From 31/3/25 until 1/6/25, I'm on paid sabbatical from work. During that time, I'm travelling around Portugal for a month. I'm going to Porto, Coimbra, Lisbon, and then Porto again. Today is Sunday 6 April, the end of my first week in Porto.

It's been a fun first week. I haven't solo travelled since my interrailing trip a couple of years ago (and even then, that was my first time), so there's definitely been a level of overcoming anxiety and re-learning to do things alone. I spent this first week in a hostel, and did some of the activities and social stuff to push myself out of my comfort zone - which it did. I met some lovely new people though and had a great time talking to them over the first few days. I've always had a strong appreciation for my alone time, but I do like to mix it up with some social interaction here and there.

What I did

📍 I didn't go to everywhere on this list 🔗 but I pinned everything that looked vaguely interesting here, and constructed my days based on it. It went pretty well. Plus, I'll be coming back to Porto in a couple weeks, so maybe I'll do some more.

Day	What I did
Monday	Not much, travelled to Porto, flew from Gatwick. Found some old Avios points and so managed to fly first class for around £11. Checked into the Passenger Hostel in Sao Bento train station. Really nice hostel, and pretty train station
Tuesday	I went on a social walk with the hostel, it was nice - and helped me to get my bearings. It also forced me to be a little bit social, which was nice. I went on a solo walk after, I wandered around quite a bit but hit up Parque & Passeio das Virtudes then made my way down to Ribeira do Porto and read my book for a while. Went to a pasta night in the hostel, got some free food and cheap wine and hung out with the people I met earlier
Wednesday	By now, the solo travel anxiety was starting to calm down a little bit! I went to the Serralves centre, an art complex in Porto. I explored the park bit, the villa, and the main gallery. I think the only thing I missed was the cinema house. To be honest, there was a LOT of art, and even though most of it was really good - I definitely started to flag. The treetop walk in the park grounds was my favourite. It was €24 for a ticket that covered everything, and I spent about three hours here. In the evening, I ate Cachorrinhos at Gazela, I later found out this restaurant is famous because Bourdain ate here. The food was reallly nice, homely. The service was quick too. After that I had a couple glasses of wine at The Cork Wine Bar before watching Mickey 17 at Cinema Trindade - in English with Portugese subtitles. Portugese cinemas show films in their original language.
Thursday	I went to Matosinhos and walked around a bit, I'd love to come back to this beach when the weather (and the waves) are both good enough to swim After, I went to the museum and factory tour at Conservas Pinhais Factory Tour. This was really cool, like disneyworld for people who are weirdly into tinned fish (me!) The gift shop, where I really expected to be ripped off, was much cheaper than any place in the UK I've found that sells Nuri too Ate seafood at Marisqueira dos Pobres. The prices were great, and I definitely ordered too much. I also forgot how fiddly seafood can be. I couldn't figure out the legs on the crab (I was given a mallet, which I'd never used before), and the prawns had big veins (which are their digestive systems) which I couldn't clean elegantly. I know it's technically edible but still In the afternoon I did a paint and sip at the hostel, met a couple of cool people - and then had an early night.
Friday	I finished reading my book the night before (Small Joys by Elvin Mensah) so I found a cool bookshop that had a selection of queer books in English, Livraria aberta. I bought a couple of books there I had Rissois at Oficina dos Rissóis I had some coffee and a glass of wine at A Certain café I saw the Symphony Orchestra at Casa de Musica where they performed Tchaikovsky and Branco
Saturday	Took a day trip to Braga, walked around the beautiful city centre Visited 100° Página Book store, a mainly Portugese bookstore (on account of it being in Portugal) but beautiful even if I couldn't read the books, and with a nice little Cafe Visited the Mário Sequeira Gallery, which was truly stunning - especially the gardens, even if it did feel a bit like the film Get Out (on account of it being in the middle of nowhere and being a rich person's private gallery). I was literally the only person there, it was amazing even if slightly scary. In the evening I went to the Batalha Centro de Cinema to watch Pedro Almodóvar's 1983 film Dark Habits (Entre Tinieblas). It's a really cool cinema and had a nice bar (with cool glass tables). This cinema shows films in their original language and then subtitles in English and Portugese. So the English subtitles were on the film, then the Portugese ones were on a dedicated phsyical bar under the screen - quite cool actually.
Sunday	My last day in Porto before moving on to Coimbra, so I did my laundry in the hostel and took it easy. Not much is open on Sundays so I finally went to the Time Out Market, I had fried Bacalhau (salted cod), and it wasn't very good. There was lots of oil at the bottom of the dish, and I didn't expect bones in the fillet, though that part might be on me. I'm sure Bacalhau is generally very enjoyable (I normally love fish), so I would like to try it again before I leave Portugal, but I am a bit hesitant now! Then I went back to the Batalha Centro de Cinema to watch Pedro Almodóvar's 1991 film High Heels (Tacones Lejanos) with a friend I made at the hostel.

My time in Porto was really nice. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone, doing things alone for the first time since my interrailing trip around three years ago, and hanging out with strangers in the hostel, even making a couple of friends. It felt good to find my feet again and re-learn how to enjoy my own company and carry myself with confidence.

In my first interrailing trip, I moved very fast, I took a lot of trains and visited many places, which was amazing but meant that I was very tired by the end of it. This time, I'm staying in each place for longer, and giving myself permission to slow down. It's been a good journey so far. My next stop is Coimbra (I'm actually writing this at the end of my week in Coimbra).