12 Step Planet: Porto

How do I get there?
Ryanair fly Dublin-Porto on Saturday and Wednesday from as little as €65 return. It’s then a 25-minute/€3.50 metro ride into the city-centre. You can also fly Dublin-Lisbon with Aer Lingus, who have daily depatures, and take a two-and-three-quarter-hour/€27 Alfa Pendular high-speed train to Porto.
When should I go?
Unless you want to spend the duration of your stay slathering on the Factor 50, we’d give the height of the summer a miss and opt for April/May and September/October when you’re not at risk of third-degree sunburn, and marauding American back-packers are either yet to descend or are safely back in college.
What are the touristy things to do?
Stroll across the Ponte Dom Luis I bridge, which offers stunning views of the city from its 72-metre high top tier; take-in a Bwin Liga footie match in FC Porto’s spaceage Estádio do Dragáo; and see how many of Vila Nova de Gaia’s 12 port lodges you can blag free samples out of.
Anything else?
There’s a pleasant afternoon to be whiled away at the Fundacao de Serralves (Rua Don Joan de Castro. www.serralves.pt), a modern art museum that’s snapping hard at the Guggenheim’s heels.
What about eating?
Local specialties include tripas á moda do Porto (tripe with beans & vegetables), papas de sarrabulho (a not for the feint-hearted blood & bread-based stew), cabrito asado no forno (oven-baked kid) and cozido á Portugeusa (you really don’t want to know!)
The good news for Eddie Hobbs fans is that it’s rare for a main course, salad and bottle of lightly sparkling vino verde wine to cost more than €15.
What should I avoid?
The pickpocket gangs and rogue taxi drivers who congregate around Porto’s main Campanhã railway station – keep valuables in zipped pockets, and always insist on a metered receipt.
Where can I stay?
Most of Porto’s budget accommodation is located in Ruas da Alegria and Alexandre Herculano where €50 buys you a basic, but perfectly serviceable double. If you’ve deeper pockets, rooms in swanky 5-star establishments like the Tiara Park Atlantic and Palácio Congress (see Recommended! list) cost in the region of €150 to €200 a night.
How much to get tanked?
With a litre of house tinto, branco and rosé costing €5 in most bars and restaurants, not much! Other popular local tipples include dark Super Bock beer, licor Beiráo (herb-flavoured brandy) and medronho – a strawberry-flavoured firewater, which tastes like boiled sweets mixed with drain-cleaner.
What should I bring home?
Vintage port – Burmester and Graham’s are our favourites – vino verde wine and the goodies available from Porto’s famous Casa Margaridense bakery (Trav. De Cedofeita 20A).
Why should I go?
While welcoming of tourists, Portugal’s fiercely proud second city – think Cork but with a suntan – isn’t dependent on them, which means no all-day English breakfasts or beer-bellied lads from Barnsley seeing how quickly they can drink themselves into casualty. Instead, you can scoff roasted octopus with the locals in one of the Riberia’s under-the-arches restaurants; sip port from a terrace bar overlooking the River Douro; and generally marvel at the simple pleasures of Porto life.
Why should I not go?
A couple of places (Aniki Bóbó and Meia Cave) on the Ribeira aside, Porto has little to offer in the way of E-neckin’, club madness. It’s also a poor second best to Lisbon in terms of designer shopping, and unlikely to be winning a Tidy Towns competition anytime soon.
What’s my challenge?
Not to get lost. Ironically for a city whose favourite son is Henry The Navigator, Porto’s maze of lanes and alleyways – not to mention the word’s most illogical one-way system – make it a pig to get around.

Recommended!

Restaurants

TOP END:
Trinca Espinhas
Av. Serpa Pinto 28
Traditional Portuguese favourites get a contemporary tweak in this converted warehouse, which has 20 types of fresh fish on the menu, and must wonder what it has to do to get a Michelin star.

GREAT VALUE:
Taberna dos Bebobos
Cais da Ribeira 24
“The Tavern of Drunks” has been packing ‘em in since 1876 with its simple, but always delicious local fare.

Postigo do Carvao
Rua da Fonte Taurina 24
[email protected]
Eat to the beat in this historic restaurant, which has live fado music on Friday and Saturday, and a wine-list that’ll satisfy even the most demanding of oenophiles.

BUDGET:
Arco Iris
Rua Candido dos Reis 75
A Vila Nova de Gaia institution specialising in filled ‘hot bread’ sandwiches and other light snacks.

Hotels

TOP END:
Tiara Park Atlantic
Av. Da Boavista 146
www.tiara-hotels.com/porto

Palácio Congress
Av. Da Boavista 1269
www.hotelportopalaciocongress.com

GREAT VALUE:
Residencial Porto Novo
Rua Alexandre Herculano
www.residencialportonovo.com

Grande Hotel
Rua de Santa Catarina 197
www.centralr.com/Grande_Hotel_do_Porto.html

Budget Accommodation

Pao de Acucar B&B
Rua do Almada 262
porto.pao-de-acucar-bed-breakfast.tobook.com

Pousada de Juventude Hostel
Rua Paulo da Gama 551
www.pousadasjuventude.pt

Guides

The Rough Guide To Portugal has an 80-page section devoted to Porto, which is always spot-on with its reviews and great at sniffing out bargains.

Departures

EVERYBODY WANTS A PIECE OF THE ACHTUNG
The first batch of acts have been confirmed for Melt!, the German blowout that takes place a week after Oxegen.
While Oasis, Bloc Party, Digitalism, Simian Mobile Disco and Aphex Twin are five very good reasons to attend, the main selling-point is the disused coalmine flanked by five huge mechanical diggers, which the festival takes place in.
Three-day July 17, 18 & 19 tickets are available from www.meltfestival.de priced €110.
The easiest way for Irish fans to get to Melt! is fly to Berlin, and then either drive or rail/bus there, both of which take roughly 80 minutes.

EBOOKER PRIZED
Ebookers.ie have published the findings of their second annual Nationwide Travel Survey, which is based on interviews with 1,000 people from all over Ireland.
The interesting factoids include:
* 92% of Irish consumers bought airline tickets online in 2008
* London, New York and Paris maintained their positions as the top three city destinations most visited by Irish travellers throughout 2008
* Average Travel Spend in 2008 was €3,150 – a 13% decrease on 2007
* 95% of Irish consumers still plan to go on holiday abroad in 2009
* 31% will travel less, 18% will travel to cheaper destinations and 7% will take shorter holidays
* 84% of respondents believe there should be more long-haul connections to Asia from Ireland
* 72% of people feel that customer service and facilities at Dublin Airport improved in 2008
* 67% of people believe that the €10 airport departure tax will have a negative effect on tourists coming into Ireland
* 75% of people find it frustrating if they cannot book their travel online by using their Laser Card

MY GIRONA
While you’d have to be a complete masochist to want to spend time in Hahn, Beauvais or Charleroi, there are other places Ryanair fly into that deserve more than just a derisory glance from the motorway as you zoom off to your real destination.
Top of that list is Girona, a city which has been the gateway to many a lost Barcelona weekend, and is now making a concerted effort to grab its own piece of the tourist action.
With just 83,000 inhabitants, it’s a sleepy backwater, but one that will charm the undies off you with its labyrinthine Old Town, or ‘Historic Centre’ as the PR personages have rebranded it.
All alleyways eventually lead to the River Onyar, which is lined with brightly coloured houses that look like they were designed by the same architect they had in medieval Florence.
While there’s no shortage of quality hotels – Carlemany Girona, Peninsular and AC Palau de Bellavista are three to check out on the always reliable booking.com – we plumped for one of the newly renovated Suites Resort Hap-Dreams apartments (C/Portal Nou 28. [email protected]), which cost from €64 a night for up to four people.
One of the benefits of going the self-catering route is that you can gorge on the goodies from the indoor Mercat Del Lleó whose must-buys include sweet botifarra sausages, super-tangy Mascherano cheese and strawberries that are quite literally the size of your fist. There’s also a lovely gentleman there who, for a miserly €1.50, will fill your empty 75cl bottle with the local barrel wine of your choice.

A EURO TO SPEND A PENNY
Ryanair passengers can now use their mobiles on 20 of the airline’s planes. It doesn’t come cheap though, with texts costing a minimum of 40p and phone calls setting you back between £1.50 and £3 per minute. Michael O’Leary has also indicated that he wants to do away with check-in desks, and charge passengers £1 to go to the toilet on flights… Good news for the backpacker brigade with the opening this week of the first direct rail route between Thailand and Laos. www.railway.co.th/english has the details… This could be the perfect time to fulfil your Pacific island-hopping fantasies, with hotels in Fiji and Togo slashing their rates by up to 75% because of the credit crunch…