Porto in two days — a trip report

I had two nights in Porto on the way back from a longer trip and used them the way I would tell a guest to use them.

Day one, morning: coffee and a warm bolo de arroz at a bakery near the São Bento tiles, then straight into the station itself. The blue and white azulejos there are the reason people fall for Portuguese tile in the first place. Give it fifteen quiet minutes before the trains start filling the concourse.

From there I walked down through the old town toward the river — slowly, with several detours into bookshops. Livraria Lello gets the queues, but a smaller bookshop two streets away had more interesting books and no line at all.

Lunch was at a small tasca in the Bolhão neighbourhood — I asked the woman at the counter what she was cooking and had it with a small carafe of green wine. Cost less than fifteen euros. Better than most tasting menus I have paid twenty times more for.

Afternoon: the ferry across to Vila Nova de Gaia. The cellars are worth one visit — I like Taylor's for the terrace and the view back at Porto — but do not do three of them in a row. Pick one, sit in the garden with a tawny for an hour, walk back over the bridge as the light starts to turn.

Evening: dinner at a small place in Foz do Douro where the sardines were on the grill outside. Then one glass at a bar in Ribeira with a piano and no cover.

Day two was quieter — a long breakfast, the modern art museum at Serralves, and a train down the coast to a fishing village for lunch by the water. I was home by early evening.

Two days is enough to feel a city. It is not enough to know it. But Porto is generous — it gives you the good version of itself even on a short visit, and it leaves you a reason to come back.