After a busy British Airways flight from London Gatwick to Porto there was time to explore the hotel's local area and dine on fish and visit a Cafe Macau for a glass of a port and a beer before bedtime.
The Flying Horse, Gatwick Airport
With an afternoon departure there was time for a beer at the
Flying Horse in the departure lounge of Gatwick's South Terminal before heading to the gate.
After the 50p reduction for a CAMRA member's Wetherspoon voucher, a pint of Titanic Brewery
White Star cost £3.85 and helped pass the spare time nicely.
The ceiling, floor and walls of the Flying Horse have been made over recently and it was also interesting to view the cellar housed behind windows with text describing the 'Making Beer' process.
At 18:00, after an uneventful flight, a coach transferred passengers from the aircraft stand to the terminal giving views of parked planes and the evening sky above the Atlantic coast.
By checking the
Metro do Porto website in advance I had made a plan to buy one Andante Azul ticket with 5 x Z2 (2 zone) fares for 6.60 euros total and a second Andante Azul ticket with 2 x z4 (4 zone - for airport to/from city centre) fares for 4.60 euros total. Each cost includes 60 cents for the rechargeable tickets that can only store one type of fare at any time.
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| Andante Azul (Blue) tickets - front and reverse |
Uniformed staff in the ticket machine area can give assistance to tourists using them for the first time. Payment can be made by card or cash and receipts are also issued.
The Metro train would fill up after the photo I took on boarding at 18.20 having validated my journey by presenting the 4 zone ticket to a reader on the way to the platform. There was space under the seat for my carry-on cabin bag. Porto is in the same time zone as London and the light was now fading fast. The train headed inland and then turned south towards Porto.
I left the train at Trindade, revalidated my 4 zone ticket and found the platform for the orange D line train heading north west towards Hospital
São João and travelled a further two stops to Marquês.
At 19.10, on the way to Hotel Grande Rio, I stopped to take a photo of the floodlit church of
Our lady of the Conception on Praça do Marquês de Pombal.
After checking in to the hotel, I walked downhill to Casa Paraiso 2 at 259 Rua do Paraiso and was reassured to spot a local police station at 82 Rua do Paraiso on the way!
Casa Paraiso 2
At Casa Paraiso 2, I chose a bottle of (brewed in Porto) Cerveja Nortada lager (5% ABV) from the fridge and was shown to a table downstairs in a large room busy with other diners and a television showing a football programme.
I was able to make enough sense of the menu to order vegetable soup which was served with bread and a half portion of fish.
When the fish course arrived it was several pieces of battered fish fillet served on a bed of thick potato crisps and with a separate bowl heaped with white rice. Even a half portion was too much food for me to finish so do not underestimate the amount of food you might receive here.
My bill, including beer and coffee, came to 12.85 euros before adding a tip for service.
Leaving around 21.15, I went in search of a good local bar and stopped to get a photo of a bicycle shop - Intemporal Bikes at 226 Rua do Paraiso - that had some interesting items on display including Ossby Curve folding bikes and leather bags.
Cafe Macau
After 22.00, I entered Cafe Macau on the corner at the western end of Rua Santa Helena, the other end from Hotel Grande Rio.
For a local drink I ordered a glass of white port and after some searching a bottle was found. There was a football match on the TV to watch.
Cafe Macau has a small selection of bottled beers from major domestic breweries in fridges that customers can take to the bar to be opened. The Sagres Bohemia Trigo (5.5% ABV) wheat beer had too much medicinal flavour for my taste but was worth trying.
The final score in the televised Primeira Liga football match, which had kicked off, at 21.15 was Lisbon's S.L. Benfica 4, Chaves 0.
When I went to the counter to pay my bill it came to 3.50 euros for the two drinks.
There was now only a 100 metres uphill walk on a quiet street to reach my hotel.
See links below for further daily blog posts with details of breweries and bars visited on the rest of my late February visit to Porto / Oporto:
Sunny Porto - Tuesday features Cervejaria do Carmo - Craft Beer House, A Fábrica da Picaria
Porto & Guimarães - Wednesday features Letraria Craft Beer Garden, A Fábrica da Picaria, Cafe Macau
Porto - Thursday features Cerveja Nortada, A Fábrica da Picaria, Catraio Craft Beer Shop
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| Rua Santa Helena |
After this visit I would recommend an off-season visit to Porto / Oporto to anyone who doesn't mind walking around a city built on slopes! Public transport is efficient and good value and it is worth paying the premium for a ride on the classic trams. The streets are kept clean but there may be narrow pavements and speeding traffic to be wary of. People are helpful and there was little evidence of poverty or crime. Prices for food, coffee and alcoholic drinks are generally very reasonable. The language has a nice sound and it is worth learning some Portuguese words as English may not always be understood.
With an afternoon departure there was time for a beer at the Flying Horse in the departure lounge of Gatwick's South Terminal before heading to the gate.
After the 50p reduction for a CAMRA member's Wetherspoon voucher, a pint of Titanic Brewery White Star cost £3.85 and helped pass the spare time nicely.
The ceiling, floor and walls of the Flying Horse have been made over recently and it was also interesting to view the cellar housed behind windows with text describing the 'Making Beer' process.
At 18:00, after an uneventful flight, a coach transferred passengers from the aircraft stand to the terminal giving views of parked planes and the evening sky above the Atlantic coast.
By checking the Metro do Porto website in advance I had made a plan to buy one Andante Azul ticket with 5 x Z2 (2 zone) fares for 6.60 euros total and a second Andante Azul ticket with 2 x z4 (4 zone - for airport to/from city centre) fares for 4.60 euros total. Each cost includes 60 cents for the rechargeable tickets that can only store one type of fare at any time.
The Metro train would fill up after the photo I took on boarding at 18.20 having validated my journey by presenting the 4 zone ticket to a reader on the way to the platform. There was space under the seat for my carry-on cabin bag. Porto is in the same time zone as London and the light was now fading fast. The train headed inland and then turned south towards Porto.
I left the train at Trindade, revalidated my 4 zone ticket and found the platform for the orange D line train heading north west towards Hospital São João and travelled a further two stops to Marquês.
At 19.10, on the way to Hotel Grande Rio, I stopped to take a photo of the floodlit church of 
