During Rob and Jean's trip to London in May, we took advantage of the second bank holiday weekend and made a trip down to Portugal. We flew on the very stylish RyanAir out of London Stansted airport into Porto. When we arrived we were so hoping to be landing in warm sunny weather, but unfortunately the rain followed us south.
We picked up our brand new Clio at Avis and made our way to Hotel Tuela in the Boa Vista area. It was still quite early so we dropped our bags and headed out to town. What we didn't initially realize was how hilly the city of Porto is. We started our journey down to the waterside and took a long walk exploring the port and all of the little shops and restaurants. The area on the north bank by the tall bridge is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We're not exactly sure what that means, but we discovered tons of narrow stairways and pathways in various stages of ruin that led from the Duoro up to the center of town. If it's possible for slums to be charming, these would probably fit that criteria.
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| The north bank in Porto |
On the far side of the port along the hillside were all of the big name wine lodges where the drink Port originates. For those who don't know, it is a concentrated sweet wine that is normally enjoyed after dinner. It isn't for everyone (me) but it apparently helps with digestion. And fun fact: Port isn't Port, unless it ages in the wine lodges on the Duoro River in Porto. We learned this as well as many other facts - like Port is actually red wine mixed with Brandy - on the wine tour of Veramina.
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| Port barrel shippers |
The rest day was spent wandering the streets of Porto, shopping and dodgeing the schizophrenic weather. Saturday night we received a recommendation from the hotel for a restaurant down by the water. We took a cab down there but didn't quite make it to the recommended restaurant. Instead, we wandered down an alley and into a small place called Vinhas D'Alho on Muro Dos Bacalhoeiros which seemed to have only fish and fish ingredients in each of the dishes. I was a bit nervous.But, as we sat down and started looking through the menu, I decided to try the wild boar as it looked pretty safe and was not of the sea. Before each meal, and without being asked we received olives, prociutto, bread and cheese. I was in heaven. Salt cod is one of the main specialties for an entree. The food ended up being amazing. The wine, too, was some of the best I've had. Looking back, that was the best meal of the whole trip.
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| They might not care for port, but the wine will do just fine. |
On Sunday, we started our drive down to Cascais and Sintra. I think we got lost a few times but in the end we made it in one piece. We parked in a church parking lot and made the trek down to the city. It was all downhill and steep. After walking around the cute little downtown area, we stopped at a restaurant right off of the square and had some wine and goat cheese with bread. The wine was necessary to get us back up the steep hills to the Moorish castle that sat high atop the hill overlooking the city. The views on the way up were gorgeous and the air show that we caught the tail-end of was also quite a spectacle. The vast stone structure of the Moorish castle was something. The faulty stone work and gale force winds made the various arms that led to each of the towers almost trecherous at times. However, once you reached one of the towers the views were spectacular.
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| One of the castles at Sintra |
On to Cascais, a laid-back beach town about 50 km west of Lisbon. On the drive down we stopped at the most important building in Portugal. It was actually closed but if I remember correctly, it was a cathedral of some sort. It was quite large. Upon arrival in Cascais, the hotel provided lovely views of the harbor and you could tell that in a few weeks time the streets would be bustling with tourists. We didn't get there until somewhat late so we just checked into our hotel and headed to dinner. We decided on a nice little seafood place on the way into "downtown." The food was quite good and again salt cod and halibut were the specialties.
After a soaking wet run along the coast road the next morning, we had breakfast and then decided to stroll through town. The weather was again being quite temperamental and therefore ducking into shops became frequent. I think during our trip we ended up browsing in 5 different Zaras. They were in every town and sometimes there were multiple stores around the corner from one another. But, our Zara trips were worth it! I was looking for a dress for a wedding and found success at the very last Zara. I swear they all had different stock! The sun came out and admittedly the temperature rose in the early afternoon just as we were about to leave for Lisbon. It was cool to walk up and down the narrow cobblestone streets. Jean took some great pictures that really captured the quaint feel of the little streets.
Once we arrived in Lisbon, we found a place to ditch the car and went exploring. In the guidebook one off the places it said to visit was the Bohemian section with narrow streets and cool architecture. After using our sweet map skills we ended up in a neighborhood that we thought was the Bohemian section - although not as great as we had expected. We stopped for lunch at a very local cafe (I use the term very loosely here because I still don't really know what type of place it was. It sold pastries alongside mystery meat wrapped in pastry. That was the one place where I actually struggled to find something to eat.
It turns out that wasn't the Bohemian section at all. It was just some local neighborhood, the name of which we do not know. Oh well, we fit in with the local crowd and no one suspected we were tourists (NOT.) We headed back to the car and ended up driving through Lisbon seeing what we could on the way out of town. We followed a street trolley which we think was a good thing because we were able to see some sights on the way out. I hear Lisbon is a cool city so I think one day we will have to go back and do it properly.
We drove back to Porto as we were leaving the next morning and it was about a 3 hour drive back. We ended up on the other side of town from where we stayed the first night which was good as it gave us the opportunity to see another section of Porto. We were sans hotel reservation upon arrival so we tried a few 3-star places. Rob checked out the lobby of the first option and decided we should probably move on. Jean vetoed the second hotel based on looks alone before Eric even came to a complete stop. Just as we were all starting to lose patience with our fun game, the Dom Henrique had two open rooms and a parking garage right next door...bonus! It was quite late so we just decided to have dinner a local restaurant recommended by the hotel.
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| The JT bite |
We sat down at this local place (and it seemed quite authentic) and were presented with glasses of Port, bread, cheese, melon and prociutto. Yum. No one likes port except Eric so he drank all four glasses and had a nice buzz going by the time they took our order. Dinner was again more of the same - cod, halibut, steak, but Eric decided to be different - as always. He decided to get the octopus, which came heavily recommended by the restaurant owner. Usually when Eric orders something new he makes me try it. This time was no different. The stakes were a bit higher this time because I vehemently refused. I didn't care if I wasn't being adventurous. Octopus is rubbery and revolting. But...Eric threw in a sweetener. If I took just one bite of tentacle (and mind you the piece he put forth had about 8 little suckers and was colored purple from the octi-ink...yuck!) he would buy me two tickets (front row if available) to see Justin Timberlake the next time he was in London. To most this probably seems like a raw deal, but to me eating squid was worth it. It took me about 5 minutes to chew it and a piece of bread as a chaser, but I got it down and it stayed down. I felt like I was on Fear Factor. It was all worth it though. Now, I only hope that Justin doesn't stop touring or else it will have been for naught.
It was a great last meal and a great way to end our trip. The next morning we flew out early from Porto and landed at Stansted where again it was raining. Perfect.
For the photo tour, follow the link below to our pictures and Jean and Rob's. Our pictures actually include a few from a horse race we went to in May called Ascot. We had never been to a horse race and it was quite an experience. I actually came away with a winner on the last race of the day. With that win, we almost broke even! Rob and Jean's pics include their entire trip to London and Ireland as well.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hj0zhyv.4agjf83n&x=0&y=-jn4z3a&localeid=en_US
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