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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Porto

No offence to any Portuguese out there. I’ve mention to a few of my mates that Portugal would be one of the place I’m heading this trip. The response I got is always a why.. It makes so much more sense, since I am traveling around Spain and Portugal stone throw away .. why not stop by then?

My impression on Portugal is pretty good, considering I got a good mate staying here… , the element of surprise and what is offered is very much anticipated. I guess a lot of times; Portugal would feel like an underdog to be set alongside Spain.



Porto, was my very first stop in Portugal. I intended to walk around the city for just 1 day, but after the first day, this stunning city just deserves another day. Hence, my plan visiting the winery, vineyard was canceled. ( Duoro Valley, Pinhao )




Porto’s dual nature presents travelers with rewarding opportunities to see both side of the coin… from walking around narrow medieval alleyways, looking up are residents hanging their laundry; extravagant baroque church with rococo style interior.. Exterior decorated with blue tiles drawing which are absolutely stunning to see. It’s a treat to the eye, wandering around the residential area and able to enjoy different tiles patterns and colour.



Porto’s old world river frontage district is a world heritage site, the picturesque Riberia district that lies along the waterfront are awesome hangouts, great bridges spanning across the Duoro river to Vila Nova de Gaia is the home to port wine lodges. Port wine lodges like Taylor’s and etc, offer free tours around and also free tasting. What could top that off? Definitely learn a lot more about wine, the process and the care of a wine . It’s my first time visiting, and leaving more knowledgeable.




Generally speaking, Porto city is small enough to be travel by foot and the lively citys clings to the north bank of the Duoro river, and the south bank is full off port wine lodges, as mentioned earlier.

To be honest, I never expected Porto to be that vibrant, assuming it’s just another metropolitan city.. My bad. It’s somewhat a nice city to do lazy walk around even though the city being rather hilly, still manage to stumble upon many many surprises, somewhat picturesque and friendly.. Compare Porto and Spain, i kinda think that their English language is much better than them, or maybe I was just lucky to always being able to talk with people who speak English.

Porto, is defintely a worthwhile place to visit, despite being a big city. A good 2 days for a relaxing walkabout, a tight one day tour would be fine. =)

2 comments:

Khai L. said...

It looks amazing!!! I like the shots of the alleyway :)

Jnbl said...

Pretty coool!! But its reallllly hilly! All the city ihv been in Portugal ! So hilllllly