Turistas! #9

sexta-feira, 22 de maio de 2015 · Temas: ,

«From its charming waterfront to its peerless vintages, the city is awash with liquid assets. On paper, Porto makes a perfect weekend break. It’s compact, it’s cheap and easyJet has just launched flights from Bristol, Luton and Manchester.

Joel V2

But Portugal’s second city is an inexhaustible toddler of a town, clambering up the banks of the River Douro in a joyous jumble of contrasting city parts. “Look at me!” clamour Neapolitan alleyways leading down to Dubrovnik-style waterfront cafes. “Over here!” squeal Parisian boulevards and Havana-esque beach bars. Not saying you won’t love it: just don’t expect to get much rest.

Your priority on Saturday morning is the Mercado do Bolhao — the market. Partly because it’s brilliant, mostly because it shuts at 1pm and doesn’t reopen till Monday. Gloriously dilapidated, the fin-de-siècle hall groans with fresh produce, from rabbits and radishes to flowers and fish. The tiny cafe here — plastic chairs and £3 catch-of-the-day specials scribbled in Portuguese — is worth targeting for lunch.

Three more must-sees within a one-minute walk of the market: one, the lamplit hall of mirrors that is the art-nouveau Majestic Cafe (Rua Santa Catarina); two, the Capela das Almas church (Rua Santa Catarina), with its wall-to-wall azulejo (blue tile-work) facades; three, the Confeitaria do Bolhao (Rua Formosa), an art-nouveau deli serving perfect pasteis de nata (custard tarts) and vacuum-packed sausage and cheese for the lucky folks back home.

Afternoon
After lunch, it’s time for Ribeira, the charmingly ungentrified old quarter that tumbles towards the Douro in a bewildering tangle of alleyways. Guidebooks insist the best way to get your bearings here is atop the 250ft-high Torres dos Clerigos (£2.20). Don’t listen to them. Ribeira’s appeal lies in its ground-level detail: the kids chasing footballs down cobbled lanes; the grannies nattering from their balconies across canyon-like alleys; the flare of a welder’s iron from a cavernous workshop. Best way to get your bearings? Just wander. Get lost. Start in Aliados, the Buenos Aires-like main square, visit the tiled splendour of Sao Bento station, but otherwise just follow your nose downhill, clinging to walls if a car comes past. Finish at the Igreja de Sao Francisco (£2.60): the church doesn’t look much from the outside, but inside it’s as if cherubs have sneezed gold leaf across every inch of its vaulted interior.

Evening
Now you’re by the river, you won’t want to move, especially once you discover the craft shops and riverfront bars basking in the late-afternoon sun around Praca da Ribeira. Right on the square, wedged between medieval tenements and bobbing boats, A Taverna is touristy as hell, but with a setting this good, and vast glasses of iced sangria for less than £2, who cares?

Less touristy, Vinhas d’Alho (Cais da Estiva) has tables right on the river ramparts, with cod — a local speciality — cooked about 12,000 ways, grilled octopus for £13 and fado performances every night.

In the mood for more? Stroll uphill to Rua Galeria de Paris, once the hub for Porto’s fabric shops, now bursting with bars that spill onto the pavements in summer. Filled to the brim with a reassuringly mixed-age crowd, Galeria de Paris is always lively, a good spot to work out what comes next: bed or boogie? Two minutes away, Plano B (Rua Candido dos Reis) is the club to hit if you’re still game.

Less touristy, Vinhas d’Alho (Cais da Estiva) has tables right on the river ramparts, with cod — a local speciality — cooked about 12,000 ways, grilled octopus for £13 and fado performances every night.

In the mood for more? Stroll uphill to Rua Galeria de Paris, once the hub for Porto’s fabric shops, now bursting with bars that spill onto the pavements in summer. Filled to the brim with a reassuringly mixed-age crowd, Galeria de Paris is always lively, a good spot to work out what comes next: bed or boogie? Two minutes away, Plano B (Rua Candido dos Reis) is the club to hit if you’re still game.

Sunday

Morning
Ask the locals what they do on Sundays and nearly all of them say “Foz”. Four miles west of Ribeira, the one-time fishing village is Porto’s hippest district, with designer boutiques, an esplanade drumming with joggers and a string of beach bars that wouldn’t look out of place on Salinas Beach in Ibiza. Praia da Luz (Av do Brasil) has solid food and a spectacular setting right above a small but sandy beach — beaten only perhaps by the £1 barbecued-sardine sandwiches on the seawall next to Castelo do Queijo.

As for how to get here: you could hire a bike — Vieguini (vieguini.pt), near the Igreja de Sao Francisco in Ribeira, rents them for £9 a day — cycle to Foz, then cross the river (ferries £1.50 with bike) to pretty Afurada, and cycle back along the south-bank esplanade into town. Or do what most do: catch the rickety 1930s tram that wheezes along the waterfront.

Afternoon
Much is made of Porto’s two cultural big-hitters: the minimalist Museum of Contemporary Art (£6.30; serralves.pt), and Rem Koolhaas’s futuristic meteorite of a concert hall, Casa da Musica (tours £4.50; casadamusica.com). We’re not convinced. Art and architecture buffs should definitely do them both — the 203 bus from Foz takes you past the pair — but everyone else? There’s just too much else to see, and taste.

We say head back to Ribeira instead and pop across the iconic Dom Luis I Bridge to Vila Nova de Gaia, an area dominated by the 18th-century port-wine lodges — still working — that brought Porto its fame. Great English names such as Croft and Cockburn still export from this very spot, and Taylor’s (Rua do Choupelo; taylor.pt) has excellent tours with three high-quality tastings for a princely £3.70.

Evening
At Taylor’s, you’re right next door to the Yeatman (Rua do Choupelo). Porto’s poshest hotel has the best views in town. Find out for yourself with port-wine cocktails (£8) on the terrace bar, or over a four-course Michelin-starred dinner with wine pairings and endless amuse-bouches (£88).

The famed custard tarts (Richard Jung/Getty)Too rich? Still in Vila Nova de Gaia, the bacalhau (cod) at Bacalhoeiro (Av Diogo Leite) draws a buzzing local crowd, with dinner and wine about £15. Just along the quay, cocktails alfresco in the luxurious armchairs at the Bogani Cafe will provide one last, lingering glimpse of a skyline you will not want to leave.

Where to stay
It cost nearly £24m to build, the 82 rooms and infinity pool all have mighty views, but the Yeatman is inexplicably cheap, considering (doubles from £125; the-yeatman-hotel.com). Oporto Apartments has simple but newly refurbished one- to five-bedroom apartments (from £37 a night; oportoapartments.com).

Getting here
Jeremy Lazell was a guest of easyJet and the Yeatman. EasyJet, British Airways, Ryanair and TAP Portugal fly to Porto».


Fonte: Jeremy Lazell Published - 10 maio de 2015 – The Sunday Times

Deixa um comentário