My self guided trip with college friend Bruce: We both have seen enough Churches, museums and religious sights to last a lifetime, so this trip will be slow and relaxed with 4 nights in Porto, 3 nights in Nazare, 6 nights in Lisbon, 4 nights in Lagos and 3 nights in Amsterdam. Be forewarned, this report is very wordy and detailed.
We flew non stop on KLM flight from Portland to Amsterdam and then on to Porto arriving Tuesday morning. I booked a seat in Economy Comfort + section which gives 4 inches more leg room and a little more seat recline. We had no issues with our flights and our Welcome Pickups driver got us to the Moov Hotel Porto Centro in the Batalha area for our 4 night stay. After checking in, we ventured out to visit the huge indoor market Mercado do Bolhao and then had dinner at the Cervejaria Nortada brewpub nearby. Wandered around the hilly city until our feet were exhausted and called it a night.
Day 2 in Porto:
After a nice breakfast at our hotel we rode the Hop on, Hop off bus red line for a 2 hour trip through town sightseeing and to the west coast beach area finishing at the Ribeira area next to the Duoro river. We wandered along the Ribeira water front, had lunch then crossed over the lower span of the Luis I bridge. Took the cable car up to the top span and walked back over for a break back at our hotel. Both of us are suffering from jet lag and lack of sleep. We go out later for dinner and call it a night early. Weather has been cool in the low 70's with overcast skies and some sun breaks.
Porto day 3:
We start the day riding the Hop on, Hop off bus blue line which takes us across the bridge to the Villa Nova de Gaia part of town. The 8 scheduled stops are not explained well but include some Port wine tasting companies. We get off and find the Quinta da Boeira winery where we learn about the Port wine making process and taste some Tawny red and some white wine. Later we got off at the wrong stop and missed the next bus so we hoof it 1/2 mile and walk over the Luis I bridge to get back to our hotel. Later we wander down to the river for our 6 bridges boat tour with some nice views. Walked back up some more hilly streets to get our legs worn out and back to our hotel for another break. Later we had dinner at the reasonably priced Italian Republic Aliados restaurant. Some gelato finishes off our night and we are off to bed. Purchased train tickets on the CP app for our journey up the Duoro river to Pinhao tomorrow.
Porto Portugal day 4:
We take the 2 ½ hour train ride from the Sao Bento train station to Pinhao to view and experience the Port wine vineyards and some wine tasting. We arrived around noon and wandered around this small unique town with a beautiful waterfront area with a nice hotel on one end and some quaint cafes on the other. We started to walk towards the Quinta das Carvathas winery across the river but it wasn't open for 2 hours so we pivoted and took a 1 hour boat ride further up the Duoro with some nice views of the vineyards on the steep hillsides.
Returned to Quinta das Carvathas where we learned more about the making of Port wine and then we tasted some varieties outside along with some snacks. The return train got us back around 7:30pm and just outside the Sao Bento train station is the Time Out market which consists of many restaurants inside along with a nice outdoor seating area. It is a warm Friday night and the place is bustling with young local people and many tourists, so we sat outside where we met a lovely couple Clive and Grace from the United Kingdom (UK) who were on holiday for a few days. We drank some Super Bock beer and had some laughs about our current political situation and after they left we got a pizza inside for a nice late dinner. We also met a large group from Hungary who sat at our table who were very nice.