Massarelos

Will it fit? We've checked out of our apartment in Lisbon and working out how we get our bounty all the way to the Avis centre... 2 x Ubers is the only answer. The saudade at leaving this amazing city gives way to panic as we try to squeeze this groning bounty into the apparent "full-size sedan" that is a Talisman.
We're off! Manual, wrong side of the road, Portuguese signage, thank St Anthony it's a quiet Sunday morning and we own the city! A few wrong turns, including apparently stealing a bus lane in front of a busload of police and I've safely acclimatised, We're off on the freeway where speed laws are as important as the drug ones, at 140 I'm 20 over the speed limit, but getting buzzed by everyone else treating it like an autobahn. A breakfast stop and a very testing hour of Gab's playlists later we're in Porto!
The least planned adventure ever means we have no plan for Porto either. A few weeks ago some fellow reddit'er was after Sydney tourism tips, turns out he was from Porto and was set to be in Sydney just as we were arriving in his hometown. I gave him a bunch of things to check out and he reciprocated.
A bunch of authorities from yours truly to Travel + Leisure call Livraria Lello the most beautiful bookshop in the world, JK Rowling credits its staircase and wonderous shelves as her inspiration for the Hogwarts library. The facade is already amazing, but enter and start ascending the stairs and your mouth too will drop. Skyward is a wonderous stained glass rendition of the founding Lello brothers moto "Decus in Labore" but the shelves are amazing. Each section boasts rough busts of the Authors of the section. Fair to say we were lost in here for some time. With everything from Ulysses to Wreck this Journal this place had us all sorted - they even had Manga for Fid while Gab was hunting anything on Seurat.
Next up u/mamaguebos (no joke, do the translation yourself to see the kind of guy I'm taking direction from) says we should head to BASE, and he wasn't wrong. A magical setting somehow perched in an ancient olive grove in the middle of the city, the cool beats and way too strong Vodka dose for a very occasional drinker sees Gab a tad tipsier than she would normally allow in pleasant company.
We stroll the avenue where, in a city mostly shut down for Sunday afternoon trade, Gab & Bux treat every open storefront as the oasis of retail relief they no doubt are. Thankfully the Spain v Russia Game is on and u/mamaguebos says Avenida dos Aliados is the place to be when an important game is on. Spoilt from yesterday in Lisbon the Ave isn't quite as impressive, but with two viewing stations, each with massive screens and Super Bock flowing this is the place to be. Unfortunately, the others in our party have read that the Maccas over on the side is the most "Beautiful McDonalds" in the world. Mind you Lisbon claimed the sexiest WC on the planet and that was a tad underwhelming. The Maccas did nothing to improve my assessment that perhaps the Portuguese are more given to hyperbole than other cultures.
Next u/mamaguebos says we should check out Conga. There are two dishes this city is famous for, both seem enjoyed best at the conclusion of a hops-heavy evening. First is Francesinha, seems a Croque-monsieur in a tomato sauce (why?) the home of which is too far away. The second is Bifana, and Conga is it's home. A sweet fresh bun filled with sliced Pork in a wet spicy gravy actually tastes a lot better than it looks, and since I've never had it described to me before eating, I'm sure a truckload better than it sounds. A Caneca or two of Super Bock and we've enjoyed it enough.
To take stock, so far u/mamaguebos has recommended cultural icons of the city whilst my family has b-lined for the maccas. As soon as I step out of Conga I'm assaulted by the pitch that we should visit the Portuguese version of Westfields so Bux can visit a London version of Myer that has opened a few stores here - if nothing else it has motivated Gab to get her head around Uber - she's booked a car and has us en route to Primark.
Frankly it's too boring to document, we've been to Westfields for the afternoon. At least Fid and I got to sit in an Italian restaurant watching Croatia and Denmark battle it out all the way down to the shootout. Who cares - those smarmy Danes that took us down a few weeks ago went down to the Croatians - Perfecto!Read more