Crinkly's Portugal trip day 6: On to Porto (2/14/19)

Woke up early to walk around the town a little bit before having to check out and head to buy our bus ticket to Porto. Walk back towards the castle to walk around the narrow streets some more and to check out the castle's cistern which is small but free. Make it back to the hostel, grab our stuff and check out then head towards the bus station.

This area around the castle feels so quant. Love these narrow streets.

We found the cistern

Crinkly enjoying the cool cistern air

One more view of the city before heading back down to get our bags. Crinkly is definitely enjoying the weather.

On the way we stop to have breakfast before proceeding to a store where they sell their bus tickets. Get 2 tickets for the next bus to Porto and then walk across the street to explore the huge cathedral in the center of town we walked by yesterday. Went over and checked it out; it was a very impressive building. The doors had some cool wood work on them and the inside was much larger and ornate than the church we explored yesterday on top of the mountain. As time is approaching, we go to the bus stop and wait for our bus to arrive.

Crinkly is ready to explore this large cathedral

The entryway is beautiful. Detail in the stone and the patter on the door are amazing.

Crinkly admiring the detailed work from up close.

Ceiling in the cathedral

Crinkly and Steph enjoying exploring the cathedral spaces.

Crinkly viewing the alter

Steph looking into one of the alcoves.

The alcove that steph was enjoying.

The other side of the cathedral.

We head to vila real (stopping in Regua briefly to let people out) where we have a layover. The ride in was insanely beautiful with rolling hills, bridges everywhere connecting the roads/train tracks, and tons of terraced wine fields making the drive extremely pleasant. Get off in Villa Real as we have a a little bit of time so we walk around the town, appreciating some of the art and finding our way to this small church overlooking a soccer field and parts of the city below before heading back to the bus station to catch our bus to Porto.

Crinkly enjoying the bus ride to Porto

One of the bridges on the ride towards Porto

Terraced gardens dispersed throughout the countryside

Another great view of the surrounding area (we were in a bus so theres a bit of glare and other factors causing not great pics).

Terraced gardens going all the way up the hill

More gardens and houses making the view exceptionally pretty and the ride very enjoyable

Bridge in the valley

Another bridge sitting in front of this city as the valley opens up a little bit

Crinkly enjoying getting to stretch his legs in Vila Real

Crinkly found a market as we walked around town

Small beautifully blue church we wound up at

Wall art was everywhere in the city as we walked around

Look familiar?

Get in and make our way to our Hostel, the belo horizonte. After setting our stuff down and getting a map to get our bearings, we grab dinner at Santiago's nearby where I get to try a local delicacy, the Franscisinha, this interesting sandwich which is covered in cheese (literally like wrapped in cheese with an egg on top and sitting on a bed of fries). Was tasty but my heart will thank me if I never have another one. We walk over the bridge and make our way down to the caves for a port tasting but they are all closed as it is too late.

Crinkly is ready to enjoy this well known local dish.

Monastary lit up at night. Was an impressive building

View of the bridge and city at night. 

Walking around the city at night just seeing what we might find and have tons of these small streets/alleys you can go down

Art on a building that I believe was trying to show the importance of water

Wall art on a building which was pretty impressive

Wall art or real people? You decide

First place we stopped to try and have a drink.

Crinkly is feeling fancy and ready to have a drink

Found the walk way to the restaurant, turns out we were not dress appropriately nor did we have a reservation nor did we care to pay the prices on the menu. Moving on.

We start walking back up the hill and stumble upon a few different places that are open but they are reservation only and fancy dinners as it is valentines day. So we make our way back and wind up coming to this food court type place called the district which has a bunch of different offerings (food stalls, different drink stalls, place where bands can play some music, etc.). We have a beer or 2 (they have lagunitas so I get one of those after trying some local craft beers) before discovering this port stall where the couple goes to small independent port makers in the region, samples their product and buys their wine to showcase in his store.

Crinkly enjoying the environment of the district and realizing we can surely grab a drink here.

Crinkly found one of his american brethren 

Then Crinkly found some local big brothers for us to try. So much good tasting port in this lil store.

We talk with him and his wife for a while, trying some of the ports he has available as part of a tasting, and by the end of it I bought a very nice bottle of port he recommended. It should be noted I kept the bottle until late that year and had it with some close friends back home and it was absolutely delicious; money extremely well spent. As things were shutting down and it had been a long day, we head back to the hostel to call it a night.