Our first port of call this morning was the beautiful Cafe Majestic at the end of a pedestrian precinct, Rue de Santa Catarina, in central Porto. This we were told is a 'must see' and a 'must do experience' for anyone travelling to Porto. And we're not disappointed. The building is stunning and the service is fabulous. It's been around since 1921 and still holds onto the old traditions of waiters in gold braided white jackets and service excellence!!! The walls are adorned with beautiful plaster creations and floor to ceiling mirrors.
We did have to laugh at our waiter though as he was a dead ringer for the lead in the movie Napoleon Dynamite. He looked exactly like him and had the same goofy mannerisms!
Even though it was pretty pricey, it was definitely worth the visit!
After that we headed off for our second bus tour, which took in a different parts of the city.
It started out pretty interestingly as there was some sort of protest outside one of the banks, about foreign investment going on. Police were there in numbers having to physically holding the protesters back. Later in the day when we walked back past this area, we saw the aftermath of the protests as cleaners were scrubbing away to clean off the baked-on rotten eggs thrown on the walls of the bank and on the pavement in front (it smelt disgusting).
Amongst other places, this bus tour took us to the fishing port about 10kms away, where the fresh fish was being cooked by restaurants and roadside sellers. The smoke and smell from the roadside BBQs filled the air and filtered through to the open top bus. It smelt so good and took every bit of will-power to stay on the bus!!!!
It was around 1:30pm when the tour ended so we headed to the central train station - no, not because we're mad trainspotters. The interior of the station is beautifully with amazing blue & white tiles and draws huge crowds who snap away with their cameras. This station would definitely win the 'best dressed station' award if one existed.
Having refuelled at a nearby restaurant, we walked to the Cathedral do Porto, where we were just in time to watch a wedding take place. It was a huge occasion with both the men and women looking as if they'd just walked off the pages of Vogue magazine. Some serious talent on display!!! Of course we stayed to watch the bride walk down the aisle, as did many other onlookers.
Oh and the cathedral looked pretty good too. It sit's high above the river and has amazing views over the city. The interior of the cathedral is beautiful. Unfortunately due to the wedding, we had to rush through, but it was certainly worth a visit.
After the distraction of the wedding we headed toward the top level of the Ponte Luis I bridge - it's only available to pedestrians and the light rail system (metro) that runs in Porto. It sits high above Rio Doumo and gives amazing views across to Porto and Gaia.
From the other side of the bridge we caught the metro back to the city centre and walked to the stunningly beautiful Livraria Lello bookstore. It's been around since 1906 and has been a regular haunt for many Portuguese and foreign writers and artists. These days it's more well known as being a popular spot that JK Rowling used to hang out in from time to time as she was writing the Harry Potter books (she was married to a Portuguese chap for some time, hence the connection).
The book shop is amazing with a central sweeping wooden staircase and old books on display behind locked glass cabinets. Unfortunately it also happened to be incredibly hot so we could only manage a few minutes in there before we had to head back outside.
It was now around 5:00pm so we were definitely in need of some serious rehydration. Fortunately, opposite the Livrarira Lello bookstore, there was a very trendy bar that sat on top of a group of shops. That sounds like nothing out of the ordinary, but when you consider that this was set on real grass, with real trees growing - on top of shops -it really was stunning. People were just lazing around in the sun, drinking coffee, beer, whatever.... just enjoying the end of the working week. Lying on grass or sitting on outdoor couches - all very relaxed!
Dinner was down by the river. I got a little daring and decided to try the sardines - maybe I was inspired by our earlier visit to the fishing port?? Whatever inspired me, it turned out to be an excellent choice. As fiddly as they were to skin and de-bone, the taste was amazing. Absolutely beautiful. Cindy had an equally delicious cod fish meal, complete with sliced deep-fried potatoes - yum!!!!!
It was just before 9:00pm by the time we finished dinner, so we decided to head back to the campground as we've got a bit of a drive ahead of us tomorrow.
The bus wasn't due to arrive for another 25 mins so we decided to head back to Dovrvm for some desert and a nightcap. This also gave us the chance to say goodbye to our newly found friend. Port and almond cake desert - yum!!!!
Then it was back on the bus for one last time to race through the crazy narrow streets of Porto.
Porto, we've loved you. Pity our stay couldn't be longer!
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