Despite a late start to the weekend, I still managed to arrive in Oporto at a decent enough time to bask in the warm sun. Admittedly it wasn’t as warm as I was expecting, with a weekend temperature of just below 20 degrees for most of the weekend, but at least there was no rain and quite a bit of sunshine.

Oporto is a Portuguese coastal town located north of the better known city of Lisbon. It is the home of Port wine, a sweeter variety of wine fortified with brandy and you can find a number of its makers on the southern bank of the river that splits Oporto. Portuguese wine is very good quality and I was lucky enough to catch them celebrating it on their river. Numerous stalls lined the banks of both sides of the river, giving samplings of red, white and rose wines as well crackers with sardines, bread and even chorizo at one of them. It only cost a single euro for a tasting glass and unlimited quantities of good quality wines.

The river is an essential part of Oporto life, with many of the buildings and streets towering around it. Numerous bridges separate the two banks giving easy access to most of the land, but the city centre and the two shores are easy enough to walk around if you are willing to tackle some hefty hills. There are plenty of churches around and it’s just amazing looking at the old buildings, some brightly coloured reds, whites and yellows as well as how a number of houses had been tiled on the outside, something you really don’t see on modern houses these days. Many of the houses hang Portuguese and even the odd Brazilian one showing how proud they are of their country.

Oporto has a good number of buses along the north bank of the river and there is even an old rickety tram to take you along the shore. There aren’t any ferry services across the river but you can take a river cruise for almost an hour at €10. I really liked the friendliness of the Portuguese people even though many did not speak English very well (or at all) but one thing that bugged me was the amount of smoking that went on, especially in restaurants and even in the middle of shopping centres as they walked around.

Fish plays a major part of the classic diet, and the Oporto speciality is a tripe dish that I did not give a go over real Portuguese BBQ chicken to which Nando’s does not quite match. Coffee is just as popular everywhere there, with the espresso apparently the standard one to have with one of the many Portuguese sweet breads or tarts.

Though a shorter visit than I expected, Oporto has much to offer and was a very enjoyable though exhausting weekend. More pictures can be seen here.