My partner Nedjo and I arrived in Porto on Monday, late afternoon. It was a bit of a marathon, as we’d left our home on Salt Spring Island on Saturday morning. But all the travel legs went smoothly—all our flights were on time, the luggage arrived and getting the metro from the Lisbon airport and then train to Porto worked just as I’d hoped.
That gave us two full days, Tuesday and Wednesday, to get over the jet lag and enjoy Porto, a city neither of us had visited before. We loved our time, but the rain we experienced was astounding. Being from the west coast of Canada, we think we know rain. But this was something else. Almost every time we left our apartment (Vivacity Porto, €79 for a studio with kitchenette), we got soaked—right down to our underwear.
But we enjoyed exploring the city on foot, admiring the architecture, walking along the Ribeira waterfront walkway and over the iconic Dom Luis I bridge. There were custard tarts to indulge in and ice cream to sample. We paid a visit to the cathedral so we could pick up our pilgrim passports (credenciales) and like many others, lingered hoping that the torrential rain would stop.
We also made an unplanned trip out to the sporting goods store Decathalon deciding that our raincoats wouldn’t cut it and we’d better buy ponchos. I was rather grumpy over this, since the store was in a neighbouring suburb and I was hoping to explore some of the sights rather than going shopping. But Nedjo was right on this one, as I made sure I told him many times over the next two weeks. Shopping at the Bolhão market for dried figs and nuts for our walking provisions was more fun.
There had been a brief respite in the rain on Wednesday, but by late afternoon it started again and as we ate dinner we got the feeling that this was no normal rain. Back in our apartment we turned on the TV to learn this had been the small window between storms Babete and Aline. With an orange alert in place, with extreme rain, wind and waves forecasted, we decided before bed that we’d skip walking this first day and just take the metro to Matasinhos where we had a guest house booked, having planned just a short first day. Not what we had hoped for and dreamed of—but what can you do. This one was beyond our control.
But after breakfast at the sweet little bakery/cafe across the street that had become our regular spot and checking the weather again, it seemed like the worst of the storm had passed. So we changed plans and got packed to walk. It was perfect that checkout wasn’t until noon and we only had an 11 kilometre day. It was dry when we left, but we had only zigzagged our way down to the river when the skies opened up. Luckily there was a museum entryway to shelter in and we’re getting better at knowing that sheltering is the right thing to do. We donned our ponchos and even tied plastic bags over the tops of our boots.
When the wind whipped up, it seemed slightly crazy to be heading out but very quickly it calmed and it was absolutely magical to be walking again, along the Douro and heading for the coast. We stopped for coffee and a bathroom break in Foz Douro and shortly after the sun came out. The waves crashing against the breakwater were immense and lots of people were out photographing.
We found a sunny bench for our nut and raisin buns with cream cheese and some of our nuts and figs from the market. Another hour or so along the beach took us into Matasinhos and our guest house where we have a private attic room. We showered, each sent an email and headed out to check out dinner options and get a few more provisions.
All the Matasinhos restaurants, including the ones recommended by the guest house, seemed kind of expensive and fancy - Matasinhos is kind of an upscale place - so we headed back to the main street and found a great little bakery/cafe with a menú del día for €9.50. We ate well, fish and a cheese omelette which we shared, followed by pineapple upside down cake. We did well with a mixture of Spanish and English. It was raining hard on our way home but we didn’t get too wet. All in all a great first day and perhaps all the more sweet for it being in jeopardy.