Why should I go? Because Porto is the classic second city.
It’s beautiful, but the tourists all seem to have flocked somewhere else.
And the touts and the tat and the inflated prices have gone with them. While
they’re off battling around Florence, Prague and Barcelona, you can walk the
quiet, cobbled streets of Porto, feeling that you’re wandering through a
genuine city, rather than tourist make-believe. There are one or two
stunning sites, but there’s more joy in turning a corner and bumping into a
beautiful, simple church or a shaded alfresco cafe.
Second cities have a knack of providing you with enough culture to keep you
going for a weekend, but not so much that you feel like a philistine for not
staying a week. A perfectly manageable weekend feast — with a glass of port
for afters.
What do I do? You go for a stroll. Porto is all about soaking up the
ambience of crumbly buildings and Unesco World Heritage quarters, not
ticking off a list of must-sees.
A leisurely half-day circuit starts amid the baroque buildings of Avenida dos
Aliados. Head to Batalha Square, where there’s a Salazar-era “people’s cafe”
that now shows cult movies. Carry on upwards to the 12th-century cathedral
in Se Square and the four-storey, plain-fronted palace next door, visible
from most of the city. Head back downhill to Rua das Carmelitas to visit
Lello, a famous bookshop with an art-nouveau interior, and a little further
on, the grand Sao Bento Station, its immense atrium covered in tiles
depicting early forms of transport.
If you’re still going after all that, just wander. This is a place where
getting hopelessly lost in the cobbled backstreets is to be recommended.
As is sampling the drink this city is built on. The port warehouses are across
the River Douro in Gaia, where the sea breeze keeps the barrels (or, more
pedantically, “pipes”) of port cool throughout the summer. Most offer free
tours and tastings, every half-hour from roughly 10am to 6pm (visit
www.portoturismo.pt/en for details).
A relaxing Sunday-morning option is the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art
(free on Sundays, 10am-2pm, otherwise £3.50; www.serralves.pt), but eat
before you go — the food and service are a surrealist movement.
Where do I stay? It is almost worth visiting Porto just for Castelo
Santa Catarina (22 509 5599, www.castelosantacatarina.com.pt; doubles from
£50, B&B). Built 100 years ago, just out of the city centre, it has
a distinctly Moorish, romantic feel. In the formal gardens, almost every
inch of wall is covered with beautiful glazed tiles. The rooms, which aren’t
big to start with, are stuffed with antiques, and ceilings are covered in
hand-painted chubby pink cherubs.
If ancient ornament isn’t your thing, then you might prefer the modern
metropolitan chic of Hotel Eurostars das Artes (22 207 1250,
www.eurostarshotels.com; doubles from £105, B&B), where friendly
staff in well-cut black suits will show you to your wooden-floored bedroom.
Outside, you’ll find a deck and a simple grassy lawn.
Hotel Vila Gale (22 519 1800, www.vilagale.pt; doubles from £80, B&B)
is big, but gets rave reviews for offering four-star quality at two-star
prices.
Where do I eat? The essential Porto belt-buster is the francesinha,
a sandwich with fillet steak, Portuguese and German sausage, and a little
bit of ham and cheese, served marooned in a sea of gravy. It is best sampled
at the Guarany cafe-restaurant (Avenida dos Aliados 85; 22 332 1272,
www.cafeguarany.com).
For a more elegant dinner, head to D Tonho, on the riverside (22 200 4307,
www.dtonho.com), with John Malkovich, Lou Reed and Bobby Robson just a few
of the celebrities in its guest book. Traditional dishes include tripe and,
during the midsummer festival of Sao Joao, cabbage soup.
Equally fantastic, but more relaxed, is Toupeirinho, a 15-miunte cab ride away
in the Matoshinhos district (Rua do Godinho 27; 22 938 7016). Half a dozen
tables are crammed in here, everyone chooses fish — the salted prago, or sea
bream, is the best — and a plate of sweet pudding with a glass of port will
leave you feeling giddy.
How do I get there? TAP Portugal (0845 601 0932, www.flytap.com) flies
to Porto from Heathrow; Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) flies from Stansted,
Liverpool and Dublin.
