In November last year I visited Portland, the city of bridges. Portland is a pretty city with it’s weird side, like the slogan says: “keep Portland Weird”.
Portland’s History:
Portland is Oregon’s largest city and at the beginning of the 20th century, the city was known as one of the world’s most dangerous port cities. In the meantime, it’s reputation has changed and Portland is now known for it’s famous slogan “Keep Portland Weird”, Powell’s City of books, the coffee shops and sweets. Portland is rated as the 8th most popular city in the US and is also one of the greenest cities in the entire world! Many people cycle more than they drive around Portland. Let’s look at my ultimate favorite list of Portland!
- Powell’s City of books
My favorite of Portland, this bookstore is so big it takes over an entire city block. Powell’s is definitely a must for every book lover and for all the ones who are not that interested in books, it is worth checking out to see how big this store exactly is. Their collection of books is huge, it’s even so big they have store maps. So if you’re in Portland and you’re going to Powell’s, plan at least one hour in this great store and definitely don’t be surprised if you stayed longer.
- Saturday Market
A classic Saturday market, what makes this one different from the rest? I think the big collection of arts, crafts and all the great food they have! Portland’s Saturday market opened here in 1974 and it is our largest open-air arts and crafts market in the country. The market is located on the Waterfront Park and features over 250 artisans and small businesses selling their locally arts made in the Pacific Northwest region. It is also a great spot to find your souvenirs from Portland!
The Saturday market is open on every Saturday and Sunday from March through Christmas eve.
- Oregon Museum of Science And Industry, aka OMSI
OMSI is a really cool museum for everyone and you also can spend so much time here, with 5 halls and over 200 interactive exhibits and activities. The admissions is between 10 and 20 dollars, I you pay 10 dollars you can see 3 out of the 5 halls, if you pay more you can see 4 or you pay the full admission and then you can see all 5 of them.
When we went to the OMSI museum they had an quite interesting exhibit named “Exquisite Creatures”. These pieces of art were mostly made out of dead bugs but also fish, birds and other animals. This sounds cruel but it looked so amazing and sometimes scary if you can see the bugs so close. The artist of this exhibit Christopher Marley wanted to help people with their phobias and to make a more meaningful connection with nature. Unfortunately this great exhibit is closed since february 17th 2020.
Omsi Museum is not down town but a little bit outside, you can walk from downtown here and this will take you about 20 minutes. If it is dry it is an pretty walk through the city and over Hawthorne Bridge.
- The Keep Portland Weird Sign
If you want to take a picture with something very Portlandish, here is your change! Take your shot with the well known ‘Keep Portland Weird’ slogan. The slogan is across the road from Voodoo Doughnuts and behind Dante’s club. The address is 350 W Burnside ST, Portland, OR 97209
The slogan “Keep Portland Weird” was created with the intention of supporting local businesses and small business owners. This slogan is based on the “keep Austin Weird” organization and slogan in Austin, Texas. The slogan was brought to Portland by Music Millennium owner Terry Currier in 2003. He brought this slogan here after he learned of the movement in Austin
- Waterfront Park and South block Park
The waterfront park is a 30-acre park located alongside the Willamette River in downtown. It has a nice view over portland skyline and there are a lot of events on this location. This a nice place for a picnic, enjoy the saturday market here or the Oregon Maritime Museum.
EXTRA: Portland Japanese garden and Pittock Mansion
We planned to go to the Japanese Garden and to Pittock Mansion but the weather was too bad to go here. It was only raining when we were in Portland so we couldn’t go, but I heard these two are definitely worth visiting when your in Portland and that is why I wanted to mention those places!
How to get there
We started our trip in Seattle and went by boltbus, it’s an easy and relaxed way to go to Portland. You make sure you’re on time at the location and they will bring you to your destination, with Boltbus or Grayhound (they work together) you pay about 20 dollars to go there and another $20 to get back to Seattle. Unless you get the ticket way early in advance than they should be very cheap. I also heard from other people you also can go by Flixbus to Portland, it works the same, but this should be cheaper
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JK Travel Adventures 