The last stop on our trip to Portugal was Porto. We scheduled in three days to visit here and hadn't planned where we were going to visit before arriving. However we knew that port tasting was definitely going to be done! Here is our first day of finding accessible things to do in Porto!
We bought our train tickets from Lisbon Santa Apolonia to Porto Santa Campanha on the morning of our journey and requested assistance to get onto the train. We checked our train times in advance and made sure our journey was on an 'AP' train using the Comboios de Portugal website as these have an electric ramp onboard. As mentioned in our previous post about travelling to Lisbon, not all trains in Portugal are accessible so it is important to check this before buying your tickets.
The journey took about 3 hours and 20 minutes from Lisbon to Porto. The train was really nice and spacious and we were sat not too far from the toilet which was accessible. When we arrived at Campanha we then needed to take another train to Sao Bento station.
Sao Bento station
Sao Bento station is in the centre of Porto and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's a beautiful station decorated with tiles depicting historic scenes. It was a really nice start to our trip and as we arrived in the evening, the station was quieter and we were able to have a good look round.
When we came out of the station the streets were full of students dressed in black robes who looked like they had come from Hogwarts! Apparently the Hogwarts attire in Harry Potter was inspired by the traditional Portuguese college students clothes. It wasn't until we arrived in Porto that we realised it was graduation week and there would be more events to come...
Stay
We stayed at Porto City Hotel which was a budget hotel in the north of the city and was an uphill walk from Sao Bento station. The pavements were smooth but it wouldn't be possible to push yourself without assistance. In hindsight we could have caught the Metro from Sao Bento to Faria Guimarães station however it did let us see the city at night (amongst the drunken students!).
When I booked the hotel I emailed them to ask for an accessible room and was told to book a Double room which was accessible however this was more expensive than a Twin room. I really hate when hotels do this! So we refused to pay more and took the risk.
The room was nice and new however it wasn't suitable for a wheelchair. My chair is fairly small in size so I could manage but it wasn't easy to navigate round.
The breakfast area was also quite small and tables were limited so you needed to arrive early to make sure you could get a table. The breakfast was okay but there wasn't a lot of choice.
The hotel was in a quiet location and not too far from Faria Guimarães station so that was good. I would stay there again if they price matched their Double rooms to their Twin rooms for disabled customers!
Palacio da Bolsa
On our first day in Porto it rained (a lot!) so we looked for somewhere indoors we could visit. We found Palacio da Bolsa on TripAdvisor and thought we'd go and visit!
There was a big queue and steps to get inside so Adrian went ahead to find out how to get me in. We were shown to a side entrance and taken to the front of the queue to buy tickets. Before we arrived we didn't know that you could only go on a tour and not look around by yourself which is not something we'd usually do. The tickets were also a bit pricey but as we were in we decided to pay.
After a 20 minute wait we joined an English speaking guide who showed us around the building. It was built in a Neoclassical style in the 19th century and housed the old stock exchange of Porto. The history was really interesting and there were some really beautiful rooms however the highlight of the tour was seeing the gilded Arab Room. This room is stunning and full of intricate decoration. It's worth holding back once the rest of the tour has left the room so that you can enjoy looking round alone! The tour lasted about 30 minutes.
When we came out of Palacio da Bolsa the rain had finally stopped so we decided to walk down to the river as it looked to be a nice flat walk up to Luís I Bridge. It was a little busy but a really nice walk to see the old colourful buildings and the river.
On Google Maps the Metro station Jardim Do Morro looked close by on the other side of the bridge so we decided to head back to the hotel from there. However Google Maps fails to tell you about the hills and it was a massive steep walk up to the Metro station (sorry Adrian's back!). Once we reached the top the views were amazing and you could see right across Porto. As the weather was quite cloudy we said we would come back when it was sunnier.
Eat
That evening we went to a local restaurant called Restaurante Rito Cozinha Regional which served traditional Portuguese food. There wasn't a lot of choice on the menu but that's normally a good sign! We both had the pork served with rice and vegetables. The food was lovely and the restaurant had a homey feel to it!
Before coming to Porto we knew it was going to be hilly but these hills were steep and everywhere! In part two of our trip to Porto we'll experience even more hills and talk about the accessible things to do in Porto across the river and our port tasting experience!
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