We all have forever friends. Maybe you don’t see them every day or even once a year. But they’ll always be in your life and you always pick up where you left off. The Normans were among our very best friends in Paris. Campbell and their daughter Victoria started pre-Kindergarten together at the International School of Paris (ISP). Ella was a bit older and Will was always part of the squad. But Lisa, Michael, Chris and I were real squad goals. Today, more than a decade on and having lived in five different countries among us, we always try to find a way to meet up wherever we might be. Paris, London, Vienna, DC, Normandy, Bordeaux, Biarritz…and the rosé is always flowing. Now that Lisa is back in the UK, and I’m in Brussels, a girlie getaway to Porto was easy-breezy.

Talk about falling back in time with an old friend. Porto felt like a completely different era. Maybe because the city was so small, the buildings so colorful, the storefront fonts so 1950’s…Porto’s charm was off the charts! We even used an old fashioned map to get around, just because. I’d only done a minimal amount of research but figured we could fill our few days with walking, shopping, drinking port and just catching up on our lives. It turns out there’s a lot more to do in Porto than we imagined!

where we stayed: Porto AS 1829 Hotel on a cute and bustly square just a few hundred meters up from the river.

what we loved: clean, crisp room design; bathroom floor tiles; doors that opened onto the square; an overall decorating nod to its roots as a former stationary shop; perfect location away from the touristy river but close enough; can-do-anything hotel service – this place is a gem!

things we did: took a perfect walk from our hotel to see the inside of the train station and up to the magnificent Majestic Cafe, amazing shoe shopping along the way, visited Graham’s port cellar and could have stayed on the terrace all day, waited in line to visit Livraria Lello (aka the Harry Potter Bookstore), spotted gorgeous blue & white tiled churches and one million gorgeous tiled buildings, took Tram 18 from near the Carmelitas church to the far end of the river and walked to our hotel, ate yummy cataplana at Typographia Progresso, spent a day at the Praia dos Ingleses in Foz, where we ate delicious food & drank lots of sangria! (Stop into the bijoux Mercado da Foz first and then just keep walking toward the sea).

pro tip: book Cantina 32 for dinner immediately and visit the beautiful flagship Claus soap shop right near the hotel.