Our day started with Steve, Jesse and I heading off to a local cafe, Padaria Do Bairro, which had a line out the door. A good sign that it is the favorite, local cafe. Not only were the offerings simple and tasty but the prices were cheap! Our meal of a ham and cheese sandwich, two croissants, 1 fresh squeezed orange juice and 1 latte was 12 EU – crazy!
After breakfast, Jesse and I checked out and made our way out of the parking lot via the steep, spiral, bi-directional, <1 case wide maze. Steve and Jen took off to pick up their snazzy Mercedes at Lisbon Airport. Both groups headed to Porto via Coimbria. The original plan was to check out the Coimbria University and have lunch in the old town of Coimbra but, the rain would not let up. We made a pit stop in Coimbra for Jesse to take a picture of the city and then back on the road to Porto.
After a 3 hour drive through the rain, we finally made it to our apartment in Porto in the neighborhood of Lapa. The building has the beautiful tiles seen all over Portugal and the place is huge. It is a 3-story house and finished basement with 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and an outdoor patio. Renting such a large place was not our original intent but both previous bookings in Bonfim (the artist neighborhood) were canceled due to pipes bursting and flooded kitchen or bathroom. We literally booked this place yesterday afternoon. Not bad for last minute and actually cheaper.
After checking out all the rooms in the house, each couple picking a bedroom and chilling/chatting over drinks and snacks, we made our way through town to dinner at Duello, an unique, Mexican restaurant. Today was Jen’s birthday (May the 4th be with her-:) and this was her top pick. A great choice because the food was delicious, the waitress funny & sweet and the atmosphere lively.
Jen and I might have celebrated a bit much. Per the waitresses recommendation, we ordered a pitcher of sangria with jalapeños. She was right about the sangria, it was perfect, flavorful but not too sweet or hot – just a hint of pepper. When we saw the jug, we were like “oh.. oh..” but then we laughed it off at it being full of ice and maybe only 2 glasses each. We were wrong … 4-5 glasses each later, we finished the pitcher then, that sweet waitress brought over birthday tequila shots. Mind you 4 shots for only 2 drinkers as Jesse and Steve do not drink alcohol. Oh well, Jen and I took one for the team and she bought Jesse and Steve shots of mango juice for toasting.
The walk to and from the restaurant was fascinating – cool building, interesting statues, and Harry Potter scenes of university students in their black capes chanting. Turns out, that J.K. Rowling was inspired by the capes used as part of the Universidade do Porto uniform and Livraria Lello (library) in Porto. Wearing the capes as a uniform is a 500 year old tradition – super cool!
Day Scenes
Night Scenes
It was a first fun day in Porto …
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