A Weekend in Porto
a visual diary
A few weeks ago, my husband and I joined our Parisian friends for a weekend in Porto. Mostly everyone on the trip spoke French or Portuguese, so I got a lot of French speaking practice. Since we were primarily there to celebrate our friend’s birthday, we didn’t do any pre-planning and went with the flow. We did stay an extra day, which we used to wander around and do a little shopping.
ps — I was also testing out a new film camera, so those photos will make an appearance too!
Arriving to Porto
We attempted to take the metro to downtown Porto, but it was running every 30 minutes. We had just missed it and decided to take a taxi instead — it ended up being a quick ride. Our first stop was at MiBa Artisanal Bakery. We had a Matcha & Chocolate Branco and a Cesta de Pesto Cogumelo (mushroom). The matcha and cortado were also delicious but the pastries were definitely the highlight for us.
We had a few hours until our friends arrived, so we walked to the Jardins do Palácio de Cristal and sat in the sunshine reading our books. Among the stylish people, we saw lots of peacocks, roosters, hens and seagulls fly past us. This is where I realized I hadn’t brought a warm enough jacket — in the shade, it felt a tad chilly. Everyone around me was in a wool coat.
Afterward, we headed to Xau Laura with our friends for a late lunch. We ordered rissóis de carne and camarão (shrimp) to share, which reminded me a bit of empanadas. I couldn’t decide what I wanted, so I went with a mushroom pasta while my husband ordered bacalhau (cod) with potatoes — which if I’m not mistaken, is the national dish of Portugal. To finish, we ordered dessert (of course!) and went with a delicious passion fruit cheesecake.
Dinner at Mário Luso
Since it was a group of about ten of us, we ate most of our meals at the Airbnb we stayed at (I wish I’d taken pictures of it, because it was unreal). We did go out to dinner one night, and I would’ve loved to have my film camera with me because there were beautiful adornments everywhere you looked. They were able to accommodate us (with a reservation) with no issues. We ordered more rissóis de camarão and rissóis de vitela Mirandesa to share. As for my dish, I ordered a filetes de pescada dourados com salada russa. You could also choose the type of rice you wanted and I went with a tomato version that was very tasty.
Exploring Porto
I did absolutely no research prior to landing in Porto (well, minus one bakery for us to visit!), so I didn’t really know what to expect. Weeks leading up to the trip, anyone we told we were visiting Porto told us that we were going to have the best time. Everyone had great things to say and I now understand why.
Everyone we encountered was kind and most spoke several languages. We were told this was partly due to most media (movies, TV shows, etc) that Portuguese people watch are in English, Spanish or French, so it’s common for people to speak all of those languages since many learned it from watching TV! Not sure how true it is but a fun anecdote.
The town is picturesque, with winding cobblestone streets, colorful buildings, and lots of hills. There were lots of small but lovely details — like this door knob and these mosaics everywhere you turned.
We mostly explored Ribeira and the neighboring areas (unfortunately, I couldn’t find their names). The lovely thing about our time exploring is that it didn’t matter where you walked, you’d end up seeing intricate details or stumbling upon an overlook of the city. We walked into Miradouro da Vitória as we were making our way down and took in the view.
We weaved from street to street, making our way down to the Douro River before stopping for lunch. The sun was out, so everyone wanted to sit on a terrace and enjoy a glass of wine and take in the warmth of the sun — including the seagulls.
We had a hard time finding space for our large group near the water, so we went up one street and stopped to look at menus until one caught our eye. We ended up walking into Postigo do Carvão for a late lunch. I went with bife mostarda (mustard steak) mainly because the accompanying smashed potatoes sounded delicious. Everything worked so nicely together and it was the perfect choice after all that walking.
After that, we made our way to the beach for a short stint by the ocean because it was very windy and chilly. We headed back to the Airbnb where we had a birthday dinner celebration for our friend.
Before I forget, the house was next to a grass field that had sheep !!
More Exploring
My husband and I decided to extend our trip by one day. We checked into Infante Sagres Porto, where we were greeted by friendly staff. After check-in, we dropped off our bags and took the scenic route downstairs.
Every floor that had seating was beautifully decorated, and we were surprised to see the elevator had seating?!
We spent the day roaming around and popping into various shops. Our first stop was to Manteigaria for pasteis de nata (plural version of pastel de nata!), which was recommended to us by our Portuguese friend. It was decadent and downright delicious. We ended up only grabbing one, and it was an immediate regret. It was freshly made and still warm, which made it that much better.
Keeping in theme with the previous few days, we walked with no real plan and stopped into whatever shops caught our eye. I was initially hoping to do some vintage shopping, but most of the shops were closed, unfortunately. We made a turn on Rua das Flores (a lively street with shops and restaurants) and slowly weaved in and out of stores on the street. We had been wandering for a while before stepping into this lovely shop where a purse caught my eye. I picked up one purse, and the sales associate brought over other color combinations. I eventually fell in love with three options, and after an hour of deliberation I narrowed it down to two. I was frantically texting friends for their opinion on which one to get, hoping that’d solidify my gut check.
I was too paralyzed to make a choice and asked them what time they closed. With a few hours left, I told my husband we should take a walk to see if that helped my decision making.
We ended up grabbing a snack at Mariscar and I just yapped about both purses to my husband. Until he asked, “will you regret not getting both?.” At that moment, I knew I just had to get both.
With my purchases in tow, we walked down to the water to watch the sun go down. We walked across the bridge to take in the view from the other side.
After that, we slowly made our way back to the hotel and passed by a fries spot. We were intrigued by all the people lingering, so we ordered some to share. My husband ordered fries with peri peri mayo and peri peri peppers. It was spicier than I expected it to be, nonetheless, they had a great crunch and flavor.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped by a store filled with cork products and I picked up a notepad with beautiful colorful speckles. Across the street was a store filled with ceramic pieces and we ended up taking home a ceramic sardine. I’ve been using the notepad to take notes on the go (my attempt to detach from a physical device), and the sardine is now hanging in our kitchen.
Once we were back at the hotel, we changed and headed off to dinner. I grabbed one of my newest purchases and wore it with my vest (OFELIA15 gets you 15% off), and re-wore the same jeans, jacket, and changed my tennis shoes for flats (OFELIA15 gets you 15% off).
Our hotel gave us a voucher for a free drink at check-in to be used at the hotel restaurant that we decided to use. While we sat there, sleepiness kicked in and we had no energy to go walking anywhere else for dinner. We were, however, awake enough to order two desserts, of course!
Breakfast
We had to get to the airport early, so we looked for somewhere that was open early for breakfast. The closest thing to us was Negra Café Clérigos, which looked unassuming from the outside. My husband ordered an açaí bowl and I ordered a yogurt bowl — and it was the most fruit packed version I’ve ever ordered. I unfortunately didn’t get a picture, but it had kiwi, dragon fruit, pineapple, apples, and strawberries, among other things. I still think about it, clearly!
What Porto Ladies Were Wearing
I unfortunately didn’t capture any photos, because my mindset was not “on guard” as I typically am when I’m capturing intel for my What Parisians Are Wearing each season. However, I did jot down notes after the fact! I was surprised at how many gals were dressed head to toe dark brown (similar to this outfit from December). I’m talking sweater, jacket (or trench), jeans and boots. I saw many of them over the course of the weekend. I also noted that many were wearing heeled boots even though the streets are very hilly. At one point, I saw a very stylish lady wearing a leather flowy skirt (alt) with tall boots as she walked past me.
The men were also bringing their A-game. I saw several suede and leather jackets making their rounds. Several of them wore trench coats as well.
ps — this reminds me of a phrase my French friends were using on the trip which was “trop stylé,” which is used to denote someone who is very stylish, cool, etc. While my friends mostly used it to describe experiences and actual style, I was told it can be used to describe literally anything.
For Our Next Visit
Here are a few places I’ve bookmarked for a future visit:
Cafes
Food
Shopping
Walk down Rua do Rosário because I recall lots of cute shops in the area
All featured items mentioned here.
Follow me on Instagram and TikTok for more snippets of daily life in Paris. You can also find me on Indyx if you’d like to take a peek at what I’m wearing.
I’d love to go back to Porto and also explore other areas of Portugal. It’s such a beautiful country and a great spring-like escape at the end of February. If you’ve explored other parts of Portugal, I’d love to know about it !
xx Ofelia
Disclosure: This newsletter contains affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them. Not all links are monetized — I only share brands whose quality and design focus I admire. Some pieces were gifted from prior years and their reappearance in current newsletters reflects my confidence in that brand’s products. Everything featured reflects items I genuinely love, would buy and wear myself.
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Wow…. What a trip. I think it would’ve been hard for the TSA agents to prevent me from smuggling one of those sheep home.
Porto and the Douro valley was my favourite part of our Portugal trip. This made me want to revisit Porto (and eat too many pasteis de nata).