Our flight back to London departed from Porto in the evening, so we got to Porto at around 11.45 AM to explore the city. We found a car park near the Câmara Municipal do Porto. There’s a large plaza with several cafes and restaurants in the area. We walked around the area for a bit and then headed for lunch at Kind Kitchen which had excellent vegan options.
Following lunch, we walked down to the river to cross the bridge Ponte Luís I. The roads leading there were narrow and filled with colonial buildings. We also stepped into São Bento Station where the walls at the entrance are decorated with beautiful mosaic tiles. We also passed many old churches and the Cathedral Sé do Porto which is at the top of the cliff near the bridge. You can cross the iconic metal bridge which has pedestrian walkways on either side.
The interesting thing about this bridge is that the tram passes over it rather than local traffic which makes it great to walk across. The bridge is very high up and has great views of the river and the city. It took us about 10 minutes to cross the bridge and on the other side, there’s a cable car which goes down to the riverside. Tickets cost 6 EUR one-way and 9 EUR for return which was a bit pricy so we decided to walk back across the bridge. On the way back, we took a small detour via Jardim Marques de Oliveira and took a little break at a nearby cafe. We then headed back to the car park to make our way to the airport to catch our flight back to London.
