Short Breaks

The sun illuminated the bridge and buildings that covered the high river banks, turning them all a wonderful orangey colour. The water was still, and the air was warm despite the fact the sun was setting. Around us, tourists hustled while waiters tried to usher them into restaurants. Further down, I could hear a musician playing on a Portuguese guitar. Josiah was happy babbling in his pram while I tasted my first ever sole fish, which turned out to be delicious. It’s moments like that when I really love to travel.

Porto is a very attractive city. It has a bit of everything: history, architecture, attractions and lots of fantastic shopping. It is situated next to the coast, in the North of Portugal and is built on the river banks and around two rivers that feed into the sea. It is most famous for the Port wine produced there, but also for the francesinha (which unfortunately is made up largely of beer). Though still quite touristy, I think that if we were to live on Portugal in the future I would rather live near Porto than Lisbon, as it is quite a compact and pretty city. We were lucky enough to spend the Monday and Tuesday there, on our second short holiday. Last month we got to do the same in Lisbon, which was again a real treat. I think the highlight of that trip was trying a new dish of turkey in a mushroom sauce while listening to a street musician playing on an accordion and singing in his loud and melancholy Portuguese style. I also loved exploring the skeletons of a cathedral that sits atop the old city, and sleeping in the tiny box room that sat between two staircases. It was an interesting guesthouse, full of character and backpackers.

I’m not sure what the highlight of Porto was. I can tell you however that it wasn’t the church of St. Francis, which is entirely coated in gold on the inside and has a kind of pagan beauty to it. I wouldn’t have minded it so much if Mark hadn’t delighted so much in trying to get me to look at the skeletons in the catacombs. For some reason however, that kind of teasing makes even a place that you don’t particularly enjoy into a fond memory.

One thing I loved was our hotel, which turned out to be lovely. I was quite worried on the way as we were walking through an area that looked less than reputable to get to it, and sometimes if something is cheap (in this case only 36 euros for us both to stay in a huge ensuite bedroom AND have a yummy breakfast) you sometimes doubt whether it’s going to be good or not. However, it far exceeded my expectations, especially as we had been given a room with 4 beds in it. Maybe they thought we needed more room for the cot.

On our first trip out we went down Rua da Santa Catarina, which is a very long shopping street. I was very excited to find a chicco outlet there, where we bought Josiah a new hat and top. We then found a shopping centre which had an Italian make up shop inside called Kiko. Now, I’m not as into make up as much as I should be, but Kiko is amazing make up at amazing prices. I had left my moisturiser in England and was attempting to ‘do without’ until I got home, but my skin was becoming quite rough and starting to produce blemishes. I therefore decided to buy some at Kiko’s, and Mark was encouraging me to buy more items seeing as my make up selection is quite small right now (as you can probably tell from my pictures). However, I have had too many experiences where I have bought make up at reasonable prices and been very disappointed with what I got. So I decided to research them on the internet first. All the reviews were amazing, so I gave it a go and bought lots of little items. I’ve never liked a make up brand so much. It’s good quality stuff, but aimed at younger people. Lots of colour and selection. Shame they are only in a few countries, none of which include Britain.

We also did a tour of the city on one of those road trains, which was interesting. Especially the part where we rode through a wine warehouse area, where the smell of wine was so strong that I’m not entirely sure if I can say I have never tasted alcohol any more. Josiah enjoyed the bumpiness on the cobbles so much that he fell asleep!

Holding on tight to Josiah over the bumpy cobbles

I think my favourite thing about this trip was simply the fact that it was with Mark and Josiah. It didn’t matter what we were doing, though those things were great, because we were together and enjoying each others company. We chatted, laughed and played with our little one while enjoying it all. And do you know what’s really great about that? It carries on at home, where I can listen to Mark play the guitar as I type a blog, and Josiah plays happily with his toys. Life can’t get that much better, can it?

Josiah wearing his new Chicco clothes (we found an outlet!)