Final Day and Final Thoughts
My final day in Porto was mine all mine and I was looking forward to checking the remaining items off of my “must see” list and to take care of some last minute shopping. In addition, I had booked myself a walking food tour of Porto for that evening.
I enjoyed my breakfast so much yesterday that I again made my way to Negra Café Baixa for breakfast. I knew I wanted to cover a lot of ground today so I took the Andante one station above the café and moseyed downhill towards breakfast.
After a delightful breakfast, I walked a few blocks down to the Mercado do Bolhão to peruse stalls full of handcrafted pottery, cured meats, cheeses, fresh juices, flowers…you name it, they had it. It reminded me very much of Covent Garden in London – the same energy and hustle. After selecting a few gifts for friends and family at home, I dropped them by my hotel and made my way over the medieval quarter of Porto.
I stopped by the train station one more time to get a better look at the tiles and explored a little back ally next to it that was a bustling outdoor market on the weekends. I made my way back to the Sé do Porto and spent some time taking in the sweeping views. I purchased a ticket to walk through the Museu do Tesouro da Sé Porto (Museum of the Treasures of Porto – very loose translation) which was phenomenal! The architecture was breathtaking as were the tile work and various religious relics on display.
Walking out of the museum, I followed the sound of a saxophone around the corner and sat in the shade listening to the music and thinking back over the last year. This last year has been a doozey for me. My only sibling and older sister, Heather died unexpectedly in January of 2024 and admittedly, I threw myself into taking care of everything that needed to be done because that’s just who I am. The dust never settled and I never really had time to reflect on what it meant to lose her because I hid my feelings by being a workaholic. My annus horribilis, to borrow the queens English, was bookended with my son being struck by a drunk driver whilst sitting at a stoplight in DC. (I’ll go into this at a later time, but let’s just say, this has been a hell of a year, and not in the woohoo way). So, I was sitting there, listening to this music, thinking about what led me to be right there in that moment, with tears just streaming down my face. 20 years ago, I would have been mortified. Now I know it just means I have a story to tell.
After a few good cathartic moments, I made my way back down through the medieval streets and noticed that flags had been hung through the narrow streets. I was googling trying to figure out what sort of festival Porto was preparing for when it dawned on me that it was June 1 – the start of Gay Pride Month. Heather was there in that moment waving at me, I’m sure of it.
My last stop for the day before getting ready for my walking food tour was to visit the Palácio da Bolsa which used to house the stock exchange in Porto. It’s now a local event space and is open for daily tours. The line for tickets was short and I was able to book an English tour in just 30 minutes. I made my way back outside to grab a seat until my appointed tour time and disaster struck. The last (thankfully) step was a half-step and I wasn’t paying attention, misjudged the distance and went sprawling. More mortified than anything, I scooped myself up off of the cobblestones, assured those around me I was fine and carried on to sit down and wait for my tour. I was a little sore at this point but really felt fine.
I made my way back over to the Palácio da Bolsa for my appointed tour time and was feeling a little tender in my lower back but went on the enjoy the tour a great deal. The woodwork is absolutely breathtaking, the detail carved into granite pillars absolutely unreal and there are no words for the official “Room of Porto” decorated in homage to Moorish roots in Portugal.
After my tour, I went back to my hotel room to prepare for the evening and realized that all was not well with my back. Determined to power through, I set out for an espresso and to see if walking a bit would help loosen my back up. Spoiler alert – it did not. I ended up having to skip my walking tour as there was no way I’d make it to the end and enjoy myself. I opted instead to sit on a grassy knoll outside of a beautiful church and soak in the sounds and smells of the city.
I ended the day by grabbing a delicious dinner at a little café and made my way back to my hotel to finish packing and catch my 7 am flight to Lisbon.
Final Thoughts:
On Journee: This was a really fun experience. I’m a total type A and really shine when it comes to logistics etc so this was very much outside of my comfort zone. I’m glad to have this experience though and to use it as a formula for some of my next trips. I enjoyed the mix of activities and solo time but wished they were a little more thoughtful about the order of activities. By the time I visited the Pavia walkways, I don’t feel like I got as much out of the experience as I would have liked because my legs were fairly exhausted at that point. I’m not in the best physical shape of my life, I’d consider myself on the average scale of fitness – walking, hiking etc don’t usually give me trouble but again, by the 3rd hiking activity, my legs were crying. Accommodations were fantastic – I was centrally located and able to get anywhere fairly quickly and easily.
Also, I have to say, I’m glad I peeked because it gave me a chance to upgrade my plane ticket from Basic Economy to Premium Economy. It was only an additional $100 to upgrade all legs of my flight and the extra space really did make a difference after a few hours. I would use Journee again and likely will at some point in the future. Next time, I’d like to take a companion with me – I loved the solo experience and will continue to solo travel but I think an experience of this nature is better shared. Anyone wanna travel?
Final Stats:
Steps Taken: 134,330 (avg of 16,791 daily)
Flights Climbed: 166 (avg of 21 daily)
Distance Walked: 56.1 (avg of 7 daily)
My Next 40 Years 
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