Pit Stop: Porto, Portugal
- Natalie Penry
- Jun 27, 2022
- 4 min read
Happy Monday!
This will be the most incoherent blog post from this entire experience due to the sheer sleep deprivation I’m tackling right now.
Exhaustion from an absolutely incredible adventure, that is, because this week on The Amazing Race, teams (Liz & I) spent 45 hours in Porto, Portugal before rushing back to Madrid.
I cannot emphasize this enough: I am ridiculously slap happy after getting ~2 hours of naps in throughout the past two days, so structuring this blog post like an Amazing Race episode seems like a genius idea. My apologies to the level-headed readers at home. Let’s dive in!
ROUTE INFO: MADRID AIRPORT
Make your way via Metro towards the airport for a 9:20 flight to Porto, Portugal.
Teams will have to travel on foot throughout the airport, approximately a mile and a half from the Metro exit to the boarding gate. This naturally includes the backtracking necessary to find security. (Bonus points to Madrid: it only took us ten minutes to get through the checkpoint)
ROADBLOCK: WHO’S READY FOR HOSTEL TERRITORY?
One team member must make the sacrifice of sleeping in the top level of the triple bunk bed. [Thank you Liz]
All jokes aside, I highly recommend the Passenger Hostel - lovely accommodations, unbelievable location (inside a train station!) and super friendly staff and travelers. The value for money was a 10/10
ROUTE INFO: THE ATLANTIC OCEAN
After finding a charming café on the River Duoro, teams must eat a Portuguese pastry, Pastel de Nata, before making their way on foot to the beaches on the Atlantic Ocean.
This was one of those ideas that seems fantastic at the start before morphing into an unstoppable obstacle. The coast was 3+ miles from our snack site and I was *not* dressed accordingly…Absolutely worth it for the ocean views!
The two hour walk expended a lot of energy, so we recharged at a different café, getting the yummiest açaí bowls and enjoying a break from the sun.
ROUTE INFO: DOWNTOWN PORTO
With a quick break at the hostel to re-sunscreen and change shoes, we went back out to explore more of the city. Since we’d spent all day walking along the water and vibing with the maritime theme of the city, dinner had to be seafood. We found a mother-daughter run restaurant with glowing reviews and ordered the “quintessential Portuguese dish”: Cod al Braga.
Couldn’t really tell you what that means, but it was yummy! Apart from the minor choking hazard (small bones in the cod), it was *delectable* and was the first fresh seafood I’ve eaten in ages. Also, homemade potato chips that practically melted in your mouth!
DETOUR: SELLING SUNSET OR BUYING TIME
We had some decisions to make after dinner…it was fairly overcast with a slight chance of rain, but todo el mundo said a sunset over the River Duoro was necessary. On the other hand, we could go back to the hostel, make some new friends, and participate in the hostel-run pong tournament.
If you know Liz & I at all you’ll be unsurprised we choose to walk *more* in search of the sunset. While it wasn’t a picture-perfect, glowing golden hour sunset, anytime spent on the riverbed is a good time. It started to drizzle as it got dark, so we ended the day with a bit of gelato.
Consider this to be a two-episode leg of the race, which continued the next morning after our continental breakfast.
DETOUR: HOUSE OF DRAGONS OR HOUSE OF BOOKS [caution: U-Turn Ahead!]
Our first stop of the day took us to Estadio do Dragao, home to FC Porto. There’s a serious rich history to this team, as well as the club in general. The museum provided some excellent photo ops and I loved getting to tour the actual stadium as well. After seeing the Arsenal stadium back in March with my spring break trip, it was fun to compare and contrast the two fields and organizations.
U-TURN!
So we did another big activity on Saturday: visiting Livraria Lello, the “most beautiful bookshop in the world.” Supposedly, this was one of the inspirations for Hogwarts, and it was undeniably gorgeous in its craftsmanship. Book-wise, the selection was lacking; nevertheless, my heart was happy there.
ROADBLOCK: WHO’S FEELING GLOBAL?
With a quick break for smoothie bowls at O Diplomata, we faced our biggest challenge thus far: finding a snow globe. This little trek took us up and down the streets of Porto several times as I tried to find my go-to souvenir.
It took several tries, but I managed to come out with a discounted snow globe from a very tired shopkeeper. Bonus points for getting mixed up in a bar crawl full of very friendly travelers.
ROUTE INFO: PICNICS IN THE PARK
We faced another winding search through the streets of Porto, this time for a grocery store/bodega. With a glowing, warm spread of sunshine, we thought a little Porto Picnic would be a fantastic way to spend our last night in Portugal.
Armed with fresh bread, brie, and oranges, we made our way to the PLACE and stumbled upon the Porto Pride Concert series. Fantastic people-watching, very positive vibes, and a general pulse of happiness emanating from a park bench.
ROUTE INFO: HOMEWARD BOUND
To get back to the pitstop (Madrid), we had a 6:00 a.m. flight from the Porto airport. Unfortunately, the Porto metro stops running at 1:00 a.m….
Neither of us were feeling a 3:00 a.m. Uber ride, so we checked out of the hostel early and caught the 11:20 train to the airport.
Never I have ever felt more like an Amazing Race contest. Arriving at a nearly-deserted airport, getting through security in less than five minutes, and wandering past countless closed kiosks - I was *so* in my element. Unsurprisingly, sleep was a fickle fish that constantly swam upstream, but it was an experience.
After a blessedly short flight, we trudged back to the apartment, had some peanut butter toast, and promptly collapsed.
There’s less than ten days left in the program now, which is always bittersweet. I’ve got three more days of classes (including finals) and one more weekend excursion to Granada - this last week will fly by!
Thanks to everyone who’s continued to follow me throughout this adventure - I’ve been terrible at responding to people’s messages and comments, but I see them and really appreciate it!
Enjoy this little TikTok inspired review of Porto, complete with my soundtrack of the summer (ABBA!)
And, as always,
Stay tuned for scenes from our next episode!
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