glass half-full in porto

After a few days spent lounging on the beach in Nazaré, I was recharged and geared-up for my favourite kind of physical activity: *lifts wine glass to lips*

We hopped on a bus headed to one of Europe’s oldest centres; a picturesque land of ever-flowing port wine, located along the Douro River: Porto.

After dropping our bags at our Airbnb, it was time for dinner.

I had an agenda.  I was on a mission to find Porto’s infamous francesinha.  The traditional Portuguese francesinha is honestly a vegan’s worst nightmare: wet-cured ham, cured pork, sausage, steak-roast meat, sandwiched between thick bread, smothered in melted cheese and hot tomato beer sauce, served alongside fries.

I did a little Happy Cow research and found Francesinhas Al Forno da Baixa – a specialty francesinha restaurant with vegan options – hello!!!

Ladies and gentlemen:  the cured tofu francesinha

If there was to be one food to sum-up comfort food, hands-down, it’s the francesinha.

Cheesy, soupy, meaty, carby, rich, melty.  Ultimate indulgence.  Despite being drenched in the soupy tomato-beer sauce, bonus points given for un-mushy bread.  Cured tofu gave it a delicious smoky ‘meat’ flavour, and the textures were on point (can you tell me this looks vegan?!).

After watching my boyfriend scarf down a couple of these (meaty) babies a few days prior, I wasn’t at all feeling like I was missing out on the – well – ultimate digestive discomfort that ensues from the traditional version.

No animals harmed.  Happy tastebuds.  Happy gut.  HAPPY GIRL.

–

Our Airbnb host raved about the free walking tours in Porto, so the next morning we headed to Praça da Liberdade to meet ‘someone in a red t-shirt’.

GUYS.  Hands-down one of the best travel tips I’ve learned. Scope out a free walking/tasting/pub tour as soon as you arrive in a new city.  In a couple hours, you will have a good idea of the layout of the city, where the locals eat, how to avoid touristy gimmicks, and you’ll learn all the historical/cultural stuff first-hand from born-and-raised locals.

To be honest, I’m usually not a fan of tours.  If there’s an option for self-guided, that’s where I’m at.  But these free walking tours are awesome – laid back, more interactive, and your tour guide is someone who is passionate and loves their city.

We walked by the famous Majestic Café, where J. K. Rowling wrote much of her first Harry Potter book.  Ana, our tour guide, chatted about Rowling’s love/hate relationship with Porto, and how the author incorporated in her book many symbolic details which represent this tomultuous relationship.  (Oh, and those dorky black capes they wear in HP – totally inspired by the cape-wearing students in Porto).

We finished up the walking tour, and instead of waiting a couple hours for the walking wine tour (you can show up for wine tours, pub crawls, pastry tours, bike tours – you name it), we ventured across the bridge to Gaia, where the wine is barreled and bottled.

We stopped into Ramos Pinto, one of the wineries which was said to give one of the best tours.

*Disclaimer: Ramos Pinto is not vegan-friendly 😦

According to Barnivore, the majority of wines produced in the Douro Valley are processed with egg albumin.

As a vegan, I have to admit that I tend to overlook alcohol when I screen what I consume.  It’s so insane that, in 2017, cruelty-free alternatives are not widely used; instead, we process our alcohol with chicken secretions or fish bladder gelatin (GAG!).

Aside from not being vegan-friendly, the tour around Ramos Pinto’s beautiful cellar and museum was awesome.  I tasted 3 port wines (before I did my research) – not my cup of tea, but if you have a sweet tooth, a smooth (vegan;)) port wine would be a delicious accompaniment to dessert (for me, a good chunk of sourdough + malbec, please!).

By this point, I was ravenous.  I didn’t have the patience to read through menus, so I ran to the Pizza Hut on the main strip (hand tossed, veggies, hold the cheese – you know it).

We survived the long trek back to our Airbnb and I began scoping out vegan options for dinner.  Despite the wealth of delcious-looking finds, I couldn’t imagine leaving Porto without one more francesinha!!!

We took a romantic stroll around the city centre and stumbled across a super cute bar with an outdoor patio.  Took a seat.  And a couple bottles later, we called it a night.

Next stop: Dublin! *