Porto - Tuesday 23rd of June - day 5 of our roadtrip 2020
From Furadouro it's only a 30 km drive to Porto. We decided to leave our coastal cottage early and have breakfast in Porto.
We ordered breakfast at Nicalou and while sipping our coffees, we watched the inhabitants of Porto on their way to work, outside on the terrace.
The streets of Porto were quiet, not the vibrant city we knew from previous visits some years agon. It felt weird and very double to walk through the silent streets, without tourists.
Normally it's almost impossible to take a picture of the impressive tiled side wall of the Igreja do Carmo, without anyone else in it. We live in a strange time, you notice that even more when you are traveling. Ordinary 'daily life' had been going on in portugal for a month before we came, but a city like Porto also runs on tourism.
Armed with our masks, we visited A Vida Portuguesa, the nicest shop in town; "atenção, obrigatório usar máscara". As usual we bought a useful souvenir overhere. The collection is very special, genuine and touching products and I can snoop around for hours every time again. All product sold in A Vida Portuguesa are made in Portugal.
This time i fell in love with a graceful corrugated glass teapot, from the Portuguese brand Depósito da Marinha Grande. Definitely not the most practical souvenir to bring back home safely in your suitcase, but I can report we succeeded.
Henk chose a ceramic Bordallo Pinheiro peanut and hazelnut. Nuts also not cracked during the journey.
We wandered through the city, popped into the Estação de São Bento, the station hall is kind of museum in itself. We continued our route over the Luís I Bridge, a double-deck metal arch bridge that spans the River Douro between Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia. We walked on the top road (quite high) and had lunch at Ar de Rio, on the banks of the Douro overlooking Porto.
After lunch we walked back over the lower bridge and entertained ourselves excellently for a few more hours, with tiles, street art, terraces, etc.
In the evening, after a home-cooked dinner in our patio garden, a final Furadouro beachwalk, which is preparing for a new summer season, the wooden frames of the beach huts have already been built. Tomorrow we'll drive further south.
Adeus Furadoura, you were fabulous!
