I have this tradition to always spend my birthday somewhere abroad. First it was a little village in France, then it was Singapore and this year I decided to go to Portugal. I took my boyfriend an my cousin with me and we set off to Porto.
Once we were checked in the apartment, we rushed to the streets of the city and to a secret place that we were late for.
There were beautiful tiles literally everywhere!
They have booked a table at a fancy restaurant where the chef takes traditional Portugese meals and adds a modern twist to them. The name is DOP by Chef Rui Paula.
We were probably the youngest people in the restaurant and we were giggling every time a businessman would stare in our direction.
We started with a glass of local Port wine to taste the spirit of the city.
And some complementary appetizers.
A ceviche with the most popular fish in Portugal - cod.
And the star of the night - the famous sandwich Franchesincha which is a calorie suicide in its original shape, but we tried a more fancy version of it.
The desserts were not too bad either!
And then it was presents time!
Then we took off to the streets again, exploring the night charm of the city.
When suddenly we stumbled into the incredible Porto train station that I've read about in all the travel guides.
The walls are covered in the traditional hand painted Azulejo, depicting scenes from the Portuguese history.
And the best part?
We had it all for ourselves!
If you go in the daytime, you will see hoards of tourists making their way through the train station entrance, but since it was already midnight, it was completely empty.
We stared in awe for a few long minutes taking in the beauty and then went on a bar hunt.
We danced the night away.
