Category: Porto

Happy Birthday William!

3/26/2019

Today is William's birthday. We sleep late and have a relaxing breakfast in the apartment. Then we are off exploring more of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia.

We start by walking to Capela das Almas de Santa Catarina, another of Porto's churches with beautiful azulejo tiles. After gazing at the exterior we pop inside for a look. We have to be quick, the reason the church is open is that mass is about to start. After the church we stroll toward the Duro river, stopping for a coffee and some people-watching along the way.

When we arrive near the river we notice a funicular which goes down to the riverside. Sound like a good idea! As we walk along the river on the Porto side the sun feels good, offsetting the cool wind. William picks out a restaurant for lunch and finds a table outside where the wind is blocked and it has an umbrella to provide a little shade. We start with the olives and bread basket while the kitchen works on William's steak and my whole sea bass. The restaurant is busy and it gives us time to talk and watch the people and activities on and near the river. When our meals arrive they are piping hot and quite delicious. We would like to order dessert, but decide to hold off for now.

We walk across Ponté Luis I, this time on the lower level, going over to the Vila Nova de Gaia side with all of it's port houses and restaurants. It provides an opportunity to look across the river at the colorful buildings lining the Porto side. We walk along, occasionally checking out the dessert section of restaurant menus. After a good stroll we turn uphill to find different cafes. We spot one we like and where we can see the some of the cakes and pastries in the glass case up front. Chocolate cake and glasses of 10 year old tawny port as an accompaniment sounds (and are) perfect. They are made for each other. 😀

While we're enjoying dessert I google "cigar stores near me". El Corte de Ingles, the large Spanish department store, has a cigar section but it is a few kilometers away - all uphill. No issue, we just order an Uber which drops us off at the front door! William happily selects 15 Cuban cigars to bring home.

A light rail stop is right outside the back door of El Corte de Ingles. We walk over to the stop and with a couple of other tourists decipher how to purchase tickets at the machine. The tram arrives and we take it across the river to the Aliados stop, just a short walk to the apartment.

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The Douro Valley

3/25/2019

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We have signed up for a small group tour of the Douro Valley. On this sunny Monday we meet our guide and the rest of the group in front of the McDonalds on Praca da Liberdade at 8:30 am.

On the drive to the Douro Valley we introduce ourselves.  Our guide, Jose, is Portuguese and has lived in Porto for 19 years.  Our fellow tourists are a woman from Seattle who is celebrating her 50th birthday tomorrow, a 30ish couple from Washington D.C., an Italian woman who works at a winery and is also celebrating her birthday tomorrow, and a woman from Austria.  Since William's birthday is tomorrow that makes three out of the eight people in the van with birthdays of March 26th.  How unusual.

Jose provides background information on Portugal, Porto and the Douro Valley as he drives us through the Vinho Verde region. We climb in altitude and pass by Marão Mountain, then it is downhill into the Douro Valley.  The terraces of vines on the hillsides are almost surreal.

Our first winery is in the town of Pinhão.   Jose drives to Quinta da Foz where we are greeted Christian.  The quinta was started in 1872 and belonged to the Cálem group for about 150 years.  It was bought out a few years ago by a private group.  Christian passionately describes the quinta and the wine and port making processes.  They now focus on high-end wines, but also produce port and entry-level wines.  The high-end and port grapes are still crushed by foot.  There are beautiful azulejo tiles in the winery from 1921.

Following the discussion and tour Christian pours tastes of their entry-level Vinha da Foz white wine and then their Quinta da Foz red.  The red is a field blend, which is many different varietals growing in the field all fermented together.  William smiles because he's always prompting me to mix our Chianti grapes together and then begin the fermentation process.  We're invited to take a small spoon on their super high quality olive oil to clear or palettes then he pours their tawny port.  All are very good, and we are amazed at the prices, the most expensive is $13.50€ - and is the olive oil!  It would be dangerous for me to live near here. Their Reserva and Grand Reserva costs a bit more and have been recognized by several wine critics.  I keep their e-mail address for future reference ([email protected])  ... you never know when it might come in handy.

Our second winery and lunch is a 30 minute drive from Quinta da Foz.  It is amazing how quickly we go up and down in altitude as Jose rounds the curves of the road.  We arrive at Quinta do Bucheiro.  The vineyard and winery have been owned by the same family for three centuries.  The mother of the family has prepared a private lunch for us in the old house while her son in his late 20's acts as the sommelier and server.

We start with a sparkling wine, cheese and sausages.  The creamy vegetable soup is accompanied by Cierós, a dry white wine made from Malvasia Fina, Gouveio, and Viosinho grape varietals.  The main course arrives, a traditional Portuguese dish of pork and diced potatoes baked and/or finished with a delicious olive oil.  The son serves generous pourings of their red wine made from Touriga Nacional grapes.  The dessert is a pudding served with a glass of their classic Moscatel.  A very unique and fun experience with great food and wine as well as fun conversation with the people in our group.

Following lunch Jose takes us on a short tour of the complex. There is a chapel which was built centuries ago as well as the owner's homes, the winery and the bottling area. Some of the wine is also stored here.

Jose drives us back to Pinhão where we board a rabilo boat, the type of vessel originally used to transport port from the Douro Valley to the port houses and caves in Vila Nova de Gaia. Ours has been outfitted to provide tours on the Douro. We enjoy the scenery and the story-telling of our crew as well as some snacks and a glass of tawny port during our hour sailing.

Now very, very full and a little happy from the various wines we've consumed we all pile back into the van. Most of us doze off for at least part of the 90 minute drive back to Porto (not Jose of course 😊). We arrive at 5:30 pm.

There were some less expensive Douro tour options but William and I are very happy with this specialized tour we found through AirBnB Experiences.

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Azulejos, Franesinha, Port and Fado

3/24/2019

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William is our breakfast chef, making scrambled eggs with bacon, sausage and cheese using the basic kitchenette of our apartment. We relax after breakfast and then begin today's Porto exploration.

We walk by the beautiful Santo Iidefonso church then make our way to São Bento train station. Both have magnificent examples of the famous Portuguese blue Azulejo tiles. The church has 11,000 tiles with scenes from the life of Saint Ildefonso and bible scenes on it's facade. São Bento's 20,000+ tiles inside the station depict Portugal's history. They were completed between 1905 and 1916 and are in great shape.

Continuing on we walk to Praca da Liberdade to find the meeting spot for the tour we will take tomorrow. Then the search for a lunch spot begins. We find Cerevjaria Brasao and are lucky to get a table right away since we do not have a reservation. I want to try one of Porto's famous Franesinha's. I order the half size and I am happy that I do, what arrives is more than I can eat. It is a "sandwich" with bread, ham, sausage, and steak or roast meat, and covered with melted cheese and an egg then a hot thick tomato and beer sauce. OMG! William selects a steak, which he thoroughly enjoys.

Luckily we have a little walk back to the apartment to work off some of the food. A short nap is in order.

We have booked a 6 pm tour and Fado show at Cálem Port Cellar. We leave the apartment around 4:30 pm for our walk to Vila Nova de Gaia, the area across the Douro River which hosts the port houses. We wander downhill toward the river then walk across the upper deck of Ponte Luis I, the 1886 bridge that was designed by the Eiffel Group (of Eiffel Tower fame).

We enjoy the tour of the cellar then settle into our seats for the Fado show. Glasses of white port and 10 Year Tawny are in front of us, needless to say the tawny is much better. The 45 minute show involves two guitarists and two singers. It is very enjoyable, though I think that the selection is of more upbeat songs, not the heart-renching variety.

It is 8:30 pm when we arrive back near the apartment and we're a little hungry. We sit down at the restaurant across the street only to find out that they are out of beer and the kitchen is closing down. The waiter suggests a nearby place called Big Bad Bank. When we sit down at The Big Bad Bank we realize that their appetizers are a little unusual, not what we have in mind, but we just want to have a little something to eat. We plunge in, ordering the Pigtails, Almond Mole and Cauliflower and the "Al Pastor" Seabass Toquito. The toquitos's are ok, but loaded with onions. We learn that pigtails are a delicacy in Porto. Let's just say that William avoids the dish and I can only down half of it. Oh well, I tried. Thank goodness the beer and wine are good!

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Moving from Albufeira to Porto

3/21/2019

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Friday is our last full day in Albufeira. It's sunny so I take a long walk in the morning. There's a small cemetery on the road to the marina we've not yet visited so I include it along my route. I also make the promenades and lookouts over the Atlantic Ocean and Albufeira's beautiful beaches. Although it is sunny it is windy and only 18C (65F), otherwise I would be walking on the beach.

Early afternoon we walk to the Square for a snack and beverage on a semi-sunny patio sheltered from the breeze.  Not surprisingly William chooses the shady side of the table and I go for the sunny side.  For dinner we return to Restaurante 56, the first restaurant we dined upon arriving in Albufeira.  The grilled salmon and grilled cod is wonderful.

Saturday we have tickets on the 7:20am Alfa Pendula (AP) train.  We are up early, order an Uber, and arrive at Albufeira-Ferreira a couple of minutes before the Station Master opens up.  Other people trickle in and the small waiting area begins to fill.  We strike up a chat with a couple from Ontario.  They spent 3 weeks here rather than going to Texas and loved it here.  The people, the food and the weather.  They're already planning on returning to Portugal next year.

We settle into our seats on the AP.  This train is newer and nicer than the Euro City (EC) class train we took from Lisbon to to Albufeira.  It is designed so that the train itself tilts, allowing it to run faster on rails designed for slower moving trains.  One side effect is that the train sways a lot.  I find that I cannot read or write on my iPad without feeing motion sickness.  I look out the window at the passing countryside.  I occasionally glance at the information board above the door and the highest speed I observe is 220 kilometers/hr (136 miles/hour).

We arrive in Porto's Campanhã station a little before 1 pm and grab a taxi to our AirBnB.  The apartment is on Rua de Santa Catarina, a major shopping street which we now realize is a pedestrian street so the taxi driver drops us at a cross-street.  We walk two blocks to the apartment then call the AirBnB Host as instructed.  She arranges for the maid to arrive in 30 min and let us in. This is one of the disadvantages of some AirBnB's - waiting for the keys and "check-in."  In our other two Portugal AirBnB's the Host was waiting for us when we arrived.

The apartment is on the third floor of a business building.  The small elevator is just large enough for our two suitcases, William and myself.  The apartment has a great room with a kitchenette on one end, two fairly large bedrooms with queen size beds and a very cramped bathroom with a shower.

We're hungry so William Google's "restaurants near me".  Pedro dos Drangos  is 8 minutes away and is listed as BBQ.  Sounds good!  When we arrive we see that they have two buildings opposite each other with delicious looking rotisserie chickens spinning away.  We grab one of the few open tables and take a look around at what people are eating. At least half have chicken on the table.  While the menu is long, we take a tip from our fellow diners and order a whole chicken which comes with fries.  We also order bread, olives, white wine and pint of beer, which arrive quickly.  The meal comes just a few minutes later.  The chicken is great.  We have to laugh when the bill arrives.  The food plus two rounds of drinks totals 16.60€.  My wine was just 1€ a glass.

Walking around this section of Porto there is a bakery and/or an ice cream shop on every block.  On our way back to the apartment we stop in Confeitaria do Bolháo, a traditional place where mothers bring their children as a special treat.  It reminds me of the family traditions at the Walnut Room in Chicago.  William and I each have a pastry and coffee to finish out our meal and give the maid more time to complete her cleaning before we return.

After unpacking and resting in the apartment we take a walk around the area in the evening.  People are milling up and down Rua de Santa Catarina doing their shopping or sitting at cafe's.  Very pleasant

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Happy Birthday William!

The Douro Valley

Azulejos, Franesinha, Port and Fado

Moving from Albufeira to Porto

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