In late June we went back to Porto for three days with my cousin Elsa. The main reason we went was to attend the Festa de São João (Saint John’s Party) which I will NOT be writing about today. For various reasons we will write about that festival after we go back to do it all again, maybe next year if we are feeling plucky. Even though we aren’t covering the crazy festival now, we did have another batch of amazing pics which we wanted to share.

The Douro river runs from the ocean through Porto and continues east into picturesque wine country (read about one of our adventures there HERE). The city has seven major bridges going over the river and there are multiple boat tours available which focus on those bridges. Since we traveled by Tuk Tuk on our last visit, we decided to see Porto by boat this time. The tour was a relaxing way to start our day and offered a completely different perspective of the city. As we waited for our start time we ran around a corner to see one of Artur Bordalo’s excellent trash art installations.

Porto is a stunning city and if you had to run through it in two days I’d recommend both a Tuk Tuk and a boat tour (along with some hilly walks of course). Our next tourist check-in was Livraria Lello, an amazing bookstore that was inaugurated in 1906. Consistently considered one of the top three bookstores in the world, it is an amazing spectacle which is constantly thronged by crowds of people touring and taking selfies. Getting in involves pre-purchasing a ticket and lining up based on a predesignated time slot. Thankfully the ticket price is taken off the purchase price of any books you buy! They offer books in both Portuguese, English, along with other languages. We picked up The Savage Detectives by Robert Bolaño and The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by José Saramago.

The day after the festival the major port production houses have a boat regatta going up the river. We found a lunch spot at what we thought was the finish line, unfortunately the race actually ended about 1/4 mile away so here are some pictures of funny boats far away.

Before we left town we stopped at Brasão Coliseu for a delicious meal. Brasão is a Porto based chain which we will definitely make our way back to. Elsa and I ate massive Francesinha sandwiches.

As always, Porto provided us with stunning views around every corner, here are some of the city scapes I photographed during this trip.

Porto is such a fun city to wander through, here are some fun photos of street performers, other silliness we experienced this trip, and an adorable bird.

We very intentionally chose to buy our house close to Porto. It is a city we won’t tire of visiting anytime soon thanks to ancient architecture, European style, great food, and panoramic vistas all with a counterculture undercurrent. If you are visiting Portugal and can only stop in one city and don’t want to see us in Urgezes/Guimarães, then I’d say you should spend that time in Porto. Finally, some of the graffiti I shot during this trip. Enjoy, and thanks for reading!