Porto, Portugal

Mother Nature announced autumn's arrival with a week of rain, which thankfully abolished the water restrictions in France. Unfortunately, the rain overstayed its welcome and left our yard looking like a giant mosh pit. I have a friend visiting from the states, and while she's here we decided to take a quick trip to Porto, Portugal--so off we went in search of sunshine.

Porto is located on the northwest coastline of Portugal, and is known for its impressive bridges and for the port wine it produces. Our airbnb was in the medieval Ribeira (river) district, and the views of the river from our balcony were amazing. The cobbled stone streets that once wound past merchants' houses, are now lined with restaurants featuring salted fish and boiled potatoes. Porto's old town district is rich with stunning architecture that sits on a giant roller coaster of land. To stand at the bottom of any street and look up the incredibly steep road that lies in front of you is intimidating at best, now add in the massive road construction projects, detours, gusting winds, and intermittent rain and you've got your work cut out for you.

Our first stop was Livraria Lello (this bookstore was arguably JK Rowlands' inspiration for Harry Potter). It draws huge crowds, so we were lucky to be one of the first few to get in that day.

On the way back to our AirBnB later that day, we popped into a tiny little restaurant along the river for lunch and to wait our the rain. Before long, two other American couples eventually popped in to escape the rain and we spent the rest of the afternoon drinking sangria, talking politics and sharing travel stories until we were good and toasted. Making new friends on the other side of the ocean, was just the remedy I needed.

The following day, we spent the day wandering streets of old town, and toured one of my favorite sights: the Palacio da Bolsa. The ornate inlaid floors and gold walls were an impressive sight.