Porto

We'd left Braga in the baking hot heat but as we got closer to Porto a thick mist had engulfed the whole sky. Over the next few days we were to learn that this is about as common as pastel de natas in this part of the country. A thick fog coming from the Atlantic covers the sky pretty much every day, but usually clears by around midday.

We arrived at Camping Marisol by early evening and were greeted by a really friendly guy working on reception who showed us to our spot. This small campsite is about 3km south of the city, but located only a stones throw from the beach, in a place called Madalena. We settled in with a glass of wine round the vans and then walked down the road to a nearby restaurant.

The place was packed and really hot (despite it being pretty nippy outside because of the mist) but it had a lively atmosphere and was decorated like an old medieval pub. The beer was even served in metal goblets. As the night went on the place got rowdier and there was loads of 'Happy Birthday' singalongs. Our waiter seemed to be the ringleader of all this and was serving shots to the groups and having one himself each time. Eventually he had the whole restaurant doing shots round the bar – us included. Then he brought a small water-tower-like vessel to each table which had more of these shots in, so we could pour our own. Having thought we were just in for a quiet night, we were last to leave and we waddled back to the site pretty drunk.

The next day we caught the bus from outside the campsite to the centre of Porto. We passed through the Vila Nova de Gaia district, which is on the other side of the river to the city centre and is famous for all its port wine cellars. As the bus took us along the riverside we had a great view of the Ponte Luis I bridge, all of the multi-coloured buildings and grand churches/cathedrals on the other side of the river Douro. A really beautiful and striking view. After we crossed the bridge and entered the city we hopped off the bus close to the Camâra Municipal, the town hall. We had a walk around and went for a lunch off a side street, enjoying our first pastel de nata since arriving in Portugal. After lunch we wandered through the cobbled, Dickinsian streets and watched a few buskers – a guy and girl playing Mercedes Benz, and another more traditional band playing classical music on strange instruments, in particular one guy playing a huge triangular shaped 3 string bass.

A lot of the buildings in Porto are beautiful, brightly-coloured and covered in amazing tiles with contrasting designs and colours. It's a really good city to spend the afternoon walking through the streets admiring them and enjoying a drink by the river. Because of the steep hills on each side of the river, you can see almost any landmark from the opposite side. In the evening we crossed the Ponte Luis I bridge again back to the other side and had a drink sat outside a bar by the river as the sun went down, casting an orange glow on the coloured buildings on the hillside opposite us. We ate tea on the same street in the Sandeman restaurant with a lively waiter, who drew us with his funny pickup lines, and we enjoyed our first tipple of vino verde on the trip.

The next day we had a chilled day round the campsite and in the afternoon I went for a bike ride back to the river and found a really cool small barrio called Afurada de Baixo, on the Vila Nova de Gaia side of the river. This little district was only about 3 or 4 parallel streets, looking a bit like Coronation Street style terraced houses, with each house either tiled or painted in a different and unique style. It was early evening and outside most houses residents (mainly pensioners) were sat out on and benches on the pavement taking in the last of the sun. There was also a FC Porto supporters bar here with men sat outside talking loudly across tables to each other.