We flew to Porto from São Paulo via Madrid. Porto would be our home base while we were in Portugal. Porto is part of the Portuguese Way (Camino Portugues) to Santiago de Compostela.
From the airport, we took the metro line E to our stop in Bolhão.
(Click on each photo to see more details.)
This is what we saw upon exiting the station: Capela das Almas de Santa Catarina.
We would pass by this chapel every day as it was just a few steps away from our rented condo. The chapel is an outstanding example of the use of Azulejo (painted tin-glazed ceramic tilework). We saw many more Azulejo in our travels in Portugal and Spain (and even a bit in Brazil) - you will see some more in the subsequent photos.
Just a short walk from the Bolhao metro stop is the Sao Bento station, considered one of the most beautiful in the world. Inside are spectacular Azulejo murals.
In Bolhao is one of Porto's highlights - the renovated Mercado de Bolhao, Porto's historic market. We went here to stock up on nuts and seeds and drink delicious smoothies.
Portugal is famous for its custard tart called Pastel de Nata so of course we had to try it right away. We went to Fabrica da Nata which was very near and on the same street as our condo. Our condo was in an excellent location, convenient to all the important places in Porto, and it's right on (but in a quiet part of) the famous shopping street of Rua de Santa Catarina.
Portugal is famous for sardines, so one will encounter many stores selling sardines. Apparently, sardines are in fashion at the moment (August 2023).
Here is a map of Porto.
What follows are some pictures from our first day in Porto.
The spectacular double-deck metal arch bridge is the Ponte de Dom Luis I. We walked both the lower part and the upper part (multiple times over the course of our stay) to cross between Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia.
Above is another beautiful church decked in Azulejo, the Igreja de Santo Ildefonso.
The next day, we visited Casa da Musica.
We went back nine days later to watch a concert.
The next day we walked to the other side of the Douro river, to the town called Vila Nova de Gaia.
Here are some photos from Vila Nova de Gaia:
One night, we enjoyed a Fado concert at Ideal Clube de Fado. Fado is a really soulful music.
Here are some videos of that night's performance.
(If you want them to play in order automatically, please go the playlist.)
After the concert, we had dinner at the excellent restaurant next door, Abadia do Porto.
We went back to Ideal Clube de Fado one more time, on October 25, 2022. There are three more clips of this concert in the Playlist linked earlier.
Another beautiful building in Porto is the old Stock Exchange, the Palacio da Bolsa.
We were too mesmerized to take pictures, but here's a flavor of it.
During our stay, a friend we met in Florianopolis, Brazil - Gustavo - came to visit us with his family.
We passed by Livraria Lello, sometimes called "the most beautiful bookstore in the world" (although we think there's a bookstore in Buenos Aires that beats it) where J.K. Rowling supposedly visited a lot while writing and researching what would become the Harry Potter series.
Another day, we did the Port Wine tour - all the famous port wine houses of the world had (and some still have) their warehouses in Vila Nova de Gaia - we chose Taylor's (there are many to choose from - Graham's, Sandeman's, Calem, etc.).
Here are some more photos from Vila Nova de Gaia, looking at Porto on the opposite side.
I got a haircut while in Porto. 
Another typical Portuguese food is the soup made from kale or collard greens called Caldo Verde.
Our favorite place to eat in Porto is Honest Greens on Rua de Santa Catarina. We ate here almost every day.
That's the Summer Burrata on the right. So good!
We also tried the prototypical Porto food, the Francesinha. From Wikipedia: Francesinha (Portuguese pronunciation: [fɾɐ̃sɨˈziɲɐ] meaning little French woman[1][2]) is a Portuguese sandwich, originally from Porto, made with layers of toasted bread and assorted hot meats such as roast, steak, wet-cured ham, linguiça, or chipolata over which sliced cheese is melted by the ladling of a near-boiling tomato-and-beer sauce called molho de francesinha.[1] It is typically served with french fries.
Here is one variation of it:
Another typical Portuguese food is the soup made from kale or collard greens called Caldo Verde.
We had a very tasty one at this hole-in-the-wall place in Porto.
Near the end of our stay, we were joined by close friends from Los Angeles, the charming couple Bob and Luisa.
There are many roasted-chestnut street vendors in Portugal.
On our last day, we headed to Campanha station, another great-looking station, where we would board the train that would take us to Spain. We met this friendly student majoring in Marketing at the University of Porto. She explained that each department and each University (Porto, Coimbra, etc.) have their own distinctive cloaks and capes (called "capa e batina"). From the previous link: The academic uniforms that students wear today are referred to as the capa e batina and originated from a tradition that started nearly 500 years ago at Portugal’s oldest university, the Universidade de Coimbra. “The capa e batina are a crucial part of the Portuguese academic uniform,” Bruna Rolo explained, an alumna from the Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD) in Vila Real, Portugal.
If you've read the Harry Potter books (or maybe seen the movies) this "look" will be familiar to you.
On this particular day, hundreds of Porto University students were boarding the train to go to the city of Braga. There is a tradition of "initiating" the freshmen conducted by the upperclassmen, usually subjecting the freshmen to act in stupid and/or funny ways. We didn't learn what mayhem they were planning in Braga.
Here are some tips for an enjoyable stay in Porto from our host.
Stay tuned for part 2 of our Porto travel story. Later posts will explore our month-long stay in Buenos Aires, and our long-term stays in Brazil, Spain, France, George Town in Penang, the Philippines, plus our short trips to other parts of Portugal, and then London and Stockholm. All part of our epic almost-eight-month trip around the world from August 2022 to March 2023.