Discovering Porto, Portugal and the Douro Valley

Porto, Portugal: Food Tours, Port Wine in Gaia & a Douro Valley Day Trip

Brittany and Josh recap their Porto stop on the We Should Move Here Travels podcast, focusing on back-to-back tours, standout meals, and wine experiences. They arrive by train from Aveiro, compare IC vs AP first class, and review their centrally located Brewmaster’s Loft stay. Highlights include a Porto food tour with a comedian-magician guide featuring Mini Bock, a Portuguese-style hot dog, pork sandwiches, francesinha, and a cinnamon apple dessert in port wine. For Josh’s birthday, they visit Mila coffee, eat their favorite pastel de nata at Fábrica da Nata, tour a renovated market tied to Anthony Bourdain’s episode, and dine at Solar do Moinho de Vento. They note one bad meal at Midtown Ramen, then cross to Gaia for a port wine tour (including Cálem) and rave about dinner at Brasão Coliseu. They also take a full-day Douro Valley tour with wineries, olive oil tasting, a boat ride with espumante, lunch at Casa dos Barros, and finish with Indian food, gelato, and breakfast at Gather Porto.

00:00 Welcome to Porto

01:05 Train Ride Tips

04:08 First Meal in Town

05:45 Airbnb Loft Review

09:20 Porto Food Tour Night

12:01 Birthday Food Tour Day

14:35 Market and Bourdain Stop

16:56 Dinner and Hills

19:30 Smoothies and Lunch Fail

22:58 Crossing to Gaia

24:18 Calem Port Museum

24:39 Gaia Wine Caves Tour

25:22 Port Tasting Tips

25:58 Tour Stops And Funny Moments

27:41 Street Art Across The Bridge

28:22 Best Francesinha Dinner

32:05 Night Walk And Reset

32:30 Douro Valley Tour Plan

34:39 Olive Oil And First Winery

36:41 River Cruise And Espumante

37:59 Historic Lunch And Barrels

41:30 Wine Bar And Cute Town

42:33 Tour Takeaways And Wine Variety

44:32 Indian Dinner And Gelato

45:53 Final Porto Breakfast

47:00 Porto Reflections And Return Plans

50:27 Wrap Up And Next Episode

@WSMHtravels

Transcript

brit 0:11

Hello, and welcome to the We Should Move Here Travels podcast. My name is Brittany.

josh 0:17

I'm

brit 0:17

Josh. And we are your hosts. Today, we are gonna be talking about Porto. This was one of our favorite stops of the trip. We had tour after tour after tour here, and we loved it. I love a good tour, so let's get into it.

josh 0:35

Yeah, and especially after coming back from Ireland not too long ago and not really having too many tours, we got ourselves back on track with tours on this one for sure.

brit 0:46

Yeah. Definitely in Porto. Definitely here. I mean, there were so many tours offered here that we were like, "Okay, which ones do we choose?" Right. Like, it was a problem.

josh 0:58

We definitely had to narrow it down.

brit 1:01

But I think we picked some really good ones.

josh 1:03

We did. We definitely did.

brit 1:05

let's get into how we started our trip in Porto.

josh 1:10

Like we mentioned before, been taking trains throughout this trip. the ride from Aveiro to Porto, super easy.

brit 1:17

Mm-hmm.

josh 1:18

Yeah. I think it was like a one-hour train ride, if that.

brit 1:20

Yeah, super short. Yeah. Yeah.

josh 1:22

the one thing I did notice, only because we took an AP train at the end of the trip, was a difference in quality for the IC versus the AP. Mm. So IC first class is nice. It's definitely comfortable, but AP first class is definitely- Much nicer, updated trains

brit 1:46

Yeah, and when we say first class, it's like a difference of, like, five euro Yeah, it- Like, it's nothing. It's not that expensive

josh 1:53

No, unless you're doing a super early, super late, like, budget discounted train ride that they give for, like, five euro. Mm. Then every... I think every ride was right around, like, 20 or 30 euro a person.

brit 2:09

Yeah. So it wasn't, like, super expensive. Not like a first class flight or anything. No. Gosh, no.

josh 2:15

Not at all.

brit 2:16

But no, there were several differences on the trains. we did just fine.

josh 2:21

Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's just if we... Like, when we did a first class train in Japan- Mm compared to a first class AP train in Portugal, just the difference between the two is insane.

brit 2:40

Yeah

josh 2:40

Like, the comfort level is crazy.

brit 2:43

I mean, but Japan is-

josh 2:44

Right. Right. And so I'm- top

brit 2:46

tier. Right. And so- Like, it's, it's really not fair- No to compare anything to Japan.

josh 2:53

Not at all. Not at all. But people who are booking, like, trips throughout Europe or Asia, something like that, might see, like, oh, first class ticket. It's not the same. No. Yeah. AP, if you do an AP, which is slightly more expensive, is a little bit nicer. They have the seats that recline a little bit, and they got, like, the footrests and stuff, and it's, it's definitely a nice comfortable ride. Yeah. Where the IC is... It's more spread out seats, but you don't get reclining seats. You don't get, like, a tray, stuff like that.

brit 3:27

Yeah.

josh 3:28

Mm-hmm.

brit 3:29

Yeah. AP is better if you're hungover. Which you might be in Portugal with all of the wine.

josh 3:36

You could be. You could be depending on, uh, your tolerance and how much you're drinking.

brit 3:41

Yeah.

josh 3:43

Which in Portugal- Is this turning

brit 3:45

into, like, a, a drink podcast too?

josh 3:48

Food and drink, yeah. Might as well be. But, uh, I mean, yeah, like we said, if you're going to Portugal, you need to be having some wine if you enjoy wines, great wines. And we definitely did on these tours, which we'll jump into right away here.

brit 4:04

Oh, yeah, for sure.

josh 4:06

but of course, we'll just go through our days. So when we first arrived, we ate at this vegetarian place. Oh,

brit 4:13

so good. Mm-hmm. I feel like vegetarian restaurants are just... They do things a little bit differently. Yeah And they always figure out a way to add so much flavor into- Mm-hmm their food.

josh 4:27

Yeah.

brit 4:27

I'm obsessed with them. I love 'em.

josh 4:30

And we had a fantastic one in Coimbra, which I can't wait to talk about. We're on Porto right now. This place was really good, like you said. They, it, th- they just do spices so well, and sauces.

brit 4:42

Yeah. Oh- Spices

josh 4:43

and sauces

brit 4:43

sauces. they do a phenomenal job with sauces. Right. But this place was called Especie. We got the chestnut and cabbage dumplings, Korean fried cauliflower, and a fried pastry with onion and cheese and a yogurt and herb dip. Incredible. It was amazing.

josh 5:06

sauce on point. The Korean fried cauliflower, if you've never tried a fried cauliflower in replacement of, like, chicken wings, you have to do it.

brit 5:16

Yeah. It's not gonna taste like chicken- Mm-hmm but it is delicious. Mm-hmm. And the Korean fried cauliflower had this, like, spicy sauce- Mm-hmm on it that added so much flavor. Delicious.

josh 5:31

Yeah.

brit 5:31

Every bite.

josh 5:32

I love a sticky sauce on, like, a chicken wing- Oh and that's how it was on the cauliflower. It was sticky. Mm-hmm.

brit 5:37

Mm-hmm.

josh 5:38

Yep.

brit 5:38

And the chestnut and cabbage dumplings, they melted in your mouth. Yeah. They were so savory. Mm-hmm. Mm, incredible.

josh 5:45

and that's what we just had for lunch, 'cause we kinda, We checked into our Airbnb that day, which was actually on this same street. It was the Brewmaster's Loft.

brit 5:56

Yeah.

josh 5:57

Uh, right ar- right above this brewery, of course. And it was a interesting place.

brit 6:06

Yeah, I mean, you have to walk up, uh, the Empire State Building to- get there.

josh 6:13

Dramatic. Uh, it was three flights of stairs, I think.

brit 6:18

No, it was three plus a ladder at the top.

josh 6:23

A- Whatever a very high-end ladder.

brit 6:26

Whatever. Um, but no, it was, it was okay. I wouldn't stay there again.

josh 6:36

It- It was good for budget

brit 6:38

It was good for budget- Mm-hmm but I wouldn't stay there again.

josh 6:41

I- the biggest problem was we got there, and it was hot as shit

brit 6:47

It was so hot, and we couldn't figure out the AC system. It wasn't working, and then they told you you could press a button even though on the sign it said you can't press this button. Yeah. And then you had to leave the tour that we had that night to go press the button.

josh 7:00

Mm-hmm. Get it go- But then it was going, and it was nice.

brit 7:04

Then after that it was nice, yeah. But, uh- Yeah with it being an attic, I will say-

josh 7:10

Loft. It was a loft

brit 7:12

it was an attic. With it being an attic, I will say that the, the bug situation-

josh 7:20

Was iffy, yeah

brit 7:21

yeah, that was iffy. Yeah,

josh 7:23

we had, we had a couple bugs. The... We were just, like, an inch of insulation away from being best friends with all the seagulls on the roof.

brit 7:33

Seagulls, it was mating season. I looked it up because they were- Oh, was it? so fucking loud. That's what it was. And I was like, "This is crazy." No, they were, like, nesting right above us-

josh 7:44

Yeah

brit 7:44

which was not ideal, but If

josh 7:48

you needed a wake-up call it was great, 'cause every morning they just started going at it.

brit 7:53

Yeah, yeah.

josh 7:55

It was, it was a place that did the job, but it definitely got us those extra flights, a couple bugs. Yeah, Brewmasters Loft. It was good. I mean, they gave us a coupon for a beer that we didn't end up using, 'cause we went there for, um, the tour anyways. And they gave us a port wine welcome drink with some chocolate, which I actually still think we have the chocolate probably in your backpack. Oh. Possibly. But the lo- the location of it was good.

brit 8:33

Yeah.

josh 8:33

It was very well located.

brit 8:35

Location was incredible.

josh 8:37

Mm-hmm.

brit 8:37

Yeah, fantastic.

josh 8:39

We were within 15 minutes walk of each start of the tours. Mm-hmm. The two tours, it was within, like, a five-minute walk, and then the, uh, Porto wine tour, it was within 15 minutes, so.

brit 8:58

Yeah. really, like, smack dab in the center of where you wanna be in Porto.

josh 9:04

Mm-hmm. Like,

brit 9:04

you can get just about anywhere by foot.

josh 9:07

Yeah. And then the train, which we only used on the way there, was only a five-minute walk-

brit 9:14

Yeah

josh 9:14

from it.

brit 9:15

Yeah. But anyways, so, um, it was a decent place.

josh 9:20

Mm-hmm.

brit 9:20

so that night we did a food tour. Mm-hmm. And the guide of this food tour was a comedian and a magician, which was kind of fun.

josh 9:31

It was fantastic. Amazing guide, kept it interesting.

brit 9:35

Yeah. Again, some weird moments with the group. Uh- Yeah but the guide was great.

josh 9:41

Fantastic.

brit 9:43

And the tour itself was really good too. I- Mm-hmm I loved all of the stops. I think it gave us a good outlook in Porto cuisine.

josh 9:51

good overview of what we could get while we were there. Mm-hmm. And, uh, just some, like, interesting history in the little places that, you know, you wouldn't typically find as a tourist, I think.

brit 10:05

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. We, I think one of the highlights of that tour was going to the Mini Bock place- Yep where they sell the most Mini Bock bottles in the world. Uh-huh. Pretty cool. Yeah. And we got a little Mini Bock bottle. It's so cute and little. And

josh 10:21

they have, like, all these trophies, and they got a counter of every so s- many seconds, like, another Mini Bock is sold,

brit 10:29

so. yeah. But we also, uh, went to the brewery- Mm-hmm that we were renting the loft from. So we got to try the beer that night, and they also, we tried the hot dog, which a Portuguese hot dog is not like an American hot dog.

josh 10:45

No.

brit 10:46

It's cut up real nice. It is so delicious. Yeah. I mean, I love a good hot dog. Mm-hmm. Uh, but this was really fantastic. Yeah. Megan would love it.

josh 10:56

Oh, yeah. We gotta tell her

brit 10:57

that. and then the pork sandwich, I forget the name of it, but we had that several different places. It's very popular throughout Portugal. Mm-hmm. And then we also tried the francesinha here.

josh 11:08

Mm.

brit 11:09

Delicious.

josh 11:09

really great beer there. Mm-hmm. Uh, wish we could have had time to go back again, but we were drinking enough on all these tours as it was.

brit 11:17

Yeah. For sure. Yeah, I do feel kinda bad that we didn't go back. but we did. We did have enough to drink, yeah. Um, and then we ended the tour with a baked cinnamon apple in a port wine. absolutely delicious. Yeah, it's- So good

josh 11:35

if you're watching the video record version, we got a picture of it, and the port wine sauce on this paired with the port wine, the cinnamon apple, ugh. Yeah. Just amazing.

brit 11:47

Yeah.

josh 11:47

and that was in a really cute place too. I have a picture of it. It's like ri- I think it's right next to, like, an old monastery or something, uh- Yeah churchy vibes it used to be a church. Yeah. Yeah. So-

brit 11:59

Very interesting place the next day, yay, it was, it was your birthday.

josh 12:06

Yeah.

brit 12:08

I know that you're not a huge birthday person, but what was it like to spend your birthday in Portugal?

josh 12:17

It was pretty cool. I mean, like you said, I'm not much of a birthday person, it was nice 'cause we had a food tour on this day, and it just felt special to kinda go around and try a bunch of things and enjoy spending the day and the trip with you. Mm. I felt a little bad 'cause we were planning on going on the Portugal trip during your birthday- Oh 'cause it's something you wanna do. So, so I was like, "We're here during my birthday, not your birthday."

brit 12:48

No, I loved it. I

josh 12:50

know you did, but I, I felt bad. I was like, "Ah."

brit 12:54

Next year. Yeah Next year we got a trip for my birthday.

josh 12:56

Next year or, or sometime for sure. We'll go someplace special for your birthday- Mm-hmm 'cause you are special.

brit 13:03

Aw. Mm. That's so sweet. Yeah.

josh 13:07

But it, it was a really fun day.

brit 13:09

Well, I really loved exploring Porto for your birthday and trying to make it as special as we could.

josh 13:16

Aw.

brit 13:17

is there anything that you wish that we did on your birthday that we didn't get to? Again, you're not really a birthday person, but just curious.

josh 13:26

I don't know. I don't think so. I mean, this... Who could ask... We spent my birthday in Portugal- and we did a food tour. Yeah. And part of the food tour was really cool. Uh, it involved a little bit of history with one of my favorite TV personalities, rest in peace to Anthony Bourdain. So- Yeah,

brit 13:47

it did. Mm-hmm. It did. But before that we had coffee at Mila- Mm-hmm which was incredible coffee. Yeah. Loved it. Great

josh 13:56

coffee.

brit 13:57

Yeah. And our first stop on the food tour was the best pastel de nata we had the entire trip.

josh 14:06

Mm-hmm.

brit 14:07

It was so delicious. We put cinnamon on top. So good. Mm-hmm. Uh, it's, the place is called Fabrica Da Nada. Mm-hmm. Don't know if I'm saying that correctly, but it was so, so delicious. Yeah. Highly recommend checking out this place in Porto.

josh 14:23

Made a shot of espresso there as well that was nice.

brit 14:26

Mm-hmm.

josh 14:26

Yep.

brit 14:27

Yeah. Some extra coffee on top of the coffee, you know?

josh 14:30

Mm-hmm. Really got us going. Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm.

brit 14:34

yeah. So with the Anthony Bourdain stuff, we went through the market that is famous for him going through the market, and he loved it,

josh 14:44

he definitely pointed out the need for- More like funding, I think in his episode- Yeah that he did on Portugal, 'cause I think it was right away he was talking to two women that were working in the market, um, cutting up meat or bread, making bread, something like that, and it was pretty run down. Mm. And our guide told us that after that aired, that the government felt kind of like embarrassed that it was shown like that. Oh. So they immediately injected funds into the area to rebuild it and make it as nice as it is now, which it is very nice now. It is so

brit 15:22

nice. Mm-hmm. We went to some really beautiful markets, again, in Japan. We compare everything to Japan. I don't know why, but I digress. Um- But we went through this market, and it was so clean. Mm-hmm. There were so many stands that I was like, "Oh, I wanna go there. I wanna go there," you know? Like, it, it just had something for everyone. Mm-hmm. And it was so... The things that we got there were so delicious. Yeah. I mean, highly recommend going through this market.

josh 15:53

And we didn't even get to the second level where they had, like restaurants and stuff around the top, so.

brit 15:58

They had restaurants on the top?

josh 15:59

Yeah, yeah. Why didn't we- I think he said there was a Michelin star restaurant around the top, I think.

brit 16:04

Oh my God, why didn't we go there?

josh 16:07

'Cause Porto is massive. We have to go back. But I loved

brit 16:12

that market, okay? Mm-hmm.

josh 16:15

It was the two or three times we walked past it, it was packed every time.

brit 16:19

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So then after that on the tour we got the pork sandwich again. Mm-hmm. Um, and then we walked to a place that had rice and shredded cod. Mm-hmm. That was, I think, the best shredded cod we had the entire trip.

josh 16:35

Yeah, and the rice was like, uh, tomato sauce, like risotto-y. Yeah. Like, I don't know how to describe it. It was really good.

brit 16:43

Yeah. It was kinda like a paella- Oh, sure base- Yeah of rice. But really, really good, and then we ended with some port wine.

josh 16:52

Of course.

brit 16:52

Again.

josh 16:53

Who doesn't

brit 16:54

love port wine?

josh 16:55

Yeah.

brit 16:56

after the tour, we kinda walked around and we explored Porto some more. and for dinner this night, even though we had the food tour, we are foodies at heart- Mm-hmm and it's your birthday, so we're gonna go celebrate- With a dinner.

josh 17:10

Yeah.

brit 17:10

And we did that at Solar do Moino de Vento.

josh 17:15

Mm-hmm.

brit 17:15

Again, don't know if I said that correctly. But it was so delicious. Definitely recommend this place. We got mushroom patties, hake, and rice that were all so delicious. Mm-hmm. The mushroom patties I think were my favorite.

josh 17:34

Yeah. Yeah. It was very good. Um, it was one that was recommended by our tour guide, Felipe, on the tour that we did that day. He said that some, EU officials that had come through had been like pictured going to lunch there or something. So I was like, Oh, why don't we go there?" And it was a pretty good dinner.

brit 17:55

It was. Mm-hmm. It was a very nice dinner.

josh 17:57

Yeah.

brit 17:57

I think by that point we were both, kinda dehydrated and- Oh, for sure wined out- Yeah and we needed some rest. Mm-hmm. So, it was an early night.

josh 18:08

It, it definitely was. And I was gonna say with all this walking around, we were 20 some thousand steps every single day. And in Porto, it's not flat steps. Mm-mm. I should say in the majority of Portugal, I assume it's not flat steps that you're getting. Mm-hmm. Uh, I think you said Aveiro was one of the flattest cities- Yeah in Portugal.

brit 18:35

Yeah.

josh 18:35

That's not Porto. It's uphill both ways. No, absolutely.

brit 18:41

There's hills everywhere, yeah.

josh 18:43

Yeah. but it's so stunning. Really beautiful. We got a lot of really great pictures of it. And, uh, all these tours really helped us to find some really cool spots.

brit 18:54

Yeah. I think we were, we were considering going to the brewery this night for your birthday. Uh-huh. But you didn't want to, so-

josh 19:03

Yeah, I wasn't feeling great. Our first tour guide, he was gonna be doing a comedy bit there- Oh, yeah 'cause they were having open mic night, but he got sick as well.

brit 19:13

Mm-hmm.

josh 19:13

so didn't do it. So I was like, "Ah, we'll just, we'll just stay in

brit 19:18

bed." Plus we were like very dehydrated.

josh 19:21

Yeah.

brit 19:21

At least I remember being so dehydrated. Yeah. I was like, "I need water."

josh 19:27

And I'm 32, just not that scene anymore.

brit 19:30

Yeah, so then the next day I had really wanted the smoothies that we saw in the market. Mm-hmm. So we started our day with a couple smoothies and dragon fruit that looked- Yeah incredible and tasted so delicious. Yeah Go to this market, man Yeah It is good. Yeah.

josh 19:50

We, we walked around. We got another pastel de nata. We got some espresso or coffee- Mm-hmm that was incredibly hot.

brit 19:59

It was so hot. It would not cool off. We had a hard time drinking it. Like, we, we were walking around the market, and I was carrying this coffee, and I was like, "It's so hot." Yeah. Like, "I can't even drink it."

josh 20:10

Yeah.

brit 20:10

And then we walked around the entire market, and it was still scalding hot.

josh 20:16

Probably our fault. maybe we can order it at a different temperature, who knows? But... I don't, I don't think so. No? You think that everyone just gets it boiling?

brit 20:26

Yeah.

josh 20:26

Oh my gosh. I don't know how.

brit 20:29

Maybe I'm just a little sensitive American. Oh, maybe.

josh 20:33

Well, yeah, I, I thought it was hot as well, so. Yeah.

brit 20:38

and then we, like, walked around Porto and that area for a little bit. Mm-hmm. we tried to get lunch. Oh, God.

josh 20:49

So all we gotta say, we went to Midtown Ramen, didn't have bad reviews, but we got takoyaki, and it was frozen.

brit 20:58

It was still frozen when they served it to us. Yeah. So, like, we're not, we're not very picky people. No. We will eat a lot of things.

josh 21:07

Yeah.

brit 21:08

And we also don't ever really leave bad reviews. No. But I did for this one. W- It was, it was not great. I wouldn't recommend going here.

josh 21:17

No. It's... You're serving food to people, and that's, I don't know how to describe it. It was frustrating. Yeah. I was upset about it.

brit 21:26

It was, and I actually got the ick from all food after that because I, I was the one that ate it, and I was like, "This is still frozen." Like I- Yeah touched this octopus to my tongue that's frozen. Yeah. But anyways, um, so like, you basically ate the takoyaki and once it was done. Yeah, they redid it for us.

josh 21:51

And the ramen. And yeah.

brit 21:52

Yeah. You basically ate that because I was like, I got the ick from all food after that, which is a bummer because in Porto, there are so many foodie places that we could have gone. Mm. And it really... When we d- when we go to a place that doesn't work out like this, I get so bummed out because it's, it feels like a waste-

josh 22:13

Yeah

brit 22:13

because we could have gone to so many other foodie spots, you know? Right,

josh 22:17

right.

brit 22:19

But, and I just like had the ick for the rest of the day.

josh 22:23

Yeah.

brit 22:24

but we did stop at The Potato Project because I needed something- Mm-hmm in my system. outside of the smoothies and the dragon fruit-

josh 22:32

Yeah

brit 22:32

because we were going on a wine tour and I was like-

josh 22:35

Definitely have to have something should have

brit 22:37

something. So we got fries at The Potato Project. Mm-hmm. I got the, the basil fries.

josh 22:44

I wanna say it was, yeah.

brit 22:45

Yeah, something like that. They were really delicious.

josh 22:48

Mm-hmm.

brit 22:49

Very big portion, and I got a small. I think

josh 22:52

Potato Project is a chain, isn't it?

brit 22:54

I think so. Yeah. Yeah. But it was delicious. Mm-hmm. And then we did the port wine tour. Mm-hmm. So we walked over the bridge and it is gorgeous. It is. Porto is stunning. Down by the water with all of the buildings on top of one another, and like the hills and the bridge. It, it's so beautiful.

josh 23:21

Yeah. Well, and then most people don't know that Porto is separated by a river, and even though most people call the other side of the river Porto, it's not.

brit 23:33

So once you cross over the bridge, it is Gaia.

josh 23:37

Mm-hmm.

brit 23:38

Not Porto anymore. but it's so close, I can understand why people think it's still Porto.

josh 23:44

Right. we were just told that by the guide. She's like, "So we're crossing the river, and everyone thinks we're still in Porto," 'cause even some of the addresses, like if you look up on Google, it'll say Porto, but it's not. This is Gaia. And maybe it's another kinda like North Portugal/South Portugal thing. Maybe it's like Porto and Gaia buttin' heads, but- Yeah. So- Maybe that was just a fun fact, but this was a fun tour.

brit 24:08

This was a really fun tour. Mm-hmm. We got so much port wine history. Mm-hmm. And, I really loved... I think our first stop was my favorite- Mm so our first stop was Calem. Mm-hmm. And we got in there, and they had us walk through, the museum part of it.

josh 24:27

Yeah.

brit 24:28

And it shows you the soil. So if you don't know, port wine is different in the fact that it has a different kind of soil- Mm-hmm grown in Portugal. Mm-hmm. the soil is basically all rock, which is so interesting- Mm that the vines can grow in all of this rock. Yeah. It's, it's really cool. Mm-hmm. Um, so you get to see that. You learn a bit of, like, the history, how they make the wine, all of that. They talked about, the big wine barrels and how flooding has impacted them over the years. Yeah. and that flooding is pretty common in the area.

josh 25:10

Right.

brit 25:11

And then we walked up, and we got our wine tasting.

josh 25:16

Mm-hmm.

brit 25:16

And this wine was delicious.

josh 25:21

Very good. And port wine is dangerous. This-

brit 25:24

Port wine is so dangerous because, like, okay, I'm not usually, like, a sweet wine drinker, but when you're in Portugal, you gotta have port wine. Yeah. And it's like a dessert, right? Yeah. That's how you gotta look at it. You gotta, like, cha- if you're not a sweet wine drinker, change your perspective to look at it as a dessert. No. And you'll like it.

josh 25:46

This is your sweet treat.

brit 25:47

Yeah.

josh 25:47

Yeah.

brit 25:48

Yeah, but we had a lot of glasses by the end- Yeah of this tour.

josh 25:53

8- 18% alcohol sweet treat, but- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. the time we went to the second place, I remember we were talking to this one couple from Colorado. I was like, "Oh, where are you from?" And the girl said, "Denver." And I was like, "Where's Denver?" I was already trashed. It took me another 10 minutes, All of a sudden, I was like I'm so sorry. I know you said Denver. I know where Denver is. I've been to Denver. We've

brit 26:24

been to

josh 26:24

Denver. I don't know why I said I didn't know where it was. I apologize. that was at this... I don't know how to pronounce this place. Uh, Vasquez de Carvalho?

brit 26:40

Yeah.

josh 26:41

Something like that. really cute little shop, good wine, great port wine. Yeah.

brit 26:47

Yeah, really delicious. Cool environment, too.

josh 26:50

Mm-hmm.

brit 26:51

and then our last stop was Dur- the Durham Experience.

josh 26:54

Yeah, which was more of a, just like a wine bar.

brit 26:59

Yeah.

josh 27:00

Mm-hmm.

brit 27:01

Yeah, but it was a really fun tour. I really enjoyed exploring that area- Mm because I think a lot of people go down by the water and maybe don't cross the bridge. For sure. Uh, but I think it was a great experience.

josh 27:16

we wouldn't have gone down and probably crossed the bridge if we didn't do the tour. We would've just kinda stayed on the Porto side because- Yeah of course, in three full days, there's no way you can explore all of Porto.

brit 27:32

No. I mean, you can live there... Uh, we've said this a thousand times, you can live there your whole life and not know- Right a lot of areas, so it's totally fine.

josh 27:41

But there's a lot of cool, like, street art. We saw, when we were walking around, we saw this very large black painted cat- Mm around a corner, and then I think there was another... It was a bunny constructed out of, like, uh, garbage materials- Oh and then put up on the corner of one of the buildings of these, uh, wineries or wine caves that we went to.

brit 28:05

Yeah, that was super cool. Yeah. Yeah. I really appreciated that art piece.

josh 28:09

So, uh, on top of it being a beautiful city and lots to really look at and the water being right there, there's a lot of good art, too.

brit 28:20

Mm-hmm.

josh 28:20

Yeah.

brit 28:22

I think if I could make one s- if I only had one suggestion to give, like- Somebody asked me, "Give me your top thing to do in Porto," it would be our dinner

josh 28:34

that night. Oh, of course.

brit 28:36

Our dinner that night was so good.

josh 28:40

And we're biased 'cause we're foodies, so people from Porto might be like, "You're gonna tell people to go have dinner?" Yes.

brit 28:45

Yes. No, yeah. You can't get that here, okay? No. We live in Wisconsin. We have beer and cheese curds.

josh 28:56

Yeah. Not rounding your partner. Not

brit 28:58

rounding. But we had the best francesinha I think we could have ever had.

josh 29:05

For sure.

brit 29:05

It was incredible. 10 out of 10, highly recommend.

josh 29:10

Mm-hmm.

brit 29:10

Check out this place. It is called Brasao Coliseu. Don't know if I said that correctly. they also had, like, a brewery- Mm and they had amazing beer. Mm. This francesinha had so much flavor, and the francesinha we had previously, it was super, super smoky, like almost overly smoky for my taste. Mm. This was, like, smoky, but in a good way. Yeah. the tomato sauce was delicious. The egg was cooked perfectly. The... There wasn't too much cheese- Mm on it, if that makes sense. but there was a perfect amount. The server was fantastic.

josh 29:53

Amazing.

brit 29:54

They were an incredible server.

josh 29:57

It was busy, and yet they were still super attentive to- Mm-hmm us and all their tables. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

brit 30:03

we definitely split one.

josh 30:05

Yes.

brit 30:06

Which I think is the move because francesinha is so heavy- I

josh 30:09

mean, if

brit 30:10

you don't

josh 30:10

eat anything that day, you can definitely pound through one yourself.

brit 30:14

For sure, but we should have 'cause I'm-

josh 30:19

What, starved ourselves one day and then just pounded through

brit 30:23

it? No, I'm not saying starved ourselves, but, like, I'm... I feel like we should have taken up every opportunity to have this francesinha over and over and over again.

josh 30:35

Well, and it was so unique 'cause like you said, they have the brewery there, and the waiter said that the beer that they suggested that we ended up each getting-

brit 30:46

Mm-hmm

josh 30:46

was specifically crafted to go with this francesinha.

brit 30:49

Yeah.

josh 30:50

So that and a- along with the fries

brit 30:54

Oh my God Done.

josh 30:57

I was... I'm- I definitely wasn't wasted anymore. I was dr- No. I was drunk after the port wine tour Had this, and it just,

brit 31:08

oh It was so good

josh 31:10

Fantastic

brit 31:12

The reason why in the last episode that I couldn't say that the mussels we talked about were my favorite meal of the entire trip was because of this Francesinha. Mm-hmm. This was my favorite of the entire trip, my favorite meal of the entire trip. It was so good.

josh 31:33

Yeah. Absolutely. It was. I think it was my favorite meal of the entire trip, for sure.

brit 31:38

So we agree.

josh 31:40

Yeah, yeah. Those two meals, The, the scallops and mussels, and then this Francesinha or this whole meal in general, top two of the trip.

brit 31:54

Yeah.

josh 31:54

Absolutely. Because the dessert with this as well was just top-notch.

brit 32:00

Absolutely. I would highly recommend those places. Mm-hmm. After the big meal, we walked back to our place, and we had some fun kind of exploring at night- Mm-hmm and just, like, taking some side streets and walking around. but we had quite a few pretty early nights in Porto.

josh 32:22

Yeah.

brit 32:23

But we had an early morning the next day. Mm-hmm. So it was totally fine that we went back and just kinda crashed. the next day we did the Douro Valley wine tour.

josh 32:36

Yes.

brit 32:36

If you don't know Douro Valley, they make some bomb-ass wine.

josh 32:41

Great wine. And this tour was definitely one that we kind of planned the rest of the tours around because I was pushing for us to potentially stay in the Douro Valley at a hotel but it just wasn't gonna work out with timing and-

brit 32:58

Yeah

josh 32:58

and trains, transportation, all that stuff. And others had said like, "Oh, you should stay there," but it just didn't work out. So planning around to make sure we did this full-day tour was the move- Mm-hmm and would recommend it for people going there. It is- Yeah it is a decent chunk of change. I think it was 140, $150 for the day, but that included the transportation, that included lunch, that included all the tastings. It was great.

brit 33:30

Mm-hmm. And our guide knew a lot of, like- Mm history and answered all of our questions and was pretty entertaining. Right. So it was also paying for, for him too.

josh 33:43

Right.

brit 33:44

He had taken us to this small town, that was about an hour outside of Porto, and we stopped for coffee and walked over this beautiful bridge. Wow. It was gorgeous.

josh 33:56

Yeah, super cute bridge. We had a little pastry from the shop that we got coffee on, and it was a beautiful day. We lucked out. We had a lot of really nice days when we had tours.

brit 34:07

We did, yeah.

josh 34:08

and the weather- Again, was warm but it wasn't overly warm. So maybe that late April, early May is like a sweet spot before it gets too hot maybe if you're not a super warm weather person.

brit 34:21

Yeah. I thought it was great. And tourist-wise, I mean, Porto was obviously more busy than Aveiro- Mm or like smaller towns would be. But I don't think it was like insane.

josh 34:35

No, definitely not. so we walked across that bridge. we stopped at our first winery that also is the place where we purchased olive oil, and- Ah, yeah the, person kind of in char- in charge of showing us around was super fun. she showed us how they used to press the olive oil and the process of it versus the new process, and then we get to taste the olive oil, different olive oils with bread, and then the wines.

brit 35:06

I loved this stop. I thought it was incredible. seeing where the olive oil is made- Mm-hmm I think is what made me be like, "Okay, we gotta we gotta get a bottle." Yeah. Like, there's no way I'm looking at this and being like, "Our olive oil in the States could never- Mm-mm and not get a bottle." Right.

josh 35:28

Pl- it was darn good olive oil. Yeah. Oh, it's such good flavor. It's sometimes like... I feel like in the United States, like, if we get olive oil here, like the extra virgin, single source, cold pressed here, it's good, but then sometimes you get it from a place and it's got that extra whatever it is to it. It's just so much better.

brit 35:51

Yeah. The one we got is so good. We haven't opened it yet 'cause we do have olive oil to finish. Mm. but when we do open it, we're gonna put it on everything. Everything.

josh 36:02

we got this from Doirgem. Don't know if I'm saying that right. Hopefully we're saying some of these right. But a beautiful location, some great pictures up there, really nice spot to taste the wine and just chill out for a second. It was quite a drive up to, uh, this winery and olive oil production site.

brit 36:24

Yeah. It was quite a drive, but a stunning drive. Mm-hmm. I mean, gorgeous.

josh 36:30

And there, there was a couple people on this tour that were really nice, a really good tour group.

brit 36:36

Yeah. It was a pretty good tour group. I think, for the most part it was pretty good,

josh 36:41

yeah. Yeah. but that first stop was great, and then we went on the boat ride after this.

brit 36:47

That boat ride was stunning. Yes. It was gorgeous.

josh 36:51

going through the valleys, the, the hills. But it was a great boat ride. They had, uh, some sparkling wine that we had- Yeah the whole time.

brit 37:01

Espumante- Mm-hmm is what it's called. It's like a, a Portuguese champagne. Yeah. delicious. Mm-hmm. If you like a sparkling wine, it's pretty good.

josh 37:10

Yeah. Yeah.

brit 37:12

But they kept pouring us glass after glass of that. It was like unlimited.

josh 37:17

There were a couple times when we were in Portugal where it was like, "Yep, just keep pouring," and they'll bring us another, another bottle.

brit 37:25

And we were like, "Okay." "You bet."

josh 37:28

Like, "I'm taking advantage of this tour." So we did, for sure, definitely had a couple glasses. The boat ride wasn't all that long, I think half hour, 45 minutes. Yeah. the water was super calm. Again, can't thank enough that we had Such great weather.

brit 37:43

I think if we had had some shitty weather, that would've been a bummer on this tour. Mm. It really would've been. But it was great.

josh 37:54

Yeah.

brit 37:55

It was really great. It was fantastic. Everything seemed to work out really well.

josh 37:58

I know.

brit 37:59

after the boat tour, we went and had lunch- Yeah which was incredible. Fantastic. We had a brownie for dessert here- Mm that was, like, the best brownie I've ever had, aside from in Belgium. Oh, yes. I'm not kidding. Like, it was so good. It was gooey. It, it was so delicious. Um, my stomach is growling right now- because I'm, A, hungry, it's lunchtime and I haven't eaten yet, and B, we're talking about all this food.

josh 38:33

All this great food. Th- and this place where we had lunch and the winery was so cool. It was so historic. It had such, like, an old building to it. we ran into a cat in the courtyard.

brit 38:48

We did. Mm. It was a really sweet cat.

josh 38:52

where we had this lunch was in the area that used to be, like, the old, um, grape stomping area-

brit 39:00

Yeah

josh 39:01

part of the building.

brit 39:02

That was cool- Yeah that we were able to do that. Yeah, that was really, really cool.

josh 39:08

the place is called, uh, Casa dos Barros, and- Again, I was wasted. 'Cause it w- that's what it was at lunch. On, on the boat ride, it was like, "Oh, yeah, we'll just pour you and then open another bottle if we need to."

brit 39:23

Yeah. And

josh 39:23

same thing at lunch. He was like, "You guys just keep pouring yourself wine. If you run out, they'll bring us another bottle."

brit 39:29

Well, and we loved the red- Oh, it was so good there. We loved the red. Mm-hmm. So we had a couple glasses each of that red.

josh 39:36

Yep. Yep. And then we had the brownie, and they served us a port with the brownie. Sure did. Oh. So good. Then we were stumbling around trying to find the cat in the courtyard, like, "Where are you, little guy?"

brit 39:51

We sound awful. I swear to God, we don't drink at home.

josh 39:59

That's 'cause we do it all on tours. We go embarrass ourselves- in other countries, and then we come home and we're like, "We don't know why they hate us in these countries." Oh.

brit 40:13

Yeah, we get a letter from Portuguese government saying, You gotta go home."

josh 40:18

Yeah. No.

brit 40:23

No, just kidding. And the wine here was great. we also got taken into, like, where they store the barrels, and that was really fun. You got a picture with a barrel that had your birth year on it. Yeah. And it was pretty fun- Yeah 'cause your birthday was two days prior, so. Yeah. We bought a bottle of wine there, and we're gonna store it. Mm-hmm. They said that we can, um, let it age, so we're gonna let it age, we'll drink it one of our anniversaries.

josh 40:50

Yeah. 'Cause I think we bought a 2016 Ruby- Yeah Um, so it was already 10 years old, and I think the oldest ones they were selling were, like, 50.

brit 41:01

50, yeah.

josh 41:03

So who knows if we'll be able to savor it that long.

brit 41:08

and then after we bought the bottle of wine, we had the penis cookies.

josh 41:12

You just wanna say that. It was fun. It was fun.

brit 41:16

I mean, the penis cookies were really good.

josh 41:18

They were. They were good. Uh, we had, like, a charcuterie board too.

brit 41:23

Yeah.

josh 41:24

Uh, they served the wine in, a little, almost a little s- like a espresso cup.

brit 41:29

Uh-huh.

josh 41:30

Yep.

brit 41:30

This was at Adega Kilowatt- Mm-hmm which was essentially just, like, a wine bar.

josh 41:36

Yeah, little

brit 41:37

hole in

josh 41:37

the

brit 41:37

wall place. Very cute. Oh, loved it. Very, like, Portuguese. What I would, what I think of when I think of, like, a Portuguese wine bar-

josh 41:47

Yeah

brit 41:47

it's this place.

josh 41:48

Yeah. That's the kind of vibe it had. It had, real, salted meat or fish, hanging kind of in the wall. Like, it's in its own secure area, but right there. I was like, "That's not real." And the guy went up and, like, touched it. He's like, "This is actual meat hanging here."

brit 42:05

No, I thought it wasn't real either. I was like, there's no way. It looks, like, spray painted. Yeah.

josh 42:12

But it was real, like, salted stuff. Yeah. It

brit 42:14

was,

josh 42:15

yeah, crazy. But it was really good.

brit 42:18

Mm-hmm. But then we walked around this, uh, cute little town that has the Douro River flowing through it. Yeah. And, it had, like, a little market that we walked through. Yeah. Super cute.

josh 42:30

Yeah, yeah. It was a really cute town. this tour in general- Really good tour

brit 42:36

I would recommend this tour as well.

josh 42:38

Yeah.

brit 42:38

I think just about everything we did aside from the ramen place- I would recommend in Porto.

josh 42:45

Yeah. And I mean, especially if you are a wine drinker. Mm-hmm. You- Douro Valley is one of those that you need to... A tour that you need to go on and experience if you're not staying in the Douro Valley.

brit 43:01

Yeah.

josh 43:02

Similar to the... Was it in Sienna that we did a full day wine tour?

brit 43:09

Yeah, the Tuscany- Yeah wine tour, yeah.

josh 43:13

That. Very similar to that, which we would also recommend. But yeah- Yeah this was just like that. Loved

brit 43:19

And if you, don't like port wine or sweet wine, they also do have dry wine that we drank a lot of. Like, the red that we talked about was dry. espumante was kind of sweet, but they have drier versions of sparkling wine. it really had a lot of variety- Yeah on this tour. Mm-hmm. Not only on this tour, but throughout Portugal. There's so much variety in the wine. Mm. So don't, like, completely write it off- Mm if you don't like port wine.

josh 43:50

Mm-hmm.

brit 43:51

And even, like, port wine, if you don't like a sweet wine, like I said, just think of it like a dessert-

josh 43:57

Mm-hmm

brit 43:58

and then find one that tastes kinda like chocolate. Yeah. You'll love it.

josh 44:02

there's lots of options for you. So whenever you go to Portugal, if you like wines, do a wine tour, do a wine tasting. Mm-hmm. Figure out what you like while you're there. 'Cause I don't... I think one that we haven't mentioned is green wine.

brit 44:15

Oh, yeah.

josh 44:16

Mm-hmm.

brit 44:16

We did have some green wine on this tour as well, didn't we?

josh 44:20

Yeah, I think we did at some point. Yeah.

brit 44:23

I think this was one of the most fun tours that we did in Portugal

josh 44:28

Yeah. Top, top two or top three for sure.

brit 44:30

Yeah, definitely. then we were drunk, so- we, we needed more food. We went to Star Indian for dinner.

josh 44:39

Mm-hmm.

brit 44:40

And it was great. We really let all that Indian food and the garlic naan soak up all the alcohol that we drank that day.

josh 44:49

Yeah.

brit 44:49

It was really great.

josh 44:51

Mm-hmm. Great Indian food.

brit 44:53

I looked up quite a few places, and starred them on my Google Maps. Mm-hmm. this was one that had really, really good reviews. Yeah. And I would also leave a good review. It was great.

josh 45:04

Yeah.

brit 45:04

And then we had gelato.

josh 45:07

I had a chocolate orange ice cream that was fantastic.

brit 45:12

And I had a lemon cookie one.

josh 45:15

Also- Incredible amazing. Yeah.

brit 45:17

So good. It was right around the corner of our, our place too.

josh 45:21

Yeah. So. We really, I think one of the tour guides from all the, the tours that we just went through, one of the tour guides was like, "This is my favorite street because it's got so much good food on," and it was the street that we're staying on. Yeah. Yeah. Or the street, like next to where we were staying, so it was very easy to get to all these great places that you had marked- Absolutely and that they recommended.

brit 45:44

Absolutely. so that was it for that day. We went back and really crashed. It was another early night. Mm-hmm. the next day we went to Gather Porto- Mm-hmm for breakfast.

josh 46:00

Yeah.

brit 46:02

And we got a oatmeal- Mm-hmm that had, like, fresh fruit and peanut butter in it. Oh. Really good. So good. Really good. And then we also got shakshuka. Mm-hmm. This was incredible. I need to make this at home. Shakshuka is a dish with poached eggs in a, like, tomato and olive oil sauce, with, like, peppers and garlic and cumin and paprika, and it's so delicious. And then we got sourdough to dip into it. Yeah. Out of this world. It was very flavorful. Highly recommend this place as well.

josh 46:44

Another place that was 50 yards from where we were staying.

brit 46:48

Yeah, we were really just in foodie central.

josh 46:51

Yeah. Worked out fantastic.

brit 46:53

It did, yeah. so that was a really great breakfast before leaving Porto. Mm-hmm. I, I will say, I think with the full wine tour, the full-day wine tour, and, uh, being in Gaia for half of the day- Mm-hmm an- that other day- Mm-hmm for the other wine tour- Yeah I don't know that we got enough time in Porto.

josh 47:18

No. it is a really big place

brit 47:21

It's huge. It's a, a big city, but it doesn't necessarily have, like, a big city feel everywhere. No. Like, there are some spots where it feels like a big zip- Mm-hmm city, I think where we were staying it felt somewhat smaller.

josh 47:38

Yeah.

brit 47:39

Maybe because of, like, the foodie spots and the- the more, like, community-focused things that I had seen.

josh 47:47

Yeah.

brit 47:47

I really liked Porto from what we saw of it. Is it gonna make the top three for me? No.

josh 47:53

Mm-mm.

brit 47:54

But I loved Porto, and I would recommend people to spend some time there.

josh 48:00

Yeah, I would not object to going back. Really nice pla- it was clean.

brit 48:07

Yeah, it was very clean.

josh 48:08

People were really nice, We've talked about it so many times, and I've already mentioned it. You could spend so much time in a place, live your whole life in a single place, and you could never see all of it or understand it, know the history completely of it, and that's what I would want so bad. But we could go back again for sure and have a completely different food experience that I- Mm-hmm am sure I would love, minus we would go back and have that francesinha again.

brit 48:36

No, if we went back to Porto, I would want to have that francesinha or a francesinha, like, every day. I'm not kidding. I feel like we didn't, we didn't eat that enough while we were there. I don't think we did.

josh 48:51

But that was one that, uh, the tour guide in Aveiro recommended to us-

brit 48:57

Yes

josh 48:57

this place, and it knocked it out of the park. Yeah. It was great.

brit 49:00

She had some good recommendations.

josh 49:03

Yeah. So I think that's something, that's a recommendation. Talk to your tour guides about- Mm-hmm where you're going next, uh, whether it's in the same country, maybe it's, if it's in a different country. I'm sure they have great recommendations for the local cuisines.

brit 49:17

Is it, getting in your top three?

josh 49:19

No. It, definitely a place I would go back and visit as a tourist. I don't think I would consider it as a place to live. It's, it's lots of things, but it's also just busy. I think in general there's a lot of people there. It's got a lot of tourism there. Um, it's hilly as shit. So hilly. I

brit 49:44

think it would be very curious to see if we stayed in Gaia, how we would feel, because it is- For

josh 49:53

sure

brit 49:53

kind of outside of Porto, but you can easily get to Porto.

josh 49:57

Oh, yeah.

brit 49:58

I think it could be something that we could consider. Yeah. You know, staying in Gaia and making a trip to Porto every day for- Mm-hmm the Francesinha. I also think staying in, um, on the islands would be really fun. Oh,

josh 50:14

yep.

brit 50:14

And we've talked about, like, if we ever want to do, like, a Hawaii trip, let's just go- Mm to the Portugal islands instead.

josh 50:23

Yeah. Definitely something for us to look into.

brit 50:26

Absolutely. Yeah. but that's kind of the gist of what we did in Porto.

josh 50:31

Yeah.

brit 50:32

Is there anything else you want to add about Porto?

josh 50:35

No. I, I think it's a great stop. I would recommend if people are doing the kinda typical Lisbon, Porto, Lagos kinda trio, that, that Aveiro, like I said in the last episode, is a great stop in between- Yeah Lisbon and Porto. So go back, listen to that episode. Take a day or two to stop in Aveiro. Uh, listen to Brittany talk about it. Listen to me talk about it. It's fantastic. But i- keep Porto as a stop because it's a great foodie spot. Lots of great things, uh, about Porto.

brit 51:11

Yeah.

josh 51:11

Um, and a good spot to be able to get to the Douro Valley for as well.

brit 51:16

Yeah. I think that's a pretty good descri- description. It is a very good foodie spot. Mm-hmm. And a very good wine spot as well. Mm-hmm. So if you like those things, definitely keep Porto- Yeah in your list, yeah.

josh 51:30

Yep.

brit 51:32

Next episode we will be talking about Coimbra. We loved Coimbra.

josh 51:38

Absolutely loved it.

brit 51:40

So look out for that next week. Don't forget to like, subscribe and follow on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube @WSMHtravels

josh 51:50

You can listen to our podcast on Apple, Spotify and YouTube. YouTube is where we have our video record version, including pictures and videos from our trip. Please continue to leave your comments and send us messages on what you liked from our trips and suggestions for future trips. We really appreciate it.

brit 52:06

Thank you so much for listening. Until next time.