Porto is one of our major attractions in Portugal. After a wonderful expedition in south Portugal, where we explored a lot of different beaches, and small towns, we made our way into Porto via train. There is good connectivity in the region for trains, and we took a train from Faro station to Porto, as the route touches upon Lisbon and some other small cities in the country.
To take the train, we had to get to Faro train station early in the day at about 8 AM, and we were actually lucky to see sunrise on the way, as we started around 6:15 AM from our villa. Once at the station, we walked around the station and confirmed the schedule with ticket keeper, and also enjoyed a cup of hot coffee. Train itself is very convenient, with a pantry on board, and ample space to keep luggage and also to work on your laptop or read a book. We saw plenty of farmland, and a lot of different sunflower fields on the way, waving and smiling back at us.
Once at Lisbon station, we quickly had to change trains to go to get to Porto, but it was not that difficult as the train came on the same platform. We were finally in Porto by around 4 PM, and we were driven back to our hotel by our shuttle ride. We were staying at hotel Casa da Musica which is well connected to the metro with a few minutes’ walk and also has a food court attached.
After a quick change , we decided to check out the place in the evening by foot and local metro. People are really friendly in this city and a large population is actually on the older side. Do carry cash on your trip, as some metro stations still don’t take card, and take a different ticket or each passenger, and don’t load everything on one card. Our nearest stop was Casa Musica, and on the way we saw some really nice bakery shops.
We explored Palacio da Bolsa, Sai Bentro train station, with its internal murals, and walked through the historic city, which comes to life by evenings with hundreds of restaurants on the street and beautiful views of the sea and the local shops. We also saw the English style red telephone booths and probably the most beautiful looking hard rock Café in the center of the city , decorated with different shades of lights. Ohh, and you must try the local fries on the streets, with some amazing sauce flavors at your disposal.
The entire town in the night was very pretty, and even though we went to Douro Valley in the next morning for a day long trip, we were back at this majestic town and decided to explore more before heading to Lisbon.
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