A Bray abroad or pals in Porto

Kim is on an adventure with her oldest friends – a weekend in Porto to celebrate our ‘big birthday’ year.

Our day started at 04:30 at Luton Airport, rather a shock to all of us but a nice early start in Porto. We were in the city by 10am for an early brunch at the Majestic Cafe, a beautiful art deco cafe serving the best coffee in Porto and a favourite of JK Rowling when writing Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.

Our afternoon was spent on a walking tour and, my goodness, Porto is hilly! We walked past the cathedral, visited the Sao Bento Station with its 20000 painted tiles and had a comprehensive lesson in the city’s history. Tomorrow morning, we’ll visit the museum in the Cathedral and the 14th Century baroque Franciscan Church which, allegedly, is lined with 300kg of gold and described as an explosion in a gold factory- I wonder how much we can get out, under our fingernails?

We learned about Porto’s dark history and the Jewish extermination in 15th and 16th century. It was a disturbing listen and our tour guide found it difficult to relate.

Our final tourist destination was the Livraria Lello, the most beautiful bookshop in the world and we would struggle to challenge the description. It was a shame about the crowds but well worth a visit.