Portugal Vacation - Porto

7/6/17 

We left Ponta Delgada bright and early Thurday morning and arrived in Porto around lunch time.  We hopped in an Uber to drop our bags at the hotel, Palacio das Cardosas, and hoofed it down to the riverfront to grab lunch.

Jamon Iberico?  Ya mon!

Wine flights at Bacchus Vini.

Bacchus Vini is located almost directly under the Ponte de Dom Luis bridge, so we immediately knocked out one sight.  Score one for efficiency.  After we finished our wine flights, we decided to walk back to the hotel, while catching some sights on the way.  This is where we learned that Porto is hilly.  We survived our hike up to Se Cathedral, with Allison stopping along the way to grab a small piece of art. 

Drinking under the bridge like dirty hobos.

The trek to Se Cathedral.

We made it!

After checking out the Cathedral, we made our way towards Clerigos tower, where we had to wait in line for the first time in our trip.  Boo.  We climbed up the extremely narrow stairs to the top of the tower and were able to see a beautiful panoramic of the city. Thank God I lost some weight before the trip or I would have gotten stuck in the stairwell.

Very narrow stairs to reach the top of Clerigos tower.

Good thing there was treasure on the way!

No fatties allowed.

We had planned to visit Livraria Lello, which inspired JK Rowling to write Harry Potter, but I wasn't going to pay $5 to stand in line to visit a library and not be able to buy any books that I could read.  We decided to head back to our hotel and get cleaned up for dinner.  Once we got to our room, we realized that it overlooked Liberdade Square and the Monumento a Dom Pedro IV.  Two more sights knocked out with EXTREME efficiency.  Our dinner this night was at A Bolina, which is located along the river.  We began to walk, but the weather decided to be incredibly inconvenient and start raining.  We returning to the hotel to borrow an umbrella, which we noticed was broken about two blocks into our walk. After walking up and down every hill in Portugal in the rain with a broken umbrella, we arrived at dinner and survived a MAJOR test to our marriage.  While at dinner, we made the correct decision to Uber home.

7/7/17

We decided to sleep in on Friday morning, before going on a tour of Graham's Port Lodge. After the tour we were treated to a tasting, where I splurged on a glass of the 1972 vintage, which was delicious.  Allison had the basic package, but this was the beginning of her change in heart regarding port.  Before the trip, I would say that she and port were not on speaking terms.  Now they have a newly budding friendship.

I can smelly the yummy alcohol from here.

Old barrels of port.

The tasting after the tour.  The vintage 1972 is excellent.
*INSERTS MONOCLE*

We were a little buzzed after lunch, so we gave the Palacio da Bolsa and Igreja de Sao Francisco a cursory walk-by and headed back to the hotel to recover before dinner.

Restaurants

Bacchus Vini

Wine flights and fancy ham!  Right under the bridge by the river.  Great spot for a quick bite.

A Bolina

Located along the river.  Good wine.  Service and good were decent.

VINUM

VINUM is onsite at Graham's Port Lodge and was the best lunch we had on our trip.  Great steaks and excellent port.  We left a wee bit tipsy.

Ode Porto Wine House

Great multiple course dinner and intimate setting.  Once again...great wine.