EU 2017 (ix): Porto (I)

After 4 nights, it was time to bid Adeus to Lisbon and say Olá to Porto. Obrigado Lisboa!

Packing the pastel de natas in my belly. LOL!

I had bought my train ticket from the CP (Combois de Portugal) website beforehand. The 1st class seat is offered at *€25,50 (discounted price from €42,40), while each 2nd class seat is sold at €18,50 (from €30,30), provided that you purchase them tickets 5 or more days in advance and subjected to availability. I chose first class seeing that there was no big difference between the two ;).
* - instead of dot, they use comma

The train to Lisbon to Porto (via the AP train)

I checked out of the hotel at 11 and took the Metro to Santa Apólonia station on the Blue line. It probably took 20 minutes so I was early for my 12 o'clock train. Nonetheless, the AP (Alfa Pendular) was already at the platform so we could already board it.

Santa Apolonia station

It's also where the cruise terminal is at

More tiles. The tiles are synonym to Lisbon. I even saw how a worker painstakingly worked on them near my hotel

How to kill to mocking bird... I mean, to kill time :)

The terminal is doing some heavy workout

The train ride was uneventful, which was a good sign. Upon arriving at Porto Campanhã station, I got on the Urbano train to get to the São Bento station. It came free with the AP train ticket.

Coimbra is halfway to Porto. It's an old university town and another tourist attraction. Too bad I couldn't find another night in my trip for a quick stopover

Arrived in Sao Bento on an Urbano train

Even the station is a tourist attraction with those cool ceramic tiles

Ceramic tiles like these are synonym to Porto

Majestic!

Walking route part 1: Hotel - Ribeira - Dom I Luis Bridge - Teleférico de Gaia

For these two nights, I'd be staying at Casa dos Lóios Boutique Guesthouse, just a short walk away so I didn't have to lug my luggage for long. Lígia (I hope I spelled it right) , who welcomed me, was wonderful. After checking me in, she sat down next to me and explained to me the suggested itinerary for my stay in Porto. The entire staff at Casa dos Lóios was awesome and they were also helping out during breakfast time!

Map with the suggested itineraries; orange for Day1 & Day3 and pink for Day2

When I was shown my room, my jaw dropped to the floor (not literally of course ;)) . I did see the pictures when I booked it but I couldn't be certain. And they did advertise themselves as a boutique guesthouse.

I loved the plaster ceiling

Ni mak kalau tahu ni sure suruh pindah bilik :D

View to the left, and you can see the Sao Bento train station just right there

The Rua dos Flores street

I did follow her recommended Day 1 itinerary. It was a gorgeous day out, but Lígia warned that the weather would get iffy tomorrow and even worse the day after. Boo!

So I set the Douro River and Dom Luís I bridge (Ponte de Dom Luís I) as my first stop. I couldn't get enough of the atmosphere and sights of the river, Ribeira and Gaia. So don't be surprise there are so many pictures of these okay? Hands down the best place in Porto!

Here fishy, fishy, fishy

Ponte de Dom Luís I

If we are on the Porto's Ribeira side of the Douro, then right across the river is Gaia (Vila Nova de Gaia), where you could find the wine caves and port wines that made Porto famous. I would have wanted to get on any of the tours but since I don't drink, the free wine tasting at the end of the tour would go to waste.

One of the famous wine cellars here

You could see the Clerigos Tower from here

Another wine brand

I took advantage of the amazing violin rendition of Despacito playing in the background by a couple of street performer. Too bad their CDs were sold out before I could get my hands on them.

I got on the cable car (Teleférico de Gaia) to get on the top deck of the Dom Luis I bridge, and walked towards the cathedral.

They also gave a free port wine with the cable car ticket.

a short clip in the cable car

Too bad the sun was in the way

Mosteiro (monastery) da Serra do Pilar

Part of Vila Nova de Gaia

Metro do Porto

Seeing that I still had plenty of time until sundown (since I skipped the port wine tour), I even managed to cover bits of the suggested Day 2 itinerary. Hehehe. I had to take advantage of the great weather ;).

Walking route part 2: Teleférico de Gaia - Se - City Hall - Livraria Lello - Carmo church - Ribeira

I got to know (from Google of course ;)), that this is a statue of Vimara Peres, the first ruler of the Country of Portugal

Sé do Porto

There was some photoshoot taking place outside of the cathedral. We had to stay out of the way (and that included our shadows :)) and wait when they took a break in between the photoshoots. So we might as well enjoy the show right? :). I must say there was lot of hard work by those people behind the cameras, from traffic policing, to fixing the scarfs, to giving orders to the dog to carrying the board reflector and equipment.

Sashay away gurl!

Liberdade Square was next... not before passing by São Bento station

São Bento on the right and St Anthony's Church on the left. More tiles see ;)

Praça da Liberdade (Liberty/Freedom Square). A google search away and you'd find out that that's King Pedro IV statue

The City Hall

An obligatory stop :D

Clérigos Church and Tower

Clérigos Tower can be seen from Gaia because it sits on a hill

The Livraria Lello bookstore is made famous because it "was frequented by JK Rowling ... when she taught English in Porto and is reported to be an inspiration for her writing". Since I didn't go in, you could certainly check out the pictures on the net, especially the staircase and the ceiling ;).

Early part of the day, the line would be much longer and it's 4 Euros to get in. You'd get it back if you purchase a book

You can somewhat see the staircase from here

Nice!

Close by is a building that you would think is one big church. Make it two churches (Carmelitas and Carmo), separated by a one of the narrowest (if not the narrowest) building in the world - about a meter wide.

Carnelitas and Carmo

You could see the door to the house in between the 2 churches

Carmo Church

I had dinner in one of the suggested restaurants by Lígia - A Tasquinha. I ordered the tomato rice and fried cod (pataniscas bacalhau) thinking that the portion would be small, judging by the price (~€8). But I was proven wrong. This is Europe we're talking about :D.

Fried cod cakes and tomato rice. Huge portion for one person. I could only muster half of the tomato rice

Interesting benches in the nearby park

Then it was time to head back to the hotel, but not before taking a big detour and stopping in Ribeira yet again... one needs to take the same pictures at dusk ;)