3 Perfect Days in Porto

We recently returned from a very relaxed 5 day trip to Porto, Portugal. Although flight times were a bit on the odd-hours side, we chose Ryanair - 50% cheaper than any other airline to fly, even with car park and seat reservations! We used the extra savings to rent a car & car seats (I'm quickly becoming a fan of Enterprise. They consistently have the lowest prices, and this time even installed the car seats for us!). For 700 euros, we had flights and a car for a family of 4, not bad.

The car came in handy as we stayed a little outside of town at a gorgeous apartment by the marina. There was plenty of parking and a Lidl within short driving distance - plus the hosts left us a few bites & port, a fun surprise!

You can easily Uber around as well - it's by far the cheapest and fastest method of transport, even compared to driving in and paying for parking. Porto really felt like a great value for excellent food, tourist activities, and parking in town. If we'd had more time, I would have liked to see Braga or Aveiro; we stayed around the main area during our trip.

We'd arrived on Friday and I would have liked to explore the Vandoma flea market Saturday morning. Unfortunately, a sick kiddo kept me home - but I used the time to plan our remaining days! Here's what we did:

Day 1:

• Walk along the Ribeira - best done on a weekend; we learned weekdays are much quieter. There's a lot to people-watch, including some great street performers. 
• Take the funicular at the end up to the top of a big hill - it even goes through a tunnel! My four year old loved this, and it was a decently long ride too.
• Visit Bolhao Market: so many things to see and nice glasses of port to try! I picked up a pastel de nata (delicious egg tart) for 0.50c, a big bag of delicious lemon cookies (like sugary air, there's some magic in the bakeries there), and fought the temptation to buy more delicacies like quince marmelade (also available at Lidl!) and tomato jam to fill up my already-loaded suitcase.
• Have a nice meal - we loved Antunes for a cozy atmosphere, reasonable prices, great service, and delicious food. Not much for vegetarians here, but the best french toast (dessert) and chocolate mousse (of which I'm not normally a fan) I have ever had.

• It's a bit out of the tourist district so either build up an appetite by walking, or catch an Uber.

Day 2: 

• Grab a pizza and visit church: we snacked at Hand Go on a really good veggie pizza slice, then visited the Igreja dos Clerigos. Since we had little ones with us, we skipped the tower but I heard the views are fantastic.
• Note: there's no public bathroom around that area, but the tourist office suggested using Costa Coffee's, across the street. But you didn't hear that from me. 
• Visit Livreria Lello, a small bookshop that inspired J.K. Rowling to pen Harry Potter. It's a bit of a crazy tourist place, but they have a nice selection of English language books.
• Get a bit of cake - Miss Pavlova, in a home goods store, serves excellent fresh pavlova cakes - nice for a light snack, or for takeaway! 
• Go shopping! 

• Up a few more hills on Rua de Santa Catarina, there are the usual shops - C&A, Pull & Bear, H&M... etc. And everything seems to be permanently on sale!
• Buy some knickknacks at A Vida Portugesa, or at a stand along the market at Galeria de Paris, around the corner.
• Not related to Portugal, just a fun store: Tiger has a lot of fun stuff, well-priced. We picked up some 1-3 euro toys to entertain the kiddos at restaurants and on the return flight, and it worked brilliantly.  
• We went home to rest, and Uber-ed to Frida for a really great Mexican dinner. Also cozy, also off the beaten track - another winner.

Day 3: 

• We spent the day in Gaia - parking is available right at the base of the bridge, and cheaper than the Ribeira side. 
• First up, a boat tour. We chose Rota do Douro, which departed every 30 minutes, but there are many to choose from, for the "6 bridges" tour. 
• The audio part of the tour was extremely short, but the boat ride was the right amount of time to hold our attention. Plus, the tour included coupons for a free port tour and free port tasting!
• At lunch, we tried Ar de Rio, right on the river. The food was ok - a bit expensive and definitely geared at tourists. But the view was lovely, and service excellent. 
• The kids napped, and the parents went off for a port tour at Offley! It included a free tasting at the end, and was very informative (in English). 

• Getting there was a bit of a hike, and we cooled down inside a church, Igreja de Santa Marinha. Bonus: no one else was inside! That was cool.
• Most of our crew returned home after this, then went straight to Foz for some beach time! Though the sand was rocky and the Atlantic very cold, they had a great time playing with the sand. The rest of the gang relaxed with the excellent satellite tv at the apartment. 

All in all, another great trip, and a reminder of how much there is to see in Europe!