Porto, Portugal is full of surprises

I have two posts on Porto already, but this one includes a few quirky things youl’ll find in the coastal Portuguese city. I’ll include photos on what our tourist guide called the most beautiful McDonald’s in the World, the Porto Comic Con and some damn cool art to decorate various buildings.

★ For more photos and posts on Portugal, click here.

The Most Beautiful McDonald’s in the World in Porto

While we were touring around in our electronic vehicle called a Tuk Tuk (click here for my previous post), he mentioned that Porto is home to, “the most beautiful McDonald’s in the world!”. Of course, Miguel and I had to check it out. The building was formerly the Imperial Café, an emblematic historic building from the 1930s. In 1995 McDonald’s opened its doors at Avenida dos Aliados. I haven’t seen very many styles of McDonald’s, but the building is indeed beautiful.

The eagle from the Imperial Café days is still preeminent at the entrance.

McDonald’s Imperial in Porto

If you want to eat at McDonald’s and surround yourself with swanky art deco design, then Porto is the place for you. Stained glass windows, large ball room style chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, nice toilets and a patio outside are all features of this lovely building. But let’s not kid ourselves, it’s still fast food. There are self-order kiosks everywhere and large menus with fluorescent lighting.

But if you block out the lines of people, you can still appreciate the grandeur from the Imperial Café days.

Comic Con Portugal

We noticed posters around town for the Comic Con Portugal (click here for the official site). Pretty cool! I’m not sure if it’s always in Porto or if it rotates around different cities, but either way, we’ll definitely attend one soon.

Porto shop windows

I enjoyed the more traditional looking shop windows in Porto. Here are two of my favorites, which both involve bottles of Porto wine, Licor Beirão (delicious!), aguardente (between between 29% and 60% proof) and lovely canned food (I like the designs).

I like the effect from the reflection of the woman in the glass when I took this pic.

Porto Street Art

There were many buildings with very cool art. The Armazem (warehouse) had real chairs displayed at the entrance, while others had art on wooden posts or walls.