We spent 9 days exploring the North of Portugal and we tell you everything here. In this post, you will find out what we did only in Matosinhos and Porto.
Day 1 – 05/25/2024 (Saturday)
We left Cascais around 12pm and halfway to Matosinhos, we stopped for lunch at the restaurant Peter of the Piglets.
We visited for the first time in trip we took alone and he made sure to come back with the kids. We ate really well, played with the pig statues outside and continued on to Matosinhos with the little ones napping.
We went straight to our Airbnb, we unloaded our bags and then parked the car in the SABA Marisqueiras parking lot, which was recommended by the owner of our apartment. I found our street, Brito Capelo, to be quite strange with many closed and abandoned stores, but fortunately we didn't have any major problems.
Since we were tired from the almost 4-hour drive, we ended up staying at the apartment and having dinner there, since I brought easy-to-prepare food so I wouldn't have to go to the supermarket when I got back. I hadn't even noticed that there was a Pingo Doce right in front of our house. 🙂
The children were thrilled with the bunk bed in their room, but as it didn't have any side protection, we ended up putting the two mattresses in the living room and they slept there.
Apartment summary: I found it very tidy and practical, but I missed some kitchen utensils. The view wasn't the best, because it overlooked the back of the buildings on the street behind, but at least there were curtains. blackout good and tilt-and-turn windows (which open sideways and downwards). Our building had an old elevator that had no doors, which was an interesting experience, and although there was no garage, it was quite easy to park in front. Since the house was in the back and on the third floor, we had no problems with noise. check-in It was super easy, as the key was in a locker outside the building.
Day 2 – 05/26/2024 (Sunday)
We woke up early, had breakfast and got ready to explore Matosinhos at our leisure. We had already quickly visited the city in trip we took with my brother in 2021, but now we were going to be able to explore it.
It was happening to Lord of Matosinhos Festival and the city was quite crowded because of that, but as we left early, we managed to park near the Church of Bom Jesus de Matosinhos, where the establishments and attractions for the festival were starting to open.
We quickly entered the church to give thanks and I found it beautifully decorated, just look:
The square in front was full of trees decorated with knitting and Juju loved it.
We headed towards the rides and many of the rides were still closed, but the water carousel was working and Ju went there all happy. The cool thing is that this party is for everyone, because you don't pay anything to get in and only pay for what you want to consume (toy or food). We played a little in the playground that was there in the square and then they wanted to go on the bumper cars and the giant inflatable that was there. Unfortunately, the bumper cars didn't have seatbelts and Ju ended up falling and hurting herself, but luckily, there weren't any other cars besides theirs because the park was empty. Be careful with seatbelts!
We stopped to eat Bifanas at a restaurant with a table outside in the sun and then let the kids go on some more age-appropriate rides. Paddy liked the most the darts at the balloons (he got 2 out of 3 right each time he threw them) and Ju loved the pink carousel rides. They had ice cream on the way back to the car and left bouncing around. I love it when I can provide a different and happy day for them, and of course, for us parents too! 🙂 Mission accomplished.
We drove along the Matosinhos coast and went to see the Porto City Park. It was a nice surprise because the day was very pleasant and the place is really nice to walk around, but unfortunately we couldn't stay there for long because the bifanas didn't satisfy our hunger. A football game was starting that the boys wanted to watch, so I looked for a restaurant with good reviews that had a TV and found photos of Marisqueira Mariqueira Dom Peixe on TripAdvisor. I called to make a last minute reservation and off we went to have dinner and watch the game.
The atmosphere, food and service were very good! We ordered sardines and shrimp risotto and left satisfied. We parked the car at SABA Marisqueira and walked back along Brito Capelo Street, with its closed shops, to Pingo Doce, where we bought a few things for breakfast the next day.
We slept super well! 🙂
Day 3 – 05/27/2024 (Monday)
We had a leisurely breakfast and since Celo had to work – he didn’t take a vacation this week – I got ready to go out with the kids. The day was beautiful, so I thought it would be a good idea to go to the park or the beach, and when I gave them the options, they chose the beach. Yay!
I parked the car in an underground parking lot right in front of Matosinhos Beach and as soon as I saw the Guide's Lays, that's where we went (I always like to have a bathroom and food nearby... lol). They rode their scooters a bit on the boardwalk, but when I said we could go to the sand, they both didn't think twice and left their scooters. We walked to the restaurant, I managed to leave the scooters there after having a few drinks, and we went to play in the sand near the sea. The beach was empty because there was a cold wind, but since they were well-dressed, it wasn't a problem for us. We enjoyed the sun and the peace of the place and when we got hungry, we went back to the restaurant for a morning snack of croissants and toast. I even left ice cream before lunch! lol Vacations are vacations...
When our friends said they could meet us, we got in the car and drove to the park near their house. I had trouble paying for parking, which only accepted cash – why????? – and I had just blocked my card because of incorrect PIN attempts, but in the end it worked and I found coins.
We found them in the Basilio Teles Garden and the children had a great time in the playground and we were able to satisfy our longing for a while. When tiredness and hunger began to set in, we decided to go to lunch at North Shopping and we drove there. My kids even fell asleep on the way, poor things.
We had lunch and then they enjoyed the playground inside. I loved the mall because it had several different and more interesting stores than the ones in my beloved Cascais Shopping. We had a snack after the park to recharge our batteries and when it was around 6pm, we went back home.
I prepared a quick meal for us and bed!
Day 4 – 05/28/2004 (Tuesday)
We had coffee, packed our bags and Celo worked while I took the kids to the Porto City Park again.
We went straight to the lake to feed the ducks and fish, and it was so much fun! We ended up finding hungry geese there and they came running after us, so imagine my panic with those two brats. We laughed a lot, but in the end Ju said very clearly: “I don’t want to go back to the goose park”. A trauma for a lifetime? Maybe. LOL
We took the Celo and went to lunch at Matosinhos Municipal Market, which is lovely. We walked around and when we found Taberna Lusitana on TripAdvisor with good reviews and tables available, there we went. We ordered padrón peppers, garlic shrimp and a wonderful sea bass, which the waiter recommended we buy from a vendor at the market. Since we didn't know anyone, he asked if he could buy it for us and we accepted. They prepared the fish we bought and charged a fee of 7.50 for it. In the end, the prepared fish cost around 40 euros, but it was divine and we thought it was worth it! There was enough for all of us and we left there happy.
We returned home, Celo worked a little more and we left soon after to meet our friends at a farm they rented in Redondelo, near Chaves.
I told you about our days there in this post:
Returning to Matosinhos – 05/31/2024
We returned from our trip to Chaves/Redondelo on Friday night and went straight to the apartment in Matosinhos that we had rented for the whole week. We booked the tour Lello Bookstore and World of Discoveries for the next day, we had dinner and went to bed early to enjoy the next day.
Day 4 – 01/06/2004 (Saturday)
We had coffee and got ready to go see the most beautiful bookstore in the world. What a thrill!!! We booked for 10:30 am and arrived 10 minutes late because the city of Porto was full of subway construction and the traffic was chaotic. We parked the car in the SABA Praça de Lisboa parking lot, which is in the shopping mall across the street, without any stress.
PS. If you are interested in visiting Lello, be sure to book in advance on their official website. They let you in up to 30 minutes after your booked time, so be careful!
We paid the 8 euro entrance fee, which was deductible when buying a book – Ju didn’t pay – and it was worth every penny. The place is truly incredible with its wooden details on the shelves, ceilings and a wonderful central staircase. We took lots of photos and in the end we bought 3 books to use the 3 vouchers we had bought (only 1 voucher is valid per book).
We stopped at the shopping mall right across the street and bought drinks at a cute café and used the bathroom as well. We then went to the playground in the square next door that we had seen when we were arriving by car and the kids were able to enjoy the space.
We decided to have lunch at Dona Porto Restaurant which had good reviews and had tables outside available and we were very well attended to. We ordered shrimp and cod dishes and the children played a little drawing while we enjoyed the sun.
We walked to the Crystal Palace Gardens, because I had seen that it was worth going there with children, and we were surprised by a big event in honor of Children's Day. The park was very lively, with music and many attractions for the kids, but what we really did was eat ice cream, sit on the grass, play chess, play in the playground and use the swing all decorated for the party. We loved the animals roaming around the park and the main thing, the view of the Douro. Look how amazing:
Paddy played chess with a federated 16 year old and drew!!! So proud of my little 6 year old. 🙂
We left there when our friends said they were arriving at World of Discoveries and we took an Uber Tesla there. How fun and different to ride in a Tesla, right? Everyone loved it…lol.
We arrived at the theme park and a few minutes later, we all went in together. It was a great time seeing the interactive museum of discoveries, with examples of the boats used by the Portuguese in the 15th and 16th centuries, scenes of the places they discovered, food they ate on the boats, etc. We got to the main attraction of the park, which is a boat that imitates the route taken by the Portuguese and we didn't even have to wait in line because my friend had a baby and so had priority. It would have been better to wait in line...lol...I'll explain later.
The 9 of us sat in 2 boats in a row and sailed through the scenes of the discoveries. When we arrived at a tunnel that had images and sounds of a storm, Juju was a little scared, but we managed to calm her down. Unfortunately for us, the ride broke down and all the boats got stuck in their places, and guess who got the worst place? Us. 🙁
We only realized there had been a problem when we started seeing and hearing the same images and sounds, and after 10 minutes we were still there. A man later showed up to let us know about the problem, apologize for being in such an uncomfortable place with two small children, and say there was nothing he could do for us because it was not possible to turn off the sounds and images and he could not get us out of there. We had to wait. I think we spent about 30-40 minutes in there in the dark with the noise of a storm that was very unpleasant, but fortunately my little ones stayed very cozy with us. When we were able to leave, they took us to the next scene and we got off the boat through an emergency exit door. I thought it was a huge security breach and obviously went to complain at the reception. They told me to send an email to BOL – I bought the tickets online – to ask for a refund, and when I asked if they would give some kind of reward at least to the children who were trapped, they offered us pebbles from the store downstairs. I thought it was the end of the line and I don't intend to go back there. It was a great shame, but fortunately
We left the park, said goodbye to our friends and walked along Ribeira to find a nice restaurant that would make up for the surreal experience we had just had. Celo found the Saint Nicholas Winery (Porto) on TripAdvisor and since it was still empty and we could sit at a table with a view of the Douro, that's where we went. We ate shrimp and stewed meat and then took a taxi to our parking lot.
We went home, took our baths and went to bed!
The next day, we checked out of the apartment and drove to Cascais, stopping once again at Pedro dos Leitões to make the hubby happy.
