Portugal self tour in 10 days- Part 2 Porto and Douro Valley

This is Part 2 of our Portugal self tour around mid June 2016. After an enjoyable few days in Lisbon and Sintra (see Part 1), we moved to the northern part of Portugal covering Porto,Viana do Costelo, Braga, Guimaraes and Douro Valley (see the starred places we visited in my google map above) in 5 days, the top and RHS of the map also shows Portugal/Spain boundary. The towns we visited full of history and with amazing architecture, Douro Valley of course is very scenic and paradise for wine lovers. Our modes of transport are train and self drive (after leaving Porto, returning car in Viseu before taking bus to Spain -see my other posts). Our few days in N. Portugal has left us with much fond memories – breathtaking sceneries, interesting architecture, long history and culture, delicious and good value food and wine, and nice people. It’s not yet a popular place with many tourists, and in the few days there, we didn’t meet a single Asian after leaving Porto.

We chose to take the train from Lisbon to Porto- Lisboa S. Apolónia >> Porto São Bento (allow half a day), tickets (@E9.50) were bought online from the official Portugal train website about 5 weeks before travel (when discounts would be available).  You need to change trains if you want to arrive at the centre of Porto (which is the Sao Bento Station), just ask around to locate the right platform (show them your ticket if you cannot communicate with him/her).

Porto is a lovely town (my favorite town) which is at the mouth of River Douro, people are nice and friendly, and there are lots of lovely historical architecture, as well as colorful houses, chic riverside areas, culture, shops and delicious cuisines. We spent 3 days there (minimum I reckon), but I can spend weeks and would not be bored!  Within the city, most sights are within walking distance (good exercise), but prepare to climb a bit.  If you want to visit some close-by sights, you can take the tram. Personally, I prefer Porto to Lisbon, it is the best town in Portugal we visited so far.  You can find reviews of the places we went from Tripadvisor, and I include a few I contributed here too for your leisure reading. Places you should not miss include:-

• the Clerigos Tower (the views from the top is worth the climb! @E3),
• Ponte de D. Luis – walk across it from one level and back from the other, the views from many places/angles are just so nice, watch out for the many colours of the little houses along the north bank,
• Cais da Ribeira – walk along this river bank and savour postcard sceneries as well as people watching.  We’re there one afternoon when the bank was turned into an obstacle motorbike race track with motorbikes climbing stacks of timber/tyres/steps, see-saws touching the sea- one biker slipped and plunges into the sea, he rescued himself but his poor bike went straight to the bottom!), but the place is nice just for a walk or tea or a meal.
• eat at  O Caracas (E30 for 2 including desserts), this is a must as the food is so good, it’s recommended by our host and his words “best cooking second only to his grandma!), see my review here.
• have some ice-cream or sorbet at Cremosi.

After Porto, we took our rental car and drove north to Viana do Costelo to see the Santa Luzia church (Santuário de Santa Luzia) – a 4.7 Google sight and not to be missed. The architecture is very nice and rather unique. We ‘crashed’ into a wedding ceremony and party there, the setting with the classic Citroen wedding car was just like a movie. Views from this church which is perched very high on a hilltop overlooking the western coast line of Portugal onto the North Atlantic are simple stunning. Ponte de Lima, known for being the oldest village in Portugal was our next stop.  This is a lovely quaint little town with the iconic Ponte Romana and the river, indeed a lovely place for a leisurely afternoon, have stroll along the river or row a boat; in any case walk and see the many local crafts in the little stalls along the very wide tree tunnel street which is frequented by horse carts or riders.  Moving into Braga, we visited the square where there’s a carnival (see my clip of the happy locals), the Bom Jesus do Monte, and stayed the nite at Guimaraes, cheering with the locals in the historic centre watching the football match between Portugal and Germany from large televisions. In Guimaraes, we had a lovely dinner in a French/Portuguese fusion restaurant near the Historical Centre – le babachris.

The beautiful sceneries of the Douro Valley is another reason to visit the area apart from for the vineyards and nice wines. Our friends who have been to the river cruises said that they’re excellent, but we opted to drive as we have a car and wanted to stay in a vineyard.  Whichever option you take, be sure you go all the way up to Pinhao near the border, that’s where the beautiful sceneries are – don’t miss the fantastic views from the lookout near Casal de Loivos. The top 5 lookouts along Douro Valley can be found here.  Driving along the River is not too difficult, but if you are stucked in very narrow lanes in small local villages (with widths that make you wonder if your car can pass through!), chances are you’re in the wrong place (or the GPS has guided you to a stupid route!). My experience here is that Google map is better/more accurate than the car GPS. We have a wonderful stay and dinner at a small boutique winery near Lamego – Quinta de Marrocos, see my review here. Caesar- the very knowledgeable third generation owner gave us a lovely tour of his vineyard. He’s very excited about recently getting his very first Asian order of his Port wine from Korea and his daughter just attended a wine exhibition promotion in Hong Kong. I told him his next target should be China.

Early next morning, we visited the nearby magnificent Santuario Nossa Senhora dos Remedios , this church is again on a hilltop with typical church architecture of the area. The solitary atmosphere in early morning there was quite an unique experience.  The sweeping view from there to the city with the many levels of long and steep steps and landings lined with numerous statues all the way up to the church is a very special sight.  You have to be there to experience.  From there, we drove to Viseu – a town not far from the border with Spain where we returned our car and took a bus for the journey to Salamanca across the border. Spain of course is another story to be told in my other posts. I found that renting a car from Portugal to Spain would incur quite substantial one-way drop off charges (more than 150 Euros)