Porto, Part 2
We did another long, full-day trip to Porto yesterday. We were up at 7 and out the door as fast as we could get two 7-year-olds to move, and we didn’t get home until 11:30 p.m. We wanted to make the most of Porto, and did we ever!
We started off at the main 12th-century cathedral, which was gorgeous. There was a mass starting shortly after we arrived, so we stayed to listen for the first 15 minutes or so. It was all in Portuguese, so we obviously didn’t understand a word. But we understood enough about what was happening and when to stand, sit, etc. Emmeline was particularly thrilled since our attempts to attend a Sunday mass didn’t work out well in the small town we are staying at. It seems that church doesn’t run every Sunday in this town.
We were able to climb up to the roof of one area of the church and had beautiful panoramic views of the city. The views were breathtaking!
We were all pretty hungry since we had only grabbed a bun from the bakery on our walk into the train station, so we decided to follow some random cobblestone streets and found a cute little restaurant to grab a snack. Then we headed back to the Bishop’s Palace, which was stunning inside.
We then headed across the famous Luis I bridge to do a two-hour guided walking tour, where we learned so much about the history of Porto, Portugal, and Port Wine. It was fascinating to learn so much! While the girls are not going to formal school this year, there’s so much to learn through world schooling. Geography, history, nature, cooking, culture, math, architecture, engineering, religions, languages… the list goes on! And while a lot of this happens organically, we have tried to find ways to incorporate some tours, museums, people at various establishments, etc. to help us to learn about a wide variety of topics!
After our walking tour, we were all more than ready to have a sit-down break and some lunch! We sat on the boardwalk and indulged in the touristy, overpriced food so we could enjoy the beauty of the Douro River. While we typically avoid these tourist traps, this time we indulged.
We went back over the bridge to check out the Port wine district and boardwalk. We saw some beautiful caves in one port winery that we stopped in briefly. I’ve been curious about port and have wanted to do a tasting and learn more about it. I mean, when in Porto, right? We went to Kopke, which is the oldest port winery, founded in 1638. We did a tasting, which included white wine, red wine, dry white port, ruby port, and tawny port. I did not like the ruby port at all, but the other four were delicious! It was interesting to hear so much about port wine in general and the wines/ports we were sampling. With a bottle of tawny port in hand, we continued off down the boardwalk to continue exploring the outdoor market, the beautiful sights, and the festive atmosphere all around us.
During our walk, we found a stand selling pina coladas served in pineapples. Virgin or with alcohol. We got a virgin one to share and sat in the sunshine by the river, sipping and listening to the music playing and dancing a little. Our little vultures finished it in no time flat, so we took it back for an alcoholic refill.
We found a little market that was full of locals eating, so naturally we wandered around and found some delicious and super cheap dinner to eat there. Kind of made up for our overpriced lunch!
By now it was pretty late… they do like their late-night dinners here! So, we headed back towards the train station, taking the funicular up the hill to save our tired legs from walking back up it, to head for home. Though we had to take a slight detour to the candy shop to fulfill a promise to the girls from earlier in the day!
By the time we got back to Marco and managed to eventually get a cab (it was 11 pm in a small town on a Monday… cabs were not exactly out in droves! God bless the kind train station employees who helped us out!), we were all falling asleep. But I must say, those girls were amazing troopers! They were happy and pleasant all day and didn’t complain once about being tired or get whiny and fighting with each other. All in all, a Perfect Porto Day!