Getting There: SFO-FRA-OPO

Although our flights were booked on United, they were operated by Lufthansa. That was a good thing, as LH still understands good in-flight service. With lifetime Star Alliance Gold status, we were able to hang out and grab some good food in the Lufthansa lounge in Frankfurt before our flight to Porto.

June 23 is "St. John's Eve" in Porto. That made our arrival quite interesting. The Festa de São João do Porto is the most important holiday in Porto. Thousands of people converge in the city center for a concert, for fireworks, and to hit each other with garlic flowers and with soft plastic hammers that squeak. Street vendors were everywhere.

After checking into our hotel, we walked around, checked out the tiles in the train station and had some food.

The Hotel Teatro is very close to the activities, and the front desk people warned us that the noise of the festivities would be loud. But, after long flights and the time change, Allie and I both slept soundly.