hanhabelle: PORTO CITY BREAK

Happy March guys, I know it's freezing but I'm telling myself I can feel Spring in the air! To escape the cold snap we had in February, Hang and I went on a mini break to Porto in Portugal and it was a lovely little getaway. My sister went last year and said it was nice but apart from that I didn't know much about this Portuguese City. We wanted to go somewhere warm to relax and get away from London and it's only 2 hrs away. There's a few landmarks but sometimes it's nice to just switch off and soak up the vibes, it's a very accessible town with lots of charm and history.

After we checked into our Hotel - seriously amazing, I gave it 10 stars on Booking.com, can't fault the service, room, location and spa facilities! The staff took the time to give us an itinerary for our stay and we started our holiday with a leisurely stroll down to the River Douro and walking over the Luis bridge. On the other side of the river is the famous port wine cellars, this was the first time I've tried port and it was pretty good! We ambled back up and didn't realise how hilly Porto is, we walked up so many stairs under the beating sun, thankfully we had comfy trainers on! Anyway it was worth the walk as we took in the amazing views.


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I had read about the beautiful Azulejos tiles in Porto and they are stunning in real life. Adorning many of the churches, palaces, train stations and bars. Many Azulejos depict historical aspects of Portuguese history. I couldn't get over how picturesque they looked, it really was like works of art everywhere you walked. Every time I asked Hang to talk a photo of me against the walls, he said they all looked the same!

We tried a medley of Portuguese food, including the famous Francesinha (cheese, ham, sausage sandwich in tomato sauce) at Brasao Cervejaria and it was yum! If you do order one, it's really big so order one to share. Our diet was definitely out the window with the amount of bread and cheese we had! Hang couldn't get enough of the Portuguese tarts, they had mini ones at the hotel breakfast so we always stocked up, haha.

We visited Livraria Lello, the oldest bookshop in Porto and where JK Rowling spent a lot of here time getting inspo for Harry Potter. This is the first bookstop we've had to pay and queue to get into! You need to get your ticket first in the shop down the road for $4, which you can use as a voucher against any books. Once inside it really was something out of Harry Potter with the staircase, stained glass ceiling and rows and rows of books. It's very touristy and gets very busy and crowded, but if you love books it's a great place to explore.