After our wonderful day in the upper level of Porto, it was time to venture down along the river side.

We woke up to an odd haze in the skies and a funky smell in the lobby when we went down to get our morning water replenishment. It was the first morning we had the shutters open, but needed to turn a couple of lights on inside the apartment.

Come to find out, there were some large wildfires being fought over the weekend to the south and north of Porto. The major one causing plumes of smoke and ash to drift in our direction was/is located near Aviero – a town we were originally planning to visit.

We headed out for the day with the lingering smell of smoke in the air and the sky a hazy shade of yellowish-brown at times. There were many people walking around wearing masks, as there was a noticeable amount of ash also falling.

We made our way down to the riverfront admiring the older section of town known as the Ribeiro. Those buildings have been around for several hundred years and are still going strong.

As one would imagine, the area is quite touristy and there were many buskers stationed along the way. Blues, rock, pop, fado – you name it and you could hear it. There were also many souvenir stands and shops selling whatever the people were willing to buy.

We walked along for a while, listening to the music and taking in the surroundings. It was also an interesting perspective to see the lower level of the bridge, this time with pedestrians heading over to the port houses in Villa Nova de Gaia and vehicles driving across.

We ended our time down at the waterfront as the air was really thickening from the smoke.

Of course, the walk back was uphill and it was a warm day. We took our time and decided to stop for a bit of lunch and a drink. We waited until we arrived back near to the apartment to find a spot and actually ended up in the Bistro at our hotel. We had some questions about check out, so we managed to fill our curiosity and our tummies at the same time.

We would be going back to the restaurant for dinner, so a cheese board and bottle of wine was a perfect luncheon combo. Everything was delicious, so we were looking forward to returning for dinner that evening.

We had a waitress – Marta, who was such a treat. She loved that we were trying to order and reply using Portuguese so we had a lot of fun with her.

After lunch, we made our way back to the apartment to relax and breathe in some fresh cool air. We’re hoping that the air clears a bit as we are scheduled to go on a day trip tomorrow.

As evening rolled around, we headed back to Bistro Bartolomeu for dinner. I have to say, walking around the block to get to dinner felt good. My legs are definitely feeling the effects of all the hills here in Porto.

The dinner menu is geared to be a sharing experience, with tapas-sized plates. We had a Tosta Mista, which was basically a version of a French Croque Monsieur (ham, cheese and toasted bread), then we had a Gnocchi dish made with short rib beef ragout and finished with a steak sandwich. They also provided homemade sweet potato chips as a side and we enjoyed another bottle of Portuguese rosé.

Dinner was delicious and although they were ‘small plates’, we were too full for dessert.

We met a lovely couple from Minnesota who had just arrived and were exhausted. We shared a couple of Porto tips and restaurant recommendations with them. They were very nice and if they are reading, we hope you enjoy your time in both Porto and Portugal.

Once finished, we took the quick uphill walk back to the apartment. We’re going to get to bed early as we’ll need to be up about 6:30am for our tour tomorrow.