The funniest thing about getting to this little town was how many countries surrounded us when we landed in Basel, Switzerland. When we got off the plane, there were two labeled doors: Germany or France. We spent a whole 30 minutes in Switzerland until we passed through the magical gate into France at the train station.

BONUS INFO: there was a special ticket price for travelling to the Christmas markets! It was an open return ticket from Basel train station to Colmar or Strasborg good for 3 days. We saved several euros and it was open for multiple rides, though we didn't take more than the one to and from.

Sooo cold....

We took a long walk around town to get all the sights.

Did I mention it was cold? Because it was reeeeally cold.

The Sunflower

Charming stores all dressed up for Christmas. Of course I was drawn to the purple shutters :)

We fell in love the city immediately. It was all dressed up for Christmas and even though it was the coldest part of Portugal (which was still 30F degrees warmer than London so no love lost) 

Short story: FAIL. And guess what? Same thing happened when we tried to get a specific picture on this cute bench swing.
I know BENCH SWING! It could have been great...but I love this guy.

Cute French couple for this win! I have zero confidence in the random people but I won't give up because I never get to be in our travel pictures.

Cais da Ribeira

A UNESCO World Heritage Site from the coolest/scariest bridge

Across the top of Ponte Dom Luis I, there is little to zero barrier between the pedestrian path and the train. On the lower level, a narrow pedestrian path means two people can't comfortably pass in opposing directions. So you're always just THIS close to being hit by a car or train haha

Roberta Square :)

Palacio da Bolsa

TILES!

Doors!

They are all just so charming and photographable.

I seriously love all the tile facades

Inside the Porto Cathedral

It's pink on the inside!

View from the Tower

Sao Bento, one of the prettiest train stations I've ever seen

The blue tile work is gorgeous

See??

We tracked down a recommendation along the Cais da Riberia for one of the many, many recipes for the dried cod that the Portuguese love so much.

One of the weirdest things I can't get over about the traditional Portuguese food is this: while there are over 350 dishes in which they prepare cod, they never have FRESH cod! Probably have never tried fresh cod ever. It's always salt dried cod. WHAAA? (Refer to my Lisbon post to see the photo of the dried cod)

This is the cod post-multiple water soaks to remove the majority of the salt, roasted with potatoes and crumbled cornbread with a generous amount of olive oil.
Very tasty but a different texture to the fish which needs no additional salt or flavouring.

If you don't know the Great British Bake Off, run, don't walk, to your nearest device to watch!

The recipe book with some of the show's recipes was released the day after the finale aired in the UK. A great friend gave me the heads up that the three finalists were going to attend a signing at a bookstore in London! So I HAD to be there and it was the best!

Jane, Candace and Andrew.
I was so excited/nervous for this photo that I had to clench my fists to keep my hands from shaking. haha! It was such a star-crossed moment and I failed at being cool about it. Whoops.

Taylor had Jane pegged as the winner from early on but Candace took the coveted cake plate home!
We had a whole group that would gather every week to watch and cheer on our favorite bakers. It is such a fun thing to get together and learn about British baking and ooh and aah together over the pretty and the ugly that can happen in the tent :) (for ugly, see gingerbread house showstopper...it was just sad...)