we went to was the cork museum (as mentioned previously Portugal makes 60% of the worlds cork). The picture below explains how corks are made Some interesting facts include Also got to personalize my own cork!
The next museum we went to was the wine museum. Main thing I was interested in is the making of sparkling wine, and how the second fermentation in bottle gives it its bubbles (and that in the process they turn the bottle upside down and sediments build up at the bottom (which is actually the top
Of the bottle), so they have to freeze the “top, remove the cork and the sediments, and then re-cork it (but replacing the liquid with a bit of wine). At the end of the museum there is wine tasting, but we skipped it since we had time constraints.
The last museum we visited was the chocolate museum. The best part was the chocolate tasting at the end. They got us to try a dark, hazelnut and chile chocolate. They then had us try a dark chocolate shaped as a cup, and put Porto wine in it (you had to drink a bit from it before eating it together). Apparently what you want to do is pair a less sweet chocolate with a sweet Porto (basically make sure the sweetness between the two are inverted).
The order of the best museum were: the wine making musesum, the chocolate, and then the cork.
After, since we had time before our dinner reservation, we had an Aperol spritz beside the Duroro River near the Pont Luis bridge.
We then crossed the bridge, but the upper part this time (secret trick to cross from the sea level to the top is to go through a nearby parking garage, go to the 8th floor, then walk outside around 50m). View was definitely worth it.
For dinner went to this Michelin suggested restaurant. Definitely worth it:
Last thing of the day was checking out an EDM festival at Parque da Pasteleira called Electricofest. Only one stage, but sound system was pretty good, and overall good house / disco house experience. Mainly headliner we checked out was Kerri Chandler.
To end the night, we did stop by the McDonald’s Imperial, and got the standard chicken nuggets and quarter pounder (friend got an Arch burger, which is something McDonalds is slowly rolling out, which is bigger than a Big Mac). Great way to end the day
We started our day having continental breakfast in our hotel.
Then we met our tour guide at a location 15 minute walk from our hotel, and had a family of 4 in our group (who were also from California). We drove west for over an hour. During the drive the tour guide explained how the mountains make the temperature in Duoro Valley magnified from Porto (ie warmer if it is warm in Porto and colder if it’s cold in Porto).
One also fun fact he mentioned was that cork is something that is highly manufactured here from Cork trees (around 60% of world market.. 20 % is the definition of a monopoly).
The first stop (1.5 hours away from Porto) was a winery called D’Origem. It is a direct to business winery (only 30K bottles of wine produced each year, but they do deliver to the US… 100 euros for 6 bottles, including shipping). They first explained how they make olive oil, and then how they make grapes (grape stomping season is in September). We then had breakfast, where they served a white, rose, and red wine. Really liked the rose, and we bought a bottle for our boat ride.
Next stop was the boat ride at Pinhao town, where had a scenic view of the valley (it was an hour ride but it went fast thanks to the rose).
After, we went to another winery called The Vintage Boutique Winery. They served us lunch (pork and risotto), plus a red and white wine. For desert we had a chocolate cake with a 10 year port pairing. Later they took us to a room where they gave us a 20 and 30 year. It was sweeter as the years increased. A fun fact is that apparently ports can age in a bottle, as long as it air tight.
Beside the winery was Ferdinand Magellan’s house frontage. (But not his really house).
Afterwards, we stopped at a town called Amarante, where a saint called Sao Goncalo was from (aka Portuguese Valentine. Their popular baked good is a penis shaped baked good. We also tried some ham from the region, in addition sampled what they call “green” wine, which is less alcoholic because of its young age (it is not actually green). It wasn’t really good (even our tour guide mentioned that).
Last stop was at the chirch of the above saint, Monsteiro De S. Goncalo.
We then rested for 3 hours at the hotel to get ready for a night out.
First had dinner at this steak place where we tried a Portuguese style steak called Pinhão. Details here:
Afterwards, checked out a bar called Ferro (near the train station, Sao Bento). Slightly grimy, but still I could see it being an ok place to chill (the 2 rooms are small, and there are 3 (3rd one wasn’t open yet since it usually gets busy around 2am allegedly), but crowd seemed ok).
We then ventured off to the street where most of the bars and night clubs were at, Candido dos Reis. Went to a 3 room club called Plano B. One room was dedicated to techno. It gets busy around 2am. I would come back. Also crowd was my type lol.
Afterwards, went to one more club called Hors Extra. Music was meh (also a 3 room club, but had no electronic music).
Haha on a side note, the street adjacent to Andido dos Reis was full of strip clubs.
Flew out from SFO using by Swiss Air. First leg was to Zurich. Paid 37K points (through chase portal) for economy, then upgraded to business for $1210 for the first leg. Definitely worth the upgrade. Got to use the Polaris lounge in SFO since they are a Star Alliance member (main thing in Polaris I got was Macallan 12. They also had Arran).
On the flight itself, remember to make sure that if you’re flying business, either choose the seat that has a lot of side table space, or the lone seat. Overall, great experience. No complaints about food (except that the cheese I think made not more gassy than usual, which did affect sleep). For the first 11 hour leg got 3 hours of work done, and watched 2 hours of shows before trying to sleep. Oh, and one thing they did not have was Aperol (they had Campari). They did have Rebel 0.0 non-alcohol spritz, so used that instead with (actual) champagne (but note Rebel is 15g of sugar, when daily intake should be 30g).
When landing in Zurich (ZRH), connecting flight we only had to go through passport control (not through security again). Could also use the duty free (at SF or Zurich) for alcohol since we were transferring from the US. In addition, since our flight to Porto was delayed, we were able to use the Business class Swiss lounge (I could bring an economy guest). ONE major complaint (which may deter me from flying through ZRH in the summer) is that it does not really use AC, so was sweating in the lounge. Fortunately the business class Swiss lounge had showers! Otherwise, food was subpar at that lounge (and even drinks). Only other good thing was the ice cream and Swiss chocolate.
When boarding my flight to Porto, they instantly upgraded me to business class (which was sweet for the free drinks but really didn’t want to eat more). and FWIW they have bottled Aperol spritz on that flight. Not sure if they upgraded me because of my previous business class ticket, or because I’m Star Alliance Gold)
When we arrived at Porto (OPO), unloading and picking up luggage’s was easy. Instead of ubering to the hotel, used a taxi.
When we got to the Hotel Dom Henrique Downtown, we checked out the 17th floor at this place to view the sunset (unfortunately could only view it through a window):
After, we wandered a slight it around the Aliados area (fairly clean, spacious architecture) walked to a Portuguese restaurant called Brasao, and tried the rissol and francesinha dishes.
Day 7 was mainly for a wedding I attended last minute.
The wedding was at the Palace of the Marquises of Fronteira. The main course had a Portuguese sausage. Will say that was pretty good. But yea, I’ll let the pictures describe the wedding (but lots of tequila…)
On Day 8, basically went to the airport, LIS. Only thing to note was that passport control took about 15 minutes, but people coming in, looks like the line could’ve taken 30 minutes.
Before talking about what happened during this day, wanted to talk about the various neighborhoods in Lisbon. The one I’m staying at is called Marquess of Pombal Square. It’s a very modern neighborhood that has a lot of 5 star hotels. I like it because it is not crowded, and very clean. Only downside is that it is farther away from Baixa (which is more south and where the nightlife is), but fortunately the 15 minute Uber ride is only 4 euros. More about neighborhoods can be found here:
https://www.lisbon.net/neighborhoods
Started off the day going to Belem. I would say Belem is very beautiful, and clean. First stop was Pasteis de Belem. You can either get seated, or order items to go. I ordered to go. Got the original pastel de nato and a cafe latte. It’s very soft, and flaky, which I liked.
After, stopped by McDonalds to see if they had anything special on the menu. Seems like they did not, so got a cheeseburger.
After, made my way to St Jerome Monastery. I went to the church part (since the museum part had a huge line up). I lit a candle, then went to the sacristy where they had paintings describing the life of St Jerome. One of the ones that was interesting is where the devil gave him “bad” books, but then he was ultimately forgiven.
After, went across the street to and walked through a really beautiful garden called Jardim da Praca do Imperio, or Discovery Garden.
After, went to Torre de Belem. The line to go up the tower was 2 hours long, so ended up only taking pictures of it.
From the tower, went closer to what I call the fake Golden Gate Bridge. It’s actually called Ponte 25 de Abril. Went closer to take some photos of it.
Afterwards, headed out of Belem and went to H&M to get a suite jacket. Got invited last minute to a wedding. The suit jacket was only 60 euros.
From H&M, went to TimeOut Market in Baixa. It’s a place where you can get local Portuguese food, and they have an Aperol spritz stand! More details can be found here:
Then headed over to Alfama to check out Castelo de Sao Jorge. Will say that the view of the city from it was worth the visit (you had a view of Alfama plus the fake Golden Gate Bridge).
After, went and had dinner near the hotel at a restaurant called Selllva. More details here:
After dinner, went back to pink street to grab a drink and shot at one of the emptier bars nearby.
Then I headed to a club called Ministerium club (it’s at a part of the city you would have never guessed there to be a nightclub. It’s a restaurant by day, but something completely different at night). It has a very after hours vibe to it. There were two room. It was only 10 euros to get into. I went at 1:30am. It started to get busy at 2:30am. Ended up staying until 4am.
So I think the move for nightlife in Lisbon is to go to be at Pink Street at 11:30 and pregame at Pensoa Amor (being there at 11:30 is key to avoid the line), then head to Ministerium around 1:15am.
On the Uber ride back, the driver gave some of these suggestions for clubs:
Started off the day pretty late at 1pm. First stoped by the park near the hotel, Eduardo VII. Seems like a place they would host concerts. Along the way there was a monument Marques de Pombai… basically the man who rebuilt Lisbon after the fire from an earthquake put a statue of himself.
Note, people say Lisbon is the SF of Europe. Not sure yet about this.
From the park, headed to Church of Our Lady of the Rosary. Unfortunately it was closed, so only took a picture of the outside.
Then used an Uber to head to Sintra (was going to use the underground train right beside the church, but then realized I wouldn’t make it on time since it’s a 50 minute train ride be 30 minute Uber ride.
At Sintra, did a private one hour TukTuk tour, going around the places listed below…
Cafe Saudade – near Sintra train station and grabbed an egg tart and espresso shot from here. Also met the tour guide here.
Fonte da Sabuga – a fountain that has clean water coming out of it (water is from a spring). Still clean till this day
Sintra Central Palace – built in the 13th century, but took a long time to build. Windows are different colors because it took a long time.
Quinta da Regaleira – A Brazil Entrpreneur Bull this. He was part of the secret society, free masons. There is an initiation fountain for free masons there, which is also a very iconic site (probably should visit this palace next time I’m here).
Castro dos Mouros – built in the 10th century. Was occupied by Christians, then Muslims, then back to Christian’s once the King came back. The mountain it is on is what gave Sintra its name, since the mountain reflects the moon’s light so well. Also, Sintra means mountain of the moon
Chalet and Garden for the Countess of Edla – for the 2nd wife of the King (couldn’t stay in the palace since ) –
Also, Sintra is actually a volcano.
Lastly, the tour guide did mention that Uber is the best way to get around (both in Sintra when jumping from castle to palace, or in Lisbon proper).
After Sintra, headed to the Eduardo VII park with some friends, and then to Alfama for dinner at Lisboa Tu & Es. Highly recommend, and here is the review:
After, quickly stopped by Miradouro de Santa Luzia at night in Alfama (we wanted to catch the sunset, but food took a while).
We then went to Pink Street. It’s a very short street, but had drinks outside at Povo Lisboa, then nightclub bed at Pensoa Amor. Gotta say, street is definitely filled with European tourists, but I didn’t mind it lol.
Lastly, we tried to get into Lux nightclub, but we weren’t dressed for it. Apparently it’s a bit like Bergheim. So we ended up going to the G neighborhood at Finalement Club (honestly, enjoyed Pink Street way more).
Woke up early to grab our last breakfast at Grand Palladium, then to catch a flight to LIS. I will say the departure area of IBZ looks nice because it is newly renovated. However the lounge was very subpar.
After arriving at LIS, the hotel, Intercontinental Lisbon, was a 20 minute Uber ride away.
After checking into the hotel, slept for 20 minutes, then booked a bus ride to Nazare. The fastest bus ride was 1.5 hours direct. It departed from the Lisboa Oriente Train / bus terminal. Fortunately the bus platforms were above ground and the buses super easy to find, since the Uber for their 4 minutes before departure. (Bus company used was flix bus)
After the bus ride, we walked alongside the beach, Praia da Nazaré, to grab lunch at Aki Del-Mar Mariscos:
From there, took a tram, Nazaré Funicular, up a cliff to a lighthouse called Farol da Nazaré, where you can see 100ft waves from the beach Praia do Norte (however it is usually near the winter months). One story to note from the cliffs is that there is a story of a miracle where a knight was chasing a deer, and the deer fell of the cliff, but the knight’s horse stopped right at the edge of the cliff (and his hooves are imprinted at the edge).
Then walked back to the bus stop (8:30pm departure), but got some ice cream along the way).
FYI, this is a really good resource for Nazare: https://travellemming.com/things-to-do-in-nazare/
After getting back to the busy terminal, Ubered to the hotel, and ordered some room service (some salmon dish pictured below). (FYI, one thing I wish this hotel had was a pool or hot tub).
