I'm here with just a small backpack, so I take the metro to the city centre, which runs directly from the airport. To buy a ticket, select Z4 at the ticket machine. I get off at Casa da Musica, which is the closest to the accommodation.

Worldee Tip: the Uber app works great in Porto and shared scooters are popular here. I have tried both and can also recommend them.

Exit station -> continue on foot towards Rooms São Dinis.

Check-in is quick, the owner is very friendly and speaks good English, the facility is older but everywhere is very clean. The bonus is the huge terrace and well equipped kitchen. The owner is happy to chat with you and give you wine, but doesn't intrude, it's all up to you. After checking in, I set off to explore the centre.

I'm the first to meet this huge monument 👉. I'm heading to the promenade, but first I'm looking forward to some "sea" dinner.

Illiabum Restaurante

According to Tripadvisor, I'm picking a place to go for dinner. My conditions are clear - normal price, distance that suits me, fish 😀. I was incredibly pleasantly surprised by the price - main course, pint of water, pint of wine and great olives - I couldn't have eaten better. The place is ordinary, but the service is great! The business is almost in the centre, there is also seating outside 😎

After dinner, a walking tour of the downtown area begins. St.Francis Church is part of UNESCO. It is one of the most important Gothic monuments in Porto ⛪

Ribeira is known for its narrow cobbled streets. It's full of restaurants and bars that really entice you to sit down 🍷🍸

Here I'm ordering an Uber to the hostel. Unlike in the Czech Republic, Uber is still quite convenient here.

I head straight to the local famous Clerigos Tower for breakfast. Nearby is a nicely decorated cathedral and a small park to rest from the hot sun. Between the cathedral and the park are smaller markets selling mainly jewellery or cork bags 👜💍

I originally wanted to go to Hungry Biker in style, but it's still under renovation. So I converge on the river and pick a cafe nicely "on the rails" where the place is packed. The plain toast with tomatoes and olives was really great. I wouldn't have the ox eye again, but all in all a fine place for good money. You can also observe the typical Portuguese trams that occasionally passed between our tables 🥪☕

After breakfast I set off on the tourist route to the cathedral according to the map.cz. Along the way I pass a lot of historical buildings and here and there a nice spot for a view over the whole city. Although I'm not a big fan of interiors, the pictures on the internet got me excited, so I decide to visit the cathedral. And I have to say, for hoooodly little money, it really is an absolute gem! 🙂⛪👍 Make sure not to miss it - for me Porto Cathedral is one of the most beautiful buildings in Porto.

After the excitement of the beautiful cathedral, I move on to a very famous place in Porto. This is the bookstore that inspired J.K. Rowling to write Harry Potter. The place is not to be missed, as there is an incredible queue to get in. This puts me off and I just walk through for the first time, thinking I'll try to book the exact time 🧙🏽♂️

There are 2 options, either buy a ticket for €5 and wait in that crazy queue (that makes it almost pointless to buy something online) or buy a so called "VIP" ticket for €15.90 and go at the exact time. As a bonus, you get a book worth the ticket (or deducted from the more expensive one). So I buy the VIP ticket and in 30 min and beat the whole queue 😃. I'm taking home a nice Little Prince book, it'll come in handy maybe as a gift 📚

The bookstore is really beautiful. If you are a Harry Potter fan, it would definitely be a shame not to visit it. I'll warn you right away though - steel your nerves, it's really crowded inside. I also strongly recommend the VIP entrance fee, as the tour itself only takes a few minutes (the bookstore is very small), so you would spend most of the day queuing outside

It's time to reward myself for a busy visit to the bookstore.I've known the traditional Portuguese dessert Pastel de nata for a while now 🙂 and I really like it. Yeah, it's extremely sweet, but it's great. I'm taking the classic and almond this time. The classic is great as always, but the almond one, shame to try, it's dry and so tasteless. I must say the other flavours of pastel de nata are the ones I've liked the most so far in Lagos🍪. I must say though, everything baked in the windows here looks luxurious. Thank goodness it's hot and I'm not really in the mood 😀.

I've already seen the famous bridge from the promenade yesterday, but today I still have to go to the other side of the Douro River, because I have a visit to the port wine factory (is that what it's called?) later. Make sure you go to the bridge too, the views are amazing from here. Then there is a cable car on the other side of the river and a nice promenade with restaurants and views of the colourful opposite bank ✅💯

At the end of the day, I went on a commented tour of the port factory. There are several factories here, so there really is a lot to choose from. The tour was fine, lasted about an hour and we had 3 tastings of great port🍷 at the end. For me, it's such a must go when one is in Porto, although then in the sun it writes decently ☀️😂🥴.

I wanted to try the cafe that's almost under my windows, but unfortunately they didn't have a menu in English. The gentleman was helpful but then it's hard to choose something, I just had ham & cheese toast and water. However, it's more affordable than the centre of course, but again it's really ordinary and by having a kitchen in my hostel I wouldn't go here again 🍰

Again attempt to have breakfast without Tripadvisor's advice, the menu is only online in EN, but they are very helpful. Expecting a similar toast to yesterday, I end up having the local traditional dish Francesinha. I wanted to try it while I'm here, but then I always prefer fish on a hot day anyway (and I do well...😃). Francesinha is such a vegetarian's nightmare. It's a toast that has bacon, sausage, ham, meat, sausage, just everything 😃, topped with cheese and served with this weird sauce. Sometimes it comes with an egg and fries. I kind of regretted the egg, it goes great in there, but it was all combined with fries and I think I would have burst 🥪. In summary - like it's good, but having it at lunchtime on a hot day, I'll probably fall over somewhere afterwards. It's definitely not diet, I'll have to move a bit again today 😃.

I'm off to go have that brutal breakfast. It's quite a struggle in this heat. The beach itself isn't the prettiest, concrete all around, but it's clean and so is the water. But as an added bonus, it's probably the iciest I've ever experienced, damn the ocean...⛱️

As much as the swimming here is not a hit parade, the local promenade is fine. It's really super long and you can walk all the way to the centre (there are plenty of scooters to rent for those who find the walk long). I also walk past the two lighthouses that are at the mouth of the Douro River into the ocean. 🚨

I don't really want to go to the second lighthouse anymore, but I end up bypassing it too. I'm happy as a result because it's the first time I've seen starfish and they're still really huge 🙂✴️

And now I'm going to walk along the Douro river promenade to the centre 👌

So this was really a blackout, great food, great service and edible straws keep me entertained 😃. I can totally understand the ladies at the next table having about 3 big courses! I don't qualify after that breakfast though 😂.

It's the last day of port and I'm hitting the streets again. I head to a pretty well rated diner for some airport food. Prices are fine, salad good but could have been bigger 😂. The place is nice, clean, the service is great.

My last port stop is at Casa da Musica, after that I just have to take the metro to the airport and return to Prague ✈️. Architecturally it's definitely interesting, but for me it's too "concrete". Nevertheless, it's nice to sit here, so at least I'll have breakfast before my flight.