Leaving Quinte Cancela to Porto

Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Porto, Porto, Portugal
After another wonderful breakfast,this time with sweet pound cake, fresh Persimmons off the tree in the,yard and fresh OJ from their trees, we packed and said our goodbyes, and left for the beach at Esposende and Ofir....these beaches are part of the North Litoral Beach area...lovely protected area...not wild like Ericeira but still nice.. Too many condos but wide white sandy. Beaches and little waves.....at Ofir there were tons of tourists learning how to surf...looked pretty cold. We then drove about half an hour to Viana do Castelo, a small port city on the Lima River delta...it used to be an important fishing and,boat building center in the 15-15 century but now it relies mainly on tourism and some textiles...we bought some pretty blue table runners at a Home Style shop and had a coffee and pastry at Confeitaria Natario by the river esplanade. It's a nice inner medieval,center with small,.cozy squares, cafe terraces and cute shops...not all touristy kitsch.
We then drove down the main,toll road the A4 to Porto's airport....we missed the Rental car return exit so ended up going in circles at he end but it all worked out fine. We took a cab into,the city for 39€ and was greeted by Sara at 6 Only Guest House on Ducque De Lourle 97 .....it's a cute small Guest House with 6 original rooms and recently a new section of 6 suites.Our Room is #2 which is at the back overlooking the little courtyard....simple, but clean and comfy. We met Marianna ,the owner later and she gave us a lot of info re the city..
Armed with our map we set out at 6:30 to walk around and explore....we walked to the Se or Cathedral area and checked out some of the churches along the way...stopped by the Majestic Cafe on Santa Catarina street for a beer before supper and checked out the famous,book store,Lelo Livaria with its double,staircase which JK Rawlings supposedly modeled Hogworts library......they charge 3 € each to go inside so we just peeked inside the door... just up the street is another beautiful Art Deco building with Portugueses artisanal products...beautiful wood details and moldings. Then we ate at a Tapas and wine restaurant called Colegiao Vinho and Pesticos. A bit trendy but good...we had yummy Patats, asparagus and steak and shared an apple crumble..Walked around a bit more but I was feeling a bit sick with cold symptoms so we came home and went to bed..
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