On our way from Lisbon to Porto, we made a quick lunch stop to the riverside city of Coimbra. Coimbra, at one point, (I missed the date), was the capital of Portugal and is home to the University of Coimbra, one of the oldest universities in the world. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, its buildings are grand and imposing. I was honestly baffled when I was told it was a university. The uniform you can see the students wearing, (the black cape), isn’t just graduation or special occasion attire. This is what the students have to wear daily. It’s the same at the University of Porto. Apparently, it’s so that the students are recognised as having a special and important position in society. They’re not allowed to paint their nails, dye their hair, nor wear excessive jewellery. On the one hand, having a uniform would make getting ready in the mornings so much easier and quicker, but equally, this seems far too restrictive when uni is really about finding yourself and coming into your own. Nevertheless, the uniforms worn by uni students in Portugal is what inspired JK Rowling for the uniforms at Hogwarts.

// Durante nuestro viaje desde Lisboa a Oporto, paramos en una ciudad cerca del rio que se llama Coimbra. Coimbra fue la capital de Portugal y tiene la Universidad de Coimbra, una de las universidades más antiguas del mundo. Forma parte de la lista del Patrimonio de la Humanidad, los edificios son grandes y increíbles. No pude creer que era una universidad! El uniforme que visten los estudiantes no es algo para una ocasión especial. Es su uniforme diario. Es para distinguir que los estudiantes tienen una posición especial y importante entre la sociedad. No están permitidos a llevar joyería, pintar a sus uñas o tintar a su pelo. Por un lado, un uniforme es muy conveniente y ahorra tiempo por las mañanas, pero al otro lado, las reglas son estrictas y pienso que la universidad es para encontrar su propio personalidad y estilo. No obstante, estos uniformes es lo que se inspiraron a JK Rowling para los de Hogwarts.

We arrived in Porto in the early evening. Whilst the others took a nap in the hostel, Zoe and I went for a wander around our new city. The buildings seem to be of the Baroque style, (I could be wrong, my architecture knowledge is most definitely lacking). Like the Torre de los Clérigos, which stands at 75m high and is thought of as the highest point in Portugal. You can pay a few euros and go to the top for a 360degree view of Porto on a sunny day which I imagine is a beautiful sight.

We also happened to stumble across the Casa Oriental. Something like Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, but for sardines, Casa Oriental has 1000s of cans of sardines in retro tins with the year printed on them. It’s a super colourful, wacky shop and a tin of these bad boys would make a great novelty gift.

Only having walked around for about half an hour, we could already tell that we preferred Porto over Lisbon. There was the hustle and bustle of people milling around, market stall vendors still selling their wares and restaurants and bars getting ready for their Saturday night crowd. Although the buildings are still not pristine, much like Lisbon (which I didn’t mind), the grandeur of the surrounding buildings are amazing. We were incredibly excited for the next day of exploring.

// Llegamos por la tarde y mi amigo Zoe y yo decidimos a dar un paseo en nuestra ciudad nueva. Los edificios son del estilo Barocco, (creo!). Por ejemplo el Torre de los Cléricos que está 75m en altura y la punta lo más alta en Portugal. Cuando hace sol, puede pagar algunos euros para ir a la cima para una vista linda.

Encontramos también la Casa Oriental. Es como la fabrica de chocolate de Willy Wonka, pero en vez de chocolate, es sardinas. La Casa Oriental tiene miles de sardinas en latas retros con el año.

Solo anduvimos para 30 minutos, pero preferimos Oporto de Lisboa. Hubo mucha gente que crea un ambiente amable y los edificios son increíbles.

The next morning we woke up ready for our walking tour around Porto. After completing leg day 4 times over, we arrived at the top of a steep hill to a look out point over the river Douro and could see all the port cellars. We moved onto the town centre, past the old prison, (very beautiful prison if you ask me), past the university and past the library which also inspired JK Rowling. We continued walking over the Dom Luís I bridge and took a cable car down to the riverside. We ate at Mercado Beira-Rio, which was very similar to Mercado San Miguel, and was a welcome contrast from all the junk food I’d consumed during this trip. (I wouldn’t say Portugal is the most vegetarian friendly place). Finally it came to what everyone had been looking forward to: wine tasting.

We had our wine tasting afternoon in Burmester, where we first learnt about the process of making the wine. Port wine comes from grapes grown and harvested in the Douro area. There are white varieties and red varieties and within the red there’s the ruby wine and the tawny wine. The intensity of the colour and flavour depends on the amount of time it has to ferment and the amount of contact it has with the wood of the barrels. I’m not a lover of wine, but it was actually really interesting to learn about the process and be in the winery itself.

// La mañana próxima nos levantamos para hacer nuestro walking-tour de Oporto. Vimos el rio Douro, la antigua cárcel, la universidad, la biblioteca, (que inspiró a JK Rowling también). Anduvimos a través del Puente de Dom Luís I y tomamos un teleférico hasta el rio. Comimos a Mercado Beira-Rio, que es muy similar a Mercado San Miguel. Después, empezamos el cata de vinos.

Fuimos a Burmester, donde aprendimos sobre el proceso. Hay vinos blancos y tintos, y hay 2 tipos de vino tintos: el ruby y el tawny. La intensidad del color y sabor depende del tiempo el vino tiene de madurar y contacto con la madera de los barriles. No me gusta vino en absoluto, pero aprender sobre todo fue muy interesante.

We left in a bit of a hurry as we were heading back to Madrid that day. I was actually really sad to leave. Although Porto was definitely my favourite place,  I don’t feel as if I was able to explore and experience everything that I wanted to. The history, the culture, the diversity, the boys, (ahem), all make me want to go back and visit Portugal again!

// Nos fuimos con prisa porque volvimos a Madrid ese día. Estaba triste irme. Aunque Oporto fue mi lugar favorito, no creo que tenga la oportunidad de explorar y experimenter todo lo que yo quiera. La historia, la diversidad, la cultura, los chicos guapos (ay!) hacen que quiero volver otra vez!