A Day in Porto: Exploring Portugal's Riverside Gem

The vibrant energy of Porto, Portugal comes to life through Cheryl's detailed account of her day and a half in this charming riverside city. While many travelers automatically gravitate toward Lisbon, Cheryl makes a compelling case for Porto's superior atmosphere, describing it as less touristy yet rich with authentic Portuguese culture.

From the moment she steps off the train from Lisbon, Cheryl's adventure unfolds with visits to the famous Livraria Lello bookstore (which she recommends booking first thing in the morning to avoid crowds), the stunning Igreja dos Carmelitas with its iconic blue tiles, and the panoramic views from Clérigos Tower. Her exploration continues along Rua de Santa Catarina where local artists display their talents, though she cautions about distinguishing original artwork from printed replicas. The São Bento train station emerges as an unexpected highlight with its magnificent azulejo tile murals depicting Portuguese history.

The crown jewel of Cheryl's Porto experience comes at sunset, where she describes climbing the hill past Ponte Luis I bridge to an old monastery vantage point. There, street performers create a lively soundtrack as the sun bathes the Douro River and Porto's terracotta rooftops in golden light. This magical moment, coupled with the city's walkability, rich architecture, and the unforgettable taste of authentic port wine, solidifies Porto as Cheryl's preferred Portuguese destination. Whether you're planning your own Portuguese adventure or simply dreaming of European travels, this episode provides both practical tips and the inspiration to discover Porto's unique charm. Have you considered Porto for your next solo adventure?

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Chapters

• 0:24 Vivid Porto Sunset Experience
• 1:30 Train Journey to Porto
• 3:25 Exploring Porto's Famous Sites
• 6:30 River Walk and Seaside Atmosphere
• 11:17 Perfect Sunset Over the Douro River
• 15:24 Why Choose Porto Over Lisbon

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

The vibrant energy of the crowd moved me along the pedestrian bridge. As I climbed a hill to get a better view, I could hear lively street performers on their guitars beckoning me to the top. People were gathering with their cameras and poised to face the river. The sun was warm on my face and it reflected off the Douro River below. The cooling breeze tousled my hair as I watched shades of orange, yellow and blue-gray of the sunset over an ancient city. Do you feel yourself there? Well, I was actually there.

Speaker 1: 0:40

That is kind of a detailed description of my time in Porto, portugal, and I will share today, on today's episode, the things that I did while I spent some time in Porto, portugal. Welcome to Solo Travel Adventures. I'm Cheryl Esch, your world traveler and solo advocate. Well, porto, I got a chance to spend, technically, a day and a half there. It was on my way to doing the Camino, so if you've been listening to my podcast for a while, it was sort of a stop off on my way to start my Camino walk. Now, how did I get there? Well, I actually flew into Lisbon because I had found a cheaper flight to Lisbon and the train ride. So I took a train from Lisbon to Porto, and so that train ride takes about three hours and it can range anywhere from about $39 and up. If you get the sort of the fast train, the rapid train, it's a little more expensive and it's a little less time, probably closer to two and a half hours on that. So I got to enjoy a nice little train ride through between the two cities.

Speaker 1: 2:05

Once I got to Porto, I did stay in a hostel because that was part of what I did. As far as the Camino was, I stayed mostly in hostels a few hotels along the way and albergues, which are like hostels but even more bare bones. But the place where I stayed was amazing. I just I'm just making a plug for it because I had one of my best experiences in Porto and some of it was due to where I stayed. I loved Porto much better than Lisbon. It just had the vibe I loved. It was a smaller city than Lisbon. To me, it was less touristy but still had plenty to do and to see and just to be immersed in sort of this Portuguese culture. I felt it was the best city to actually experience that in. So I stayed at. It's called the Nice Way Porto Hostel and the reason that I really loved this place was it was a really good location, the staff was super nice there and the rooms, I think was about 10 beds, so like five sets of bunk beds in the room I was in. I think most of them were about the same and they weren't full. So really, uh, I had the. It was their two nights and each night I don't think we had any more than five, maybe six people in the room at a time.

Speaker 1: 3:41

But on my first day, um, I'll share with you what did and you can feel free to use this itinerary or explore some of these places if you're interested. So the first place I stopped was Louverie, rallilo, and it is a very famous bookstore and it looks a lot like remind you, maybe a sort of Harry Potter kind of scene. I will tell you, it is popular, it is a tourist trap and of course, I didn't know that going into it there's a very little opportunity, because it's so crowded, to even get some some good pictures while you're there. However, if you do decide to do it, I encourage you to be the first appointment, or at least the first two, because after that it gets super crowded. So you do have to buy your tickets in advance, and I do recommend that first time slot because then you're going to be the first ones in there. And then I went in the second time slot, so it still was okay, but I was noticing longer lines as I was leaving.

Speaker 1: 4:57

But after I left there I took a short little walk up the hill to a church called Agrire de Camaletes. It's a classic church with some Baroque styles. You want to check it out, you'll notice it, because there's a fountain to the side of it and the blue tiles that Portugal is very famous for, especially, you know, porto and Lisbon areas kind of line the side of that church and it's quite exquisite. You can get some great, you know pictures on the side there. And then, not too far from there, I headed up to Caligres Tower. I apologize, I'm probably saying everything incorrectly, but this is a very famous tower which you can climb up. It's a bell tower, also part of a church, and from that vantage point you can really see a lot of Porto, and it was just a perfect day for me to do that. Again, it was still pretty early, so there weren't a whole lot of crowds. I was able to climb up to that tower. Now, after I left that tower, right across the street I noticed a you know, an open garden area, and within that open garden area there was an actually outside bar cafe, and so I sat and I ordered a coffee and an alcoholic beverage, both at the same time, so you can enjoy some time seated there in that garden and just enjoy your time.

Speaker 1: 6:43

The next place I ventured to was a very famous thoroughfare where a lot of people do shopping, and it's Rio de Santo, catarina, and this thoroughfare tons of shops. There's lots of sections where cars are not allowed actually, or limited amount of cars in certain sections, but I loved seeing all the shops. But also there's a lot of street artists selling their you know, their paintings or their drawings, and I love seeing that. I will give a little word of warning when you are looking to maybe buy a piece of artwork that is actually done by, you know, a local street artist which is what I prefer to support make sure that it's not a replica, meaning it's, you know. You may see the original. They have it displayed on a board and it looks like they've actually, you know there's actual brush strokes or pencil strokes and so it looks authentic, but what they're going to do is they're going to pull out a replica, meaning it's been, you know, printed on paper, um, or cardboard, and so it does look the same, but it's not, um, I would say, the original. And so, just, you know, I I would say, be careful with that, because there is a lot of that and I prefer personally to support a local artist and have an original one that's not duplicated, like you will often see along there, but wonderful artwork and you can find all that along there.

Speaker 1: 8:34

I then took a walk down towards the river and along the way, and there's lots of cobblestone streets, but what I was more interested in was admiring those famous tiles, those, you know, they got lots of blues, um, along the way that make up the side of buildings and facades of buildings or storefronts, and this is kind of what they're known for. One of the most famous and most beautiful places where you're going to see exquisite tiles is actually at the train station. So if you are taking a train from some other place to get to Porto, stop and admire that in the lobby area of the train station. It is really remarkable. And then there is, you know, if you want to continue to walk along the river. There there is a seaside atmosphere. It's a little bit of a walk so you could even take. There is a trolley that you could take along that, that, that route, um, and it's the seaside atmosphere of Fas do Douro and there is a jetty of a lighthouse at the end there, but it is a little further. I didn't do that the day I was, you know, spending in Porto, because as part of my starting route for my Camino, I actually did walk past that, so it was kind of on my way along up along the coast there. But if you're only spending some time in Porto, it is beautiful. I actually love just sitting there and just watching. You're going to see a lot of um locals doing fishing off the side there and you know, you'll see some boats along there as well. So it just gives you that nice seaside atmosphere. And then the weather I had when I was there was perfect. Um, it was in the seventies. It was sunny, um, and so I just it just was perfect.

Speaker 1: 10:43

I would highly recommend a port wine tasting. Now you can look that up. But again back to where I stayed. I was so blessed with this place. It's actually they offered walking tours, which I did not partake in because I kind of did my own little walking tour here that I'm sharing with you. But in the evening they offered a dinner, a homemade dinner, by a gentleman that worked there who was actually from South America. So it was amazing homemade meal. But part of that meal was we got an endless, bottomless glass of port wine. Oh my gosh. I'm not a huge drinker, but I fell in love with the port wine there. It was so good. So I highly recommend that is what they are known for is their port wine there. Obviously, porto port wine. Definitely try it out, especially if you enjoy wine. Now, the final thing that I highly highly recommend if there's anything else that you, you know you don't get in, that's fine, but this one you have to definitely do this.

Speaker 1: 11:55

So the description I gave in the beginning of the episode was the setting of this next last piece of you know recommendation I have for you, and it is watching the sunset over the Jura River, overlooking Porto. So how to get to the place where I was, which I described, was you want to cross the bridge of Pont Louise I, once you get across, you have some options Immediately to your right. Is you're going to see some gardens, jordan de Moro, which is a very lively place. It was very lively when I was there People doing picnics. I climb up a hill to my left and you can see it when you cross the bridge. There's an old monastery that sits on top of this hill and you want to climb up the hill to that old monastery area to get the best view of the city, of the sunset. You get some fabulous pictures and there is, as I described. You're going to see lots of people gathering up there. You're going to have your street performers keeping the energy up, the liveliness of the event, and I recommend getting you know leaving early to get there. So, for example, if sunset is maybe at six, you definitely want to get there, probably at least a half hour before those spots near the edge of the rail where you get kind of the best view of not just the river and the city but encompassing. You know this bridge is a part of that picture-esque photo. You have to have a certain angle and lots of people sort of vie for those spots early on. So definitely get there early.

Speaker 1: 14:02

It was just an amazing moment to just sit and reflect for me. I loved it, um. And then even just coming down, um, after the sun had almost set, I felt still very safe walking back to my hostel, which, um, still was not horribly far away. I mean, I'm used to walking, but there's lots of people out and it was definitely definitely worth it.

Speaker 1: 14:33

So, if you have plans to get to Portugal, as we know, portugal over the last I'm going to even say 10 years, has become a really popular place and especially, I would say, in the last five years I've heard more and more people trying to move there. But if I had to pick a city in Portugal, I would pick Porto. I loved it and it just has this vibe that I just loved, and there's plenty to do as well. So, again, if you're planning your Porto trip or you're going to be in Portugal, take a day. All this that I mentioned can be accomplished in a day. A second day, definitely, you have more opportunity to do more exploration and see a little bit more of the city. But these are kind of the highlights that I found the best. So, sisters, get out there and have that adventure.