Porto: Day 2 – benmurphy.org

I left some important sightseeing unfinished on my first full day in Porto, Portugal, and with the May weather still holding glorious and fair, I set out the next day (in the afternoon, naturally; the a.m. is for sleeping in), 19 May 2018, to rectify the situation.

Specifically, I hadn’t made it across the river yet. Across the Douro River from Porto sits the suburb of Vila Nova de Gaia. As with every sight in Porto, it’s easily walkable (if you can handle steep hills). The most scenic route is across the Ponte Dom Luís I. There are actually two different walkways across the bridge. I crossed both. I didn’t care for the lower walkway, which has very narrow sidewalks on either side crammed with tourists, with traffic zipping by in the center. The upper walkway, towering seemingly a mile over the river, is more scenic and has two very wide sidewalks (also crowded with tourists). One of Porto’s metro lines also crosses the top of the bridge, but when there’s no train in sight (usually the case), pedestrians have the entire span to themselves.

The views looking from Vila Nova de Gaia north across the river to Porto are even more amazing than those from the other side. Note the building with the completely collapsed roof in the foreground (20 May 2018).

A view of the bridge from a different angle, still from the Vila Nova de Gaia side of the river (19 May 2018).

The metro trains cross the bridge very slowly, constantly jingling a bell, so as not to mow down clueless photo-snapping tourists like me (20 May 2018).

Now, most tourists’ interest in Vila Nova de Gaia is in the port wineries lining this side of the river, all of which offer tastings. I’m not really into wine tasting, but it is a pleasant, mostly car-free place to stroll.

19 May 2018

No, what really captivates me about this side of the river is a fairly small but perfectly situated park named Jardin do Morro. It combines so many things I love: Free admission, dramatic hilly scenery, great people-watching, outdoor dining, drinking in public, and (on weekends) has food trucks to boot. I enjoyed my picnic lunch here so much (aided by the high-quality wine and beer I bought dirt-cheap at the supermarket and brought with me) that I repeated it the following day.

About my only compaint against Jardim do Morro is the lack of shade. But then again, who’d want trees here blocking this view? (19 May 2018).

I remember when I was a kid, going door-to-door selling chocolate bars or raffle tickets to fund my little league team or school trip or whatever. Here in Porto, the boy and girl scouts sell not chocolate or cookies but… tiny bottles of port, of course! Get ’em started young, I say. Here they are now, selling their wares in the Jardim do Morro. When they ran out of supplies, they’d sprint over to their scout leader, who carried a huge basked full of tiny bottles — see top left (19 May 2018).

I appreciate the very conveniently located food trucks (19 May 2018).

Sunday picnic in the park, 20 May: A “pizza cone” I bought from a food truck, a cup of the local swill I bought from the beer tent (there’s a cocktail bar and DJ too), Super Bock beer, and some sides I bought for pennies (Euro cents, rather) at the supermarket (20 May 2018).

Unbeatable! And well within budget. My time here was my happiest of all in Porto.

And afterward, I did a little more exploring. The river overlook near my lodgings, which seemed kind of seedy the night I arrived, featured a flea market on Saturday (19 May) with local folks selling their old clothes, CDs, and bric-a-brac. And the same space on Sunday hosted an unsually niche pet market. There were a few fish tanks, but 90% of the pets for sale here were birds.