Portugal

#1  Portugal – October/November 2021. Age: 27

This was a new beginning. I was fresh out of a 5 year relationship and I needed to, without wanting to sound too cliché, ‘find myself’. I decided to go back to my roots. A big shout out to my dear friends Emily and Nick who promoted this course of action and agreed to join me out in Porto with a bunch of pals. 

Portugal – home of my ancestors on one side – almost laughably distant roots but don’t judge me for claiming it; I’m grasping onto something to make me at least a little diverse.. We’re talking perhaps 1/8th Portuguese at most. 

I did this over the course of 3 weeks;  a week in Porto, a week in Lisbon and a week in Palermo (Sicily, which we’ll ignore in this segment). 

Porto was a delight. In my first week, I was riding solo. I love to do a 10K in every new city I go to, to get my bearings and find any quaint, beautiful or secret spots. I ran along the river and crossed the various bridges on my excursion before arriving at Graham’s  winery. This is the first must; great wine (obviously) and great for a good quality dinner without being ridiculously expensive. When the gang arrived for a long weekend, this was one of our best nights – everyone likes everyone after a bottle and a half of good wine per head. 

One of my favourite spots in the centre was Base Bar. I will briefly mention the famous book shop for Harry Potter nuts here – it’s grand. Apparating swiftly on, I would come to Base Bar almost daily if I wasn’t out on an excursion. I’d settle in the sun, read my book for hours, sip the occasional cocktail and slowly get nice and mellow whilst drifting in to one of my 3 books for the holiday. I tend to like a mix of business, self growth/philosophy and fantasy. On this trip, it was Platform Revolution, The Myth of Sisyphus and The Wheel of Time (can’t recall which one). 

For a good night out, you probably want to start of at the Sky Bar, or just bar hopping through the streets down towards Ponte Luis 1, the iconic metal gridded bridge over the River Doura. Like many great Sky Bars, it sits atop a large car park which is very unobvious when you’re looking for it. You literally walk up a set of car park stairs (usual smells apply) before walking out into a beautiful cocktail bar with a great view of the setting sun over Porto. 

I’d like to give you a debrief on where to go for a good night out, but sadly, 3 years have passed and I struggle to remember the nights out at the best of times in the immediate aftermath, so we’ll leave Porto here and hit Lisbon. 

Lisbon is one of my favourite cities on earth. Top 5 for sure. It’s no surprise I’ve been back twice since this first trip in 2021. Granted both were for long weekends, including a stag but I would never say no to coming to this magical place. 

2-3 hours bus ride south from Porto and you’re in a buzzing metropolis. Every time I’ve stayed there, I’ve been in Bairro Alto, which is the kind of party district, but there are plenty of options. It’s near the Pink Street, which is great for a classic, no frills, piss up. Nothing cool about this place; just shots and getting in the bin. 

The first few days, again, I was riding solo – I explored Sintra, which is absolutely stunning, and home, apparently to the best Nata (custard tarts). Although I think a few spots claim this; they’re all a bloody delight to the senses. Belem is very cool too. There’s too much to see the old town though; for me it is mostly characterized by loose nights out.

Another thing I like to do when solo travelling is try the local take out service just in case I decide to live there; I’m very lazy when it comes to making my own food. This was on Glovo; I tried a take-out Francesinha; I was curious to how what is essentially a croque monsieur but with an egg on top and downed in gravy and extra cheese would travel. It was f***ing fantastic but I would caveat at this point I was probably very high at this point (on life, obviously). 

Time-Out market is a great place to go. It’s got all your cuisine in one place -not Michelin, but it’s great food, not unlike a Mercator Metropliano in London. I have an after-hours story with my great friends Nick S and Tom S but we’ll have to tune in for the late show to hear about this; it’s serious reprobate behaviour. 

Another great suggestion is a boat trip down the Tagus; we jumped on a sunset tour with unlimited drinks provided and saw Lisbon by day before seeing it by night as we arrived back in the harbour at Cabo Ruivo. I can’t recall what happened at this stage but I believe we hit Pink Street – a very likely story. 

I’ll cover the final leg of this journey in my Italy Segment, as I then ventured onto Palermo with my good friend Nick S.