We arrived in Porto on Wednesday afternoon after a stop at the University of Coimbra, founded in 1290. Porto sits along the Douro River, with the historic Ribeira district on one bank and the port wine cellars of Vila Nova de Gaia on the other. The city’s Roman name, Portus Cale, gave Portugal its name.
The next day, we did a city tour by tuk-tuk. We saw the Porto Cathedral, built in the 12th century on the highest point in the city, and the Igreja dos Carmelitas, which is separated from the neighboring Igreja do Carmo by a one-meter-wide house built between them. We took the cable car along the Douro for views over the river and the Dom Luís I Bridge, the iron arch completed in 1886 and once the longest of its kind in the world.
We spent the following day on the Atlantic for a surf lesson. The waves were heavy, and it took most of the lesson to catch my first wave. I also spotted my first wild sea urchin in the shallows. That afternoon, we did a hands-on Portuguese cooking class with two local chefs, George and Vitor. I made the pan-seared prawn starter while they led the rest of the meal.
Later in the week, we drove out to Braga, one of Portugal’s oldest cities and home to the country’s oldest cathedral, the Sé de Braga. We climbed all 583 steps of the Baroque stairway at the Bom Jesus do Monte sanctuary.
The free day was the best of the trip. A few of us drove out to Peneda-Gerês, Portugal’s only national park. The granite hills are dotted with waterfalls and cold-water pools where you can swim. The bus ride back wound through some of the most beautiful country I’ve seen.
FC Porto also clinched their 31st Primeira Liga title while we were in town, and the city threw a celebration to match. The team paraded from Ribeira up to Praça dos Aliados, where captain Diogo Costa and coach Francesco Farioli lifted the trophy in front of a packed square. The night ended with fireworks and a drone show that spelled “One Family” across the sky over downtown.
The standout was Le Monument, the Michelin-starred restaurant in the Monumental Palace Hotel, where Chef Julien Montbabut serves Grande Viagem, a ten-course, four-hour tasting menu through Portugal’s regions. We closed the trip with a farewell dinner cruise down the Douro at sunset. By the time the boat pulled back in, my first time leaving the U.S. was over, and I was already trying to figure out when I’d be back. What I’ll remember most isn’t any single monument or meal, but the feeling that I’d barely started seeing what’s out there.
