Cafe Lello, Porto

The cathedral-like Livraria Lello, at 144 Rua das Carmelitas in the Portuguese city of Porto, is so atmospheric tourists reverently lower their voices. Manager Antero Braga explains: ”The bookshop was opened in 1906 and designed to echo the monastic library tradition which preserved Portuguese culture during the Moorish invasion.”

Carved trefoils adorn bookshelves, gargoyles peer down from corbels and a curvaceous red staircase – more Hogwarts than gothic – whirls upwards to a gallery level where the shrine of all bookshop cafe extremists, Cafe Lello, is under a massive stained glass window. Sitting with book, coffee, a glass of Portuguese port and views across cobbled Rua Carmelitas, I decide there’s nowhere I’d rather be.

Bedside reading Portugal’s national epic, The Lusiads by Camoes.

Brian Turner for The Sydney Morning Herald

Manon Dallee

Manon is a true food enthusiast who literally has never met an ingredient she didn’t like. Even thought her inability to take orders mixed with her stubborn nature made working as a pastry chef almost impossible, she has immense respect for the trade and still loves nothing more than to bake, in her own domain. Find out more about Manon here.

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