Welcome back to Tales from our Pocket. We're back in Europe... again! And this time we're exploring
Portugal. Our trip this time begins in the city of Porto, and it's one we're familiar with
and really enjoy, but we're only passing through on our way to other adventures.
We started wondering, what can you do on a budget in one day in Porto? We're about to show you
our picks for a one-day itinerary on a budget. Then we're off to explore the rest of Portugal, and
we have some incredible adventures lined up that you are not going to want to miss. But first, Porto!
Before we get started, everything you're going to see here can be done in a day, but it's going
to be a pretty full day and you want to get an early start. Not only that, but be prepared for a
lot of walking. This is a budget itinerary, after all, but don't worry all those steps will make
their way for saving room in the budget for port tasting later on, which we consider
mandatory when you visit the city of Porto. We have a lot to do. Let's go get started.
Welcome to your first stop of the day: the market of Porto. This market has a fantastic selection, but really
you're here on a mission. A shopping mission. Your job is to pick up one of the amazing fruit juices
from the selection that they have downstairs, but while you're there make sure you check out all the
nuts and the dried fruits and the breads from the bakery. They even have a wine stand and they have
sandwiches, if you want. They have the good makings for a picnic but we're here for the fruit juice.
Choose a fruit stand and find something that you've never had before,
and maybe even multiple things and buy them and save them for later. We'll come back to them.
Make sure you don't miss the smoothie stand. They have every fruit and flavor
that you can imagine and they are all delicious. And 2 euro - it's a bargain!
Now, don't be too quick to finish your smoothie because your next stop
is going to be another shopping mission. On the way, make sure you check out
one of the most iconic buildings, I would say, in Porto.
You can see it coming behind me, and that is the blue and white tile church. Take a look.
Now you have your smoothie and you've seen one of the - I think honestly it's a little bit
insta-famous - but one of the most beautiful buildings in Porto, and so you might be
thinking to yourself, "I need a snack to go with my smoothie; whatever shall I get?" Well, this is a great
time to have Pastel da Nata. We first had them in Lisbon, and they're delicious and we had it
at one of the original places. It's still warm, and I'm dying to find out if it's as good as the first
ones we had in Lisbon. Let's find out. Pastel da Nata is a creamy egg filled custard tart with a
nice crispy crust on the outside, so what you have outside is completely crispy all the way around,
and on the inside it's this mushy, creamy, simply delicious tart. It is a must try when you're
in Portugal. Whether you're in Porto or Lisbon or anywhere else, you have to try a Pastel Da Nata.
Don't worry, we did get one for Bill, too.
Yeah, that's the place.
Now that you've had some fortification in the form of Pastel da Nata and the juice, it's time to burn off
those calories and climb a tower. We're going to climb up a tower that gives us a great perspective
over Porto. On your way to the tower, you have to stop at the Sao Bento train station. Inside is
an example of the beautiful blue and white tile work that you see all across Portugal. The blue
and white tiles are called azulejos. Our Portuguese is just a little bit better than other
places that we've been but in spanish, they're Azulejos. Why is it also in Spanish? Because the Portuguese king
actually went to Sevilla and discovered the beautiful blue and white tile work that was there,
brought back the idea to Portugal, and you could say it spread like blue and white tile
wildfire all across Portugal. Make sure you stop inside the train station for a great example of it.
There's some really unique glass inside a building near the train station,
and you should pop into the McDonald's to look at it. Yes, I did say a McDonald's.
Now it's time to work up an appetite for lunch. When we go to a new city we like to
get a good look around, and the best way to do that is climb a tower. We're going to
climb this one. It's called the Clerigos Tower. This is a bit more of a
splurge option, and we understand has the best tower view of all of Porto.
As you can see, the views from up here are amazing. Is it worth the splurge? Well it's
up to you. The stairs are pretty steep in places, and a little bit uneven, but you can see all of
Porto from here. I would say it's worthy splurge, if you're looking to spend about six more Euros.
This is our choice for a budget view over the city. From here, you get a similar view that you get from
the tower overlooking the river, and you can see all the places where you can taste port off in the
distance. If you do want to climb the stairs, you may need to come back at a later time. They do
fill up their time slots and they have tour groups. Speaking of lines - something that's optional on our
best day in Porto on a budget, is seeing what's commonly referred to as the Harry Potter library.
We are going to stand in this line to see if it's worth it, and we'll let you know.
I would say that that was one of the neatest bookstores that we've been in. It was also the most
crowded - easily - easily. You stand in line for a long time. We got there right when they opened
at 9:30, and there was already a massive line, but it only took about a half hour to get through. [yes]
It's sort of perfect timing if you climb the tower right when it opens
at 9am, and then go over to the Harry Potter bookseller store, stand in their line and
head on in. We spent about a half hour in there. It was really crowded, but it was beautiful with
the staircase in the center was sort of the centerpiece of the store. There were carvings
and it really is one of the prettiest bookstores I've been in. I just wish it wasn't so crowded,
but what can you do? I'm happy the bookstore is making a bunch of money off of us tourists.
In case you hadn't heard, that bookstore theoretically is what inspired
JK Rowling for writing her books. She did live here in Porto for a time, from 91 to 93.
We don't know exactly how much time she spent there. She hasn't come out and affirmed or denied
any of the rumors that are out there about whether she actually wrote the books there. The similarities are
pretty hard to miss though. Yeah, you can definitely see how it would - might - have inspired
some of the Harry Potter books. It's kind of cool to see that in real life, and of course they
had a giant selection of her books in many different languages - if you don't have them already.
All right. You should be hungry now, and we would recommend making your way down to
the river next, to find somewhere to eat. We might even have somewhere that we'll recommend.
Heather ordered what literally translates to nail on a plate, which now that she's got it looks like
a salisbury steak with - oh no, that could be pork - anyway, some kind of meat covered with ham.
Then a partially fried egg and some fried potatoes. Then I ordered Bacalao da Braga.
Cod in a Braga style. The place that we've chosen for lunch is a bit off of the main drag,
but being off the main drag means that you get more for your money. Our lunch cost six or seven
euro per plate, and it would have been on a budget if Bill hadn't accidentally ordered a half liter
of wine - which we think cost nine euros. This place still has great views, so that is our budget
tip for you for lunch - is if you want a splurge, definitely consider it down by the main river area,
but you could also walk a few blocks past the bridge and there are many eateries
right along the river and you'll save a bundle by going to one of them.
For all that wine, two thirds of a bottle that was actually four euros, not nine. I'm saved.
Behind me is a square that is delightful. It spills out to the river - but be careful
for birds flying overhead. Ask me how I know! That's right; a bird pooped on me.
Right on my face, and I can still feel where it hit me 2.5 years later. I've
kind of held a grudge against Portugal since then. I'm surprised to be back here but I'm
willing to give Portugal a second chance. Here's hoping I don't get pooped on again.
I bet it's been a while since you had a Pastel da Nata. We should fix that.
We've been sampling the Pastel da Nata all over town, as you've seen, and I think I'm going to vote
for that one being the best. That was Castro's. They add a little bit of powered sugar and
cinnamon on top, and the custard was just a little bit better than all the others. I think I'd agree.
It was delicious. I mean, they're all delicious, but that one's like just a little bit
delicious-er. Delicious-er. You heard it here, it's delicious-er.
When you are in the city of Porto, what do you do? You have to - HAVE to - tour a port cellar, and also
try some port. I'm not even a huge fan of port and I would consider this a "must do". The one that we've
chosen for your budget tour while you're in Porto is 10 euro, as you can see right here, and includes
not one but three tastings. It has a bonus where if you buy a bottle before you leave, you can
put 5 euro from the cost of your tour toward the purchase of that bottle. This is a fantastic
option while you're in the town. For your final spot of the day we recommend heading to the park
that's at the very top of the first bridge. It is a bit of a hike from where the port tastings are,
but you kind of need to work off all that port you drank, don't you. You might want to stop at
one of the bakeries along the way, pick up some bread to go with the fruit that you bought this
morning at the market. Ok, we think this one's dragon fruit. I don't know that we've had it before.
Oh, it's soft like a melon. Here goes! All my teeth are going to be red in a second.
It tastes like an overly ripe cantaloupe, actually. That's like - I can't think of a better description.
This is one of my favorite fruits in the world. This is passion fruit. It's the one thing that
we bought where we know exactly what it is and Bill does not want any. The wrinklier it is on the
outside, the more ripe it is. They are delicious and really hard to find in Minnesota. Oh gosh, so good.
Before we lose our light for the day, we just want to say, we really hope that you enjoyed spending
the day in Porto with us. There's plenty to do in Porto on a budget, or there are splurge-worthy
options for you. It's most important that you just enjoy yourself and pick up the ambiance
of the city, which is exactly what we're doing, courtesy of the performer that's in the background.
We'll catch you in the next video - lots more to come on Portugal.
Isn't it time for another Pastel da Nata??