We really enjoyed walking through Portugal to Porto. We passed through vineyards, forests and some lovely towns and villages.

Cobbled paths

Some of our first few walks in Portugal were on dirt paths through forests. But most of the paths we followed were like roman roads made from cubes of stone.

A stone path in Portugal made of cubed blocks

That meant walking was a bit rough on our feet.

Second breakfast

On the bright side, at about 11am on most days, we somehow ended up near a ‘pasteleria’ (cake shop).

That meant we often treated ourselves to a second breakfast - a concept we’ve now fully embraced. No trip to Portugal is complete without ‘pasteis de nata’ (custard tarts) so we’ve been bravely eating them whenever we’ve seen them.

Pastel de nata, a rich custard tart with flaky pastry outside

Santo Domingo at it again

We really enjoyed staying in Barcelos - a lovely town north of Porto. It turns out, it also has a thing for Santo Domingo’s chicken. The story of the rooster of Barcelos was very familiar.

One of many chicken sculptures in Barcelos

Churches

Every town has a church and almost all of them look like this.

A Portuguese church with white walls, a red tile roof and a spire like the dome of a minaret

Except, because this is Portugal, there are a few with lovely tiles.

Portuguese church with decorative tiling on the walls instead of plain white

The side of a small church chapel tiled with a repeated pattern of yellow circles

Tiles

In Portugal, if there’s a surface that can be tiled, it is tiled.

The side of a staircase tiled with a repeated blue-to-white gradient pattern

A boulder with ceramic tiles on

There are some excellent mosaics too.

Mosaic of a fisherman bringing in his catch

Boardwalk

Our last walk in Portugal was from Vila do Conde to Porto. We took the coastal path, which is almost all a boardwalk that stretches to Porto and beyond.

The boardwalk on the west coast going south to Porto

Tom on the coastal boardwalk with some rocky bits and the sea in the distance

The weather was a bit grim but we were so pleased to see the sea, we didn’t mind.