Day 25 – Tourists in Porto

It was another loud night of snorers at the albergue last night. We need to find some earplugs for Viki. We got ready quickly and set off before sunrise, with rear bike lights on, for another rainy morning. We stopped for pastries at 20km (€3.90 for coffee and pastries, the cheapest we’ve had) and then set off with determination to Porto, which we reached at 11:30am.

Entering Porto was interesting. The roads are largely uneven cobblestones, which is tricky on a road bike. But it was cool to pass the painted tile churches, narrow streets, and many churches. We struggled to find a hotel, but eventually negotiated a room downtown for €80.

We walked around town, got pastel de nata, bought some buns and made lunch, and saw some of the tourist sights (markets, a famous book shop that inspired JK Rowling, and churches). We went to a supermarket so that I could get a bottle of non-overpriced port (multiple options for €5-€6 a bottle). The streets are very steep and windy around here. We also found a large network of ATMs that don’t charge an ATM fee (Multibanco), which was a relief from the high fees common in Spain (though there are tons of the Euronet ATMs downtown here, which we’ve seen charge a flat fee of €7 for a withdrawal).

For dinner we found we needed to make a reservation. We went to a taverna that was highly rated on google maps in the trendy Ribiera district, by the river. The area had many small restaurants (with 8 or so tables maximum). We shared the octopus and steak. The octopus wasn’t quite as good as what we’d had in Galicia (slightly tougher and not flavored quite as well). The steak was nice, and our first time having beef this trip.

We’ve decided to skip our rest day in Porto tomorrow and instead shorten the rest of our riding days to Lisbon. Tomorrow we’re heading to a fancy hotel in the Douro valley for a day of rest and relaxation!