Coffee choices:
Cafe: an espresso.
Pingo or cafe pingado: a macchatto in Italian, or a cortado in Spanish. an espresso stained with a spot of milk.
Meia-leite: cafe con leche, or cafe au lait.
Those were all I ordered so if you want a big cup of American coffee I don't know what to do for you.
Very important: if they bring you something like bread, or olives, or cheese, or even little butter packets that you didn't ask for, IT IS NOT FREE. They charge you if you eat it, and don't charge you if you don't. First time I was in Portugal, it felt like entrapment. It's not. They all do it. Just push it off to the side if you don't want it. They'll take it and give it to someone else. That seems a bit unsanitary, but you get used to it.
I didn't really eat at anything other than Tasca restaurants, so if you're into something fancy, you're gonna have to tripadvisor that shit. Tascas usually look like little cafeterias, nothing hipster or fancy. Usually a lot of old people. They usually just make a few dishes of the day, and these places display their offerings on paper, handwritten, on the outside of the restaurant. These places are cheap as fuck and it's like your mom is cooking for you. Whatever you order, be aware, it will probably come with rice and/or potatoes of some sort, so be careful of ordering side dishes. It will probably be a fuck ton of food. A fuck ton of food that you're probably going to think, if you're like me, needs a little bit of hot sauce. Portuguese is flavorful but not spicy, unless you consider salt a spice. Don't let the low prices fool you, you will have trouble finishing your meal. Same goes for wine. Beer, on the other hand, is usually served in the tiniest bottles or glasses. Why are you drinking beer, anyway? You're in Portugal. Drink the fucking wine.
Side note: the desserts in Portugal are stupidly good, provided that you like egg yolks. Most desserts are some form of yellow, due to the sheer amount of egg goes into everything. There's one dessert that's literally candied egg yolks in sugar wrapped in rice paper. Everyone will tell you to eat a pastel de nata, or just "nata." And you should. Eat as many of them as humanly possible. Once I thought I didn't like egg custard, and then realized what a moron I was.
PORTO
Tascas:
Casa espresso rua das oliveiras 6. Really awesome. I was the only American in there. This is a good thing, although now I've just ruined everything.
Casa mundo: it was ok. It's in guia de routard, so it's full of French people. I thought Casa espresso was better.
Casa viuva: I ordered a stupidly good grilled bacalhau. Prices are not as cheap (as the ones above, but still goddamn cheap) and portions are not as big a the other two, but you can walk away without feeling like passing out.
People are going to tell you to get a francesinha. There multi-layered meat sandwiches drowned in spicy sauce and with an egg on top if you ask for it. They're like the sandwich version of poutine. Overrated and gross but they're really proud of them.
I went to a really cute place called museu de avo, and the food was ok (in my opinion not better than these old-fashioned places) but the ambiance was fun and excellent. Porto has a lot of hipster-ass restaurants, at half the Brooklyn price.
Things to do
For a close beach, go to matozinhos. The metro goes there in 25 minutes. It's on the Atlantic, so the water is cold and choppy. Also, very windy. Prepare to put your shirt on your face to avoid the sandstorm. Otherwise, very clean and sandy. The view isn't great, but whatever, you didn't come to Porto for the beach, you came for wine and food.
Matozinhos is Also a great place to get seafood. If you're in Portugal for sardine season, for the love of God, go. They're not the same as canned sardines. And if you don't know how to eat a fish off the bone, learn for chrissake. I went to restaurante de moçambique and the sardines were amazing and 5 large sardines were €8. Forgettable sides, like under seasoned sautéed green peppers and the ubiquitous boiled potato, but whatever, more room for sardines.
Wine tasting
Go to the other side of the Douro river to Ramos pintos. It's one of the many Porto wine cellars. You can walk there over one of their gorgeous bridges. A tour of the facilities and two glasses of port: €6. I don't usually like tours... But this was excellent. Place is gorgeous and full of history and old shit. Then go to another port cellar and do the same. You can taste some very expensive port for less than what you'd pay for one cocktail at home.
Walking tours
There's a group called Porto Walkers that gives FREE TOURS. Some people tip them, some people don't. Evidently they get paid by hostels to do what they do. I'm not sure. They welcomed us into their group when we were seated next to them at Ramos Pintos. They're SUPER NICE and do city tours twice a day, wine tours, and pub crawls. Cindy doesn't pub crawl, but maybe you do.
The party scene is really something. There's one street in area of ******** lined with bars. People are in the bars, and also partying on the streets. All night. I don't know when these people sleep or how they work. Sunday nights the restaurants are still packed at midnight. Also, I started eating dinner at 11 pm and my acid reflux situation trying to sleep on a full stomach of choriço was a problem. I guess this is why everyone is out until 2. Have to wait for the food to settle, cause of reflux.
Porto has a good light rail system that I still wasn't really able to figure out. Someone is usually there to help you. Although, I'm pretty sure that if you never paid to get on, no one would notice. The stations work on the honor system and I never saw anyone check tickets. I am a rule follower, but maybe you aren't. I know I broke a rule by accident twice, once not paying the right zone fare and once not validating correctly.
GUIMARÃES:
Day trip from Porto. Very cute. Worth it, if you can manage to get through pronouncing the name of the town. It's something like zhim-er-EYE-nz. One year of Brazilian Portuguese wasn't enough to make that shit happen for me, so good luck to you. There's a castle and an old town and it's very walkable from the train station and not overcrowded. Ate at restaurant called solar do Arco and there was so much good food I was so sad I couldn't eat it all. Also, the one vinho verde I ordered there was the size of 2.5 glasses so I spent the rest of the day wandering the summer heat dehydrated and in a fog. This was not a bad thing, being drunk at a castle.
COIMBRA
I didn't give coimbra a chance, really. By this point, I was pretty tired of old towns. The university and it's museum, library, park, etc is a big draw but coimbra is HILLY AS FUCK and I just didn't have it in my any more to climb up and down and up and down to see an old library. People like it here. It's fine. I thought I'd use it as a base to go to other places, but changed my mind after A day. I stayed at a magnificent hostel on the top of the hill, luggage hostel and Suites. The fact that it was up a hill and away from the center of things kept it much more like a hotel than a hostel. Breakfast was awesome, good aircon, and the place is gorgeous. Down side was that if you went down to town, eventually you had to walk back up.
Tasca: Quim dos ossos on rua Antonio vasconcelos. Meal of the day, including drink, €6. I told him I didn't want dessert. So he only charged me 5€!! That was nice!
tapas mendes, recommended by the hostel. It wasn't awful, but don't waste your time. Also had the local amaro called licor beiras: also don't waste your time. Thin and weak.
LISBON
I don't know what you're into, but if you're into partying and shopping stay near the baixa-chiado station. It's on the blue and green metro line. In general, the blue line is a great place to stay near. Lots of bars, restaurants, a mall, etc. it's more expensive to eat here, and if you venture a little closer to Rossio station the prices are much cheaper.
I went to Tasca Ze dos Cornos near Rossio and it was so good I'm going back tomorrow. I ate the freshest grilled sea bass for 9€. The place is small, get there early.
ABeach: go to Cascais. The water is nice but really cold. It is GREAT. Make sure you have a metro card with enough money on it to go the 4 zones... About €5 round trip. I learned the hard way... I waited on line with everyone else for 45 minutes before I realized the metro ticket is integrated with the light rail.
Go to sintra. Read about it. It's great. Tourist hell, but you're one also.
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