The Fabulous Lyf

Love | Travel | Fashion

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Postcards from Porto, Portugal

Ola People,

Would you like to come Porto with me on virtual trip? I take your silence as Yes. So here we go!!

Porto was our introduction to Portugal. We reached late to a calm, sleepy, and nippy night. And Boy!! It has a literal transition from Night to Day in its energies. Porto has a chaotic, vibrant & energetic vibe to it. There is so much going on all at once. Chances are that you will see traveler groups walking one behind the other, street artists performing, tourists stopping to catch their breath after walking uphill-downhill, construction work, souvenir shops, seagulls mewing stealing food, People chatting in roadside Cafes, everything running in pure Symphony. And again everything quiets down like a tired baby ready to sleep.

Church of Saint Ildefonso
Clerigos Church and Tower

Porto has given the wine world its beloved Port Wine. Vinho do Porto is one of the oldest wines in Europe, you might have seen it in some 17th -18th century period series, being Popular in Europe. It was considered top quality, expensive, smuggled, and often a bottle of it was used as a bribe 🤝

Rabelos, boats were used to keep barrels of ports for aging in caves.

A bartender told me that a Wine to qualify as ‘Port’ has to be aged in Porto, he also mentioned that “only here you can get the sugar-free wine because we finish it all before we can export” 😂 You must taste the wine at one of the famous Wine cellars from Sandeman or Calem just across the Douro river.

Douro River bank with wine barrels.
Enjoying a boat ride on Douro River
Shimmering Waters
Sao Bento Train station has the gorgeous Art made of Azulejo blue tiles.
Igreja do Carmo
Touristy streets of Porto
Capela Das Almas

If you are into books and Trivia, Liviraria Lello should be a must-visit on your plans of porto. Livraria Lello is claimed to be the most beautiful bookstore in the world.

It’s famous over the internet as the source of inspiration for JK Rowling for the Harry Potter books. While the Book store is exquisite and has similarities between the store’s interiors and Hogwarts but as per the Bookstore staff member this is a Myth and may be rumored by potter heads as during the inception of the first Harry Potter book, JK used to live in Porto. Livraria asked JK Rowling to confirm if they were indeed the inspiration and she confirmed that she never visited the store. 

I can understand the rumors due to the similarities in the interiors. The Curvy staircase resembles the moving staircase of Hogwarts and the Walnut wooden bookshelves gives you chills like you are in headmaster Dumbledore’s office. I also asked if the shop has changed its interior after the books became a craze, but they confirmed that they are the same since 1906 when it was opened. Nice little story for me to share.

Hope you like my little Porto stories, I am leaving you here with this gorgeous colorful view.

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25 responses to “Postcards from Porto, Portugal”

  3. Gosh, what a gorgeous trip! I always wanted to go Portugal and Spain so it’s a very good post to me. It’s like a recommendation or guide book… Also, I’m a writer and I’m searching for fantasy ideas in Harry Potter books so again, another thing on point and I haven’t known about that bookstore similarities… Great post, really! And there are so many beautiful photos… Great, great, great! 🖤

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  4. Porto’s accessibility to Lisbon and cruise boat landing potential will make it a prime 2nd Portugal trip soon I hope. Th photos well describe Porto as a walk friendly city.

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  5. Great detailed photos you shared!🌼

    Seems like a very busy. actively nice place to visit along with the description of places located there.

    The backstory regarding the wine and the beautiful bookstore was informative and great too.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. The cranes on the horizon remind me of my trip to Spain. There were construction cranes everywhere in Madrid, and when we left the city, we found cranes nesting on rooftops. We called them the ubiquitous ciguenos.

    Liked by 2 people

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