P O R T O

So, we went to Porto. It was my 30th birthday gift from my father and his wife, and we spent three days in the hilly, colourful, vibrant and interesting city, my first time in Portugal. And it will definitely not be my last; I felt I had been plunged into a place dripping with feeling, as if the city was bursting with life, and it was very inspiring. I took in the colours, the smells, the language and became quite taken. So here are a few glimpses of what we did;

Porto is a city of layers. The city's many hills make the buildings pop up as if they're fighting for the best spot. I like layered cities, and we walked so many hills!

After breakfast and a fleamarket-trip, we hit the Vila Nova di Gaia side of the city. Porto is on one side of the Douro river and Vila Nova di Gaia is on the other. All the port wine houses that the city is famous for are actually located on the Gaia side. We tasted our way through two port houses and felt perfectly happy afterwards.

I had booked a table at Cantina 32 for the night and it was the best food I've had for a long time. Interesting compositions and mouth-watering dishes that left us ooh-ah-ing all over the place.

Just look at this! It's not my personal taste but it looked so impressive.

Next morning, on our way to breakfast, we came by this tiled building that I'd seen on Instagram. He matched the tiles perfectly with his shirt and I get so happy every time I look at this photo.

After breakfast, we wanted to take an old tram out to the Atlantic sea but after having waited for about an hour, we jumped on one of those tourist buses instead. My father and his wife had brought port wine and cakes and it was happy times on the bus.

And we ate pasteis de nata by the sea.

The conquistador.

Walked past this little Wes Anderson-looking house and wanted to put it in my pocket.

On Monday, we only had a few hours in the city before our flight back home. So we walked across the impressive Dom Luìs Bridge and took the téléphérique back down. The views were amazing, even as the weather changed from sun to rain every few seconds.

Oh Porto, I'm definitely coming back!