The Pineapple Chicken Blog

Hey Everyone!

I hope you are having a great weekend, I am very excited to give you a summary of my weekend trip away to Porto. It was a bit of a whirlwind, where I landed on a Friday afternoon and back by Sunday late evening. I love these sort of trips thoigh, just a little adventure for the soul or sometimes a nice way from work without the inbox getting out of hand.

As always, I try to cram as much in as possible, so here is a quick run through of a few places, food and tips!

Where we stayed

I decided Eurostars Porto Centro because the location was so close to all the various key spots. Though the hotel didn’t offer much in terms of a view, the hotel was small enough to feel intimate and not super corporate. The rooms were big and clean. Highly recommend and very reasonably priced.

What we visited

Porto São Bento, is a wonderfully beautiful station with the classic Portuguese blue and white tiles. A great place to walk through to take a quick picture. Though beware, all other tourists will be doing the same. Despite this, I found the afternoon light particularly beautiful as it streamed through the glass windows, so worth a visit.

McDonald’s Imperial – hear me out, I am not saying you have to order but the restaurant is so beautiful with chandeliers and art deco designs. Worth a little snap too and a milkshake hehe.

Museu Serralves is really worth the trip. I took an uber there as it was a little outside the city centre. It was this beautifully spacious and serene space with gardens as well. There were many photo opportunities. I would highly recommended it to anyone interested in art and architecture. Though just to note, the shop is pretty expensive, so I recommend looking for souvenirs elsewhere if you are on a budget.

Dom Luís I Bridge is the iconic bridge of Porto, one cannot go to city without a little close up of this structure. The walk along the river was beautiful if only it wasn’t grey and raining when we went…beware, there are also a lot of seagulls with paritularly good aim! Do look out for some footage from my boyfriend on his Instagram.

Casa da Música is this amazing contemporary structure. I am so glad I visited. I got nice and close for this shot. There was a cute cafe inside for a place to rest ones feet. According to my sister, their cookies are awesome – so a thumbs up!

Livraria Lello is one of the oldest bookstores in Portugal and with its majestic stairs is regarded as one of the most beautiful too. However, at €5 per person to enter (though you can use it to set off against a book purchase) one has to weigh the economic benefits. I went in since I have come all this way, but there were so many tourists that I could not take a picture I was happy with. I do recommend anyone to get there extra early because by lunchtime the queue was so long it went down the street and round the corner.

You have to…

Go to Manteigaria – Fábrica de Pasteis de Nata for what I think is the best Nata in Porto. I had 3 just whilst was out there and still craving more. Perfectly gooey and with a hint of cinnamon. Nom.

Other Tips

• Uber is in Porto – I found it a great way to travel around town, particularly because my sister was unable to walk far due to her knee injury. It was super convenient and because most places are relatively close to each other most trips did not go above €8 – I thought that was a bargain when shared between the three of us!
• Uber to and from the airport – the metro was very convenient from the airport to the centre of town. However, I found the ticket machines annoyingly confusing. Despite selecting English, I failed to purchase multiple tickets in one go, so I had to complete 3 transactions for my boyfriend, sister and myself. The journey time is also much longer than if one took a taxi (50mins vs 20mins)! Time is precious on a weekend trip so I recommend an Uber 🙂
• Do not go in November – though it was relatively quiet when we went, the weather was pretty miserable with a lot of rain… I recommend going in Spring as I can imagine it would be amazing by the port overlooking the Bridge 😍.

Have you been before? I would love to hear about your travel and travel trips!

With Sweet & Sour Love,

Pineapple Chicken