Porto and Lisbon Portugal: Nov 2025

We flew from Malta to Porto, Portugal in mid November to connect with friends coming off of a river cruise. The four of us stayed in an Air BnB in the heart of Porto and explored the city and surrounding areas. Then our friends flew back to Florida on the same day that Adam and I rode a high speed train down to Lisbon to catch our cruise ship going to South America. Due to a labor strike at the Lisbon port, we had an extra day to explore Lisbon. Late November in northern Portugal is chilly but we were fortunate to have sunny weather for some sightseeing.

So fun to meet up in Porto with longtime friends Deb and Steve after their cruise on the Douro River. We spent three days with them running around Porto and had a great time.
Port wine originates in the Porto region of Portugal and we learned a lot about it. On the left is a “White” port wine followed by a “Tawny” port in the middle and a “Ruby” port on the right. Although we tried many times, we were unable to find a bad glass of port wine in Porto. 😉
This is one of many stands at the upscale Bolhão Market in Porto. We loved the variety, the freshness, and the cleanliness of the entire venue.
During our wine and food tour of Porto we had the pleasure of meeting Liz and Sean from New Jersey. Obviously we hit it off – and the Tour guide photo-bombing us in the background is perfect.
Part of our Porto Wine and Food Tour included a stop at the elegant Café Guarany, open since 1933. This dish is basically deep fried french toast and it tastes as decadent as it looks.
The famous Luís I Bridge in Porto looking south over the Douro River toward Vila Nova de Gaia. The group picture of the four of us earlier in this post was taken from the top of this bridge.
This is the Church of Saint Ildefonso, which was located just a few steps up the street from our Air BnB in Porto – so we walked past it frequently. Using tile as exterior siding is very common on older buildings, including churches.
Porto still operates two of its historic tram lines, using the original historic trams. Line #1 runs east/west along the Douro River – we rode it 30 minutes out to the Atlantic for an afternoon stroll.
This is the beautiful historic São Bento train station in Porto, Portugal. Our Air BnB was right next to it and we could look down onto it from our balcony.
In the old parts of Porto and Lisbon the sidewalks all look like this. The lighter tile is limestone and the darker tile is basalt.
This is a view of a typical street in the center of Porto, including the iconic limestone and basalt tile sidewalks.
We briefly visited the historic Lello Bookstore in Porto (Livraria Lello). It is indeed stunningly beautiful and stunningly crowded. It has become so popular that they charge an entrance fee.
And before we knew it, we had left Porto on a 3-hour high speed train ride to Lisbon to catch our cruise ship. We had a full day in Lisbon to explore, including one of their famous Tuk Tuk Tours that stopped at this viewpoint (Miradouro da Senhora do Monte). The 11th Century Castle of São Jorge is on the left on the hilltop in the distance.
Lisbon is a notariously hilly city and we were glad to be riding in a Tuk Tuk. Due to a significant funicular accident in September (that made international news), all of Lisbon’s funiculars were closed while we were there.
The iconic Arc of Rua Augusta in Lisbon. This magnificent 18th Century triumphal arch leads you from the city center to the banks of the Tagus River, via the famous Praça do Comércio (Commerce Square).
A very common question we get asked is “how much luggage we are traveling with?” – so here it is. Our next post will be for the cruise from Lisbon to Buenos Aires.

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2 Comments

  1. We are really enjoying your posts, and your photos are beautiful! Makes us even more motivated to visit Portugal. We obviously cancelled our fall cruise to Turkey and Greece. Instead did a an RV trip to northeast. Enjoyed perfect weather for fall foliage and lots of sightseeing. Five weeks and over 5000 miles. Happy Holidays!

    • Great to hear from you – we loved your Facebook photos from your RV trip. We hope Friendsgiving was fun, we thought of you guys that day. Happy Holidays!

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