During our vacation, we allocated a day to make the trip to Porto. The train takes about three hours each way but if you go early, that still allows a good number of hours for exploring. However, the first thing to say about the city is that you definitely need more than one day to do it justice!
We started as usual, by climbing the highest point we could find - in this case the bell tower attached to the Clérigos Church, built in the 18th century. While there are 200 steps, the path meanders through the building, taking you to several good spots to view the beautiful church as well.
And here is the view from the top of the tower.
Porto has a tile culture all its own. I don't know when these were installed, but there definitely seemed to be a 1970s vibe on many of the buildings lining the main road leading from the train station into the more historic districts.
Once in the city center, there are some magnificently tiled buildings.
A major must-see spot in town is the São Bento train station (not the one that you come into from Lisbon). The tiles here are just fantastic.
With a lot of churches and a cathedral.
The sun came out in the late afternoon as we explored the Ribeira district, one of the oldest parts of the city, and walked along the river Douro which is spanned by six bridges. If we'd had an extra day, no doubt we would have followed the river right out to the Atlantic coast.
My only disappointment of the day was not being able to visit this famous bookshop:
Unfortunately, due to its associations with Harry Potter, there was a huge queue to buy tickets (they have had to charge 5 euros, refundable with a book purchase) and then another one to actually enter the building (they can only let so many people in at one time). With only a few hours before our train and so much still to see, I couldn't really justify spending that much time just waiting in line.
It just means that I'll have to go back some day. Ironically, after we had booked our trip - many months ago - I discovered that Porto was holding its first knitting festival, just three days after we left! If they hold another, that will definitely be motivation to return.
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