Last day in Porto

October 22, 2023

Somehow I didn’t realize that this was our last day here. So we made the best of it. It’s Sunday and Porto is very much asleep in the morning. As we arose to hike to a park, everything was shut down. No cafes. No coffee. No matter. We’ll start walking and something will open up. Sure enough, after 1 km or so, my nose detected food cooking. I felt like a dog that could lead us to food. Soon we found a little corner cafe run by a man and wife in in their late 30’s or 40. We ordered a little sandwich made out of a roll and some coffee. It was good as always. I noticed a little girl and her dad. She had a cast on her forearm so I tried to stir up a little smalltalk about her broken arm, but she was shy. It was still a little connection.

Next we headed out towards a park called São Roque. We arrived there after walking through an completely quiet neighborhood with no windows or doors open yet. The park was still a bit laden in mist and we were the only ones there. It was located at a peak of a hill, but then continued down several terraced levels, each level revealing something new.

From here, we realized we were near the train station, and decided to go there and follow the neighborhoods from there back to our apartment. We started to see many young people dressed in university robes, the same robes that inspired the Harry Potter series.

We headed back towards downtown, following the same route that we followed when we first came to town, when everything was so foreign and now so familiar.

On the way back we found a nice little cafe for a second coffee. With an English name, it seemed to appeal to an English speaking and international crowd. L

We had time to enjoy the historic and residential neighborhood this time, admiring the tiles, the doors, the flowers.

After getting back to our apartment and time for a rest, we wandered down Alegria to see if we could find a late midday meal (almoço). I thought it was a full restaurant by the menus outside of the door, but actually we were a few feat west of that restaurant and entered a natural organic brunch place, and decided to stick with it. The whole restaurant was about 16 feet wide , with two floors. After eating, we wandered down to the waterfront for one last look. The press of tourists was greater even than yesterday, and we had tired of the scene, so we walked back to the apartment.

It’s been a great time in Porto, but we are ready to return home. Tomorrow we will catch an express train back to Lisbon, go to an airport hotel, and catch an early morning flight on the 24th. We look forward to seeing all of you in person, and thank you for following our blog.