The highlight of Porto for me was definitely the fancy feeling of being on a Harry Potter set!
Porto was where J K Rowling spent most time in when she lived in Portugal in the pre-Harry Potter era. And a visit to this magical city would give you an insight on where she may have gotten her Harry Potter inspirations from.
S. Bento Train Station
The S. Bento train station is Porto’s central station, and we arrived here from Lisbon by train. Do stop and look up when you are here. You would see the famous tile panels in the vestibule that tell the history of Porto in the form of art, which continues to inspire young artists in Porto – like the girl sitting on the floor, sketching.
My impression of Porto: pretty blue and white.
Majestic Cafe
The Majestic Cafe was where J K Rowling started writing her first Harry Potter book! Porto just became that much more charming after I found out J K Rowling actually took a lot of inspirations of the legendary sequence from Porto.
Hermione, is that you?!
Our walking tour guide told us, the robe was part of the academic attire worn by University freshmen during “praxe” – a tradition similar to the US college frat house and sorority ‘rush’, of which the freshmen would need to go through all sorts of challenges imposed by their senior counterparts.
And then we saw more students of Hogwarts! These wizards (I don’t care, I will forever think of them as wizards, not muggles!) were dancing and playing good music in front of the Majestic Cafe.
Being a huge Harry Potter fan, it was such a special feeling to be standing at where J K Rowling was and seeing what J K Rowling saw all those years ago and knowing that Porto was the birthplace of Harry Potter!
{Majestic Cafe}
Website: http://www.cafemajestic.com/en/Utilities/Homepage.aspx
Address：Rua Santa Catarina, 112, 4000-442 PORTO
Cafe Santiago (Francesinha)
Just when I had given up hope on Portuguese food (see my review on Lisbon), we came to eat the famous francesinha at Cafe Santiago as recommended by our walking tour guide. We ordered their signature dish, Francesinhas a Santiago, 9.5€.
This was undoubtedly the best thing that I had eaten in Portugal!
The word “Francesinha” means “little french girl” in Portuguese, and this glorified sandwich was invented right here in Porto by a French migrant. My guess is the name came from a variation of the well-known French dishes “Croque Monsieur” and “Croque Madam”.
As you can see in the photo, the francesinha a Santiago was made with layers of bread, wet-cured ham, linguica, fresh sausage, steak, covered with melted cheese, sunny-side egg on top and beer-based sauce- all these served with french fries. Yumm…I would come back to Porto just for this!
We had our francesinha here at Cafe Santiago, a local favourite recommended by our tour guide. It was packed and we had to wait for a table. Yes, and the francesinha was as awesome as it looked!
{Cafe Santiago}
Website: http://caferestaurantesantiago.com.pt/pt
Address: Rua Passos Manuel 226, 4000-382 PORTO.
Port wine
Of course we wouldn’t miss a Port wine cellar tour. We picked Sandeman for convenience because it was located right on the riverfront.
As you would’ve guessed, Sandeman’s logo was also inspired by the academic dress of the University students in Porto. His name is “The Don”, and has been Sandeman’s front man since 1928. There was a small gallery inside showcasing the evolution of The Don and Sandeman’s advertisements and marketing progression.
I liked how the cellar tour guide was dressed in a cape and wide-brimmed hat, very cute.
A cellar tour cost 5€ and it came with two glasses of Port wine for tasting. Not bad. The guide spoke very good English and was kind enough to waive the entrance fee for my pregnant friend, C, since she couldn’t drink anyway.
{Sandeman}
Opening hours (Mar-Oct): 10am-12:30pm & 2pm-6pm.
Opening hours (Nov-Feb): 9:30am-12:30pm & 2pm-5:30pm.
Entrance fee: 5€ normal visit. 16€ for the 1790 visit.
Porto street snaps
Porto riverside at night.
“Diagon Alley” in Harry Potter?
S. Bento Train Station at night.
HER{curio}MAJESTY. I was here. February 2013.
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I have seen your photos of the food you have eaten in Portugal and what I can say is that the real portuguese good food is not that one. You should have tried good restaurants and for sure you would have a different opinion. Check some restaurants reviews in tripadvisors and even some photos and you Will se the difference.
Thank you for your comment, Adalgisa. Luckily I liked Portugual so much it’s more than likely that I would visit again – hopefully I would have a different opinion then:)