Thursday
We landed on time in Lisbon but had a 30 minute wait for our gate. We were using a new data service (Ubigi) for our phones and it was ready when we wanted to message our driver that we might be a bit late due to the gate delay.
We collected our bags and met our driver (Carlos) and were off to the walled city of Évora. The Roman era city and 14C home of the Portuguese Kings is noted for its intact walls, medieval buildings and 16C aqueduct (11 miles long and probably built over a Roman aqueduct).
Our first stop was at Enoteca Cartuxa for a wine & cheese tasting and some lunch. We especially enjoyed the sautéed shrimp with garlic, pork cheeks, red pepper spread & mushrooms with fries on the side. We topped it off with a delightful mousse accompanied by some Port.
We made a short walk around the city with a photo stop at the Temple of Évora, also called the Temple of Diana as it was mistakenly believed to be dedicated to the Roman goddess Diana.
At the Royal Church of St. Francis we visited the 16C Chapel of Bones, and the Nativity Scene Collection.
The Chapel of Bones is decorated with skeletal parts (arms & legs, skulls) of 5000 or so corpses from as many as 43 cemeteries. Aside from freeing up valuable land it was thought to offer a helpful place to meditate on the transience of material things. There is a thought-provoking message above the chapel door “We bones, are here, waiting for yours.”
In the Canha da Silva Nativity Scene Collection there are hundreds of nativity sets with nearly as many styles and compositions.
After the city tour we visited a nearby cork factory. We admired an old cork tree and stacks of curvy bark fresh from the trees along side stacks that had been flattened, all waiting for processing into many products including wine corks, cork boards, chairs, hats, handbags, belts, ...
Our evening repast: a regional cheese, a home cured Alentejo ham and a bottle of wine at Restaurante Cervejaria 1/4 para as 9. (1/4 to 9:00). Strange name. Good food. The Serra de Estrella cheese was especially tasty, the rind was hard but the inside was soft, almost crumbly.
Friday
We headed off through fields of cork, olives, grapes and pine nuts! on our way to some wine tasting and fine dining.
Fita Preta winery was founded in 1306. The current young winemaker was winemaker of the year in 2015. Our wine tasting was accompanied by a spread of cheeses, quince paste, nuts and dried fruit. One cheese was a young Serra de Estrella (round with a very soft center, delightful. We enjoyed a tour of their wine making facilities. Lots of stainless steel. A few wooden casks--they use French Oak only for a few months. Even terracotta pots but they stressed that they do not make "talha" wine since they don't follow the rules. As a result they think their wine is a finer wine.
We tasted 3 whites. The first was very light. The next two had more character. The first red was a blend of alentejo grapes. This was followed by an even nicer but slightly different blend with more aging. The winery has facilities in Maderia, the Azores, and the Douro valley.
We moved on to visit Monsaraz and its Castle/Fortress, just across the Guadiana River from Spain. We had a nice walk around the small village and then visited the fortress with views of the countryside and the River/Reservoir formed by the Alqueva Dam. We enjoyed a sign with an intriguing question.
At Herdade do Esporão (a Michelin 1 star restaurant) we had a 5 Moments feast with wine pairing. By moments they seem to refer to courses but by my count there were actually 7 courses. What with savoring the food and wine, it took around 3 hours to complete.
The meal began with great breads. Then there was an interesting but not special amuse bouche. The next moment was an amazing heirloom tomato salad, wedges of different tomatoes topped with a lightly seasoned granita. It was as beautiful as it was tasty. It was followed by a chocolate crust with foam filling, a pop in your mouth palate cleanser. The crust was more notable for the feel & texture than for the taste. The mains were black perch (one pate'ish, one filet) and lamb (quite good but would have been better if medium rare as ordered). Dessert was a nice combination of ice cream, chocolate and caramelized sugar. The wines all paired well and we got photos of the bottles but the labels shared few significant details.
Saturday
It was time to move on to the Douro Valley. Of course we scheduled in some touring along with the drive. We had stopped in Conimbriga and Coimbra. It rained quite heavily during part of our drive but the worst rain was while we were at a rest stop and under cover. No problem. The rain politely abated for our touring stops.
The Roman ruins of Conímbriga include a number of structures but most notable to us were the many elaborate floor mosaics in and around the garden of fountains. Many of the objects discovered during the excavations are on display in the visitors center.
We moved on to Coimbra and had lunch at Solar do Bacalhau. Bacalhau is dried and salted cod fish. It comes in large, dried slabs. These are prepared to eat by a range of methods, all involve soaking in water. It can be a simple soak for several days It can be an overnight soak followed by boiling in water for 20-30 minutes, or boiling in water for 3 hours or more. Or many other variants. Once properly prepared, you would swear it is the freshest sweetest flakey fish ever.
It is not sold on the fresh fish counter, it is stacked nearby in piles and often sold as a whole fish rather than cut up into smaller sizes. Not only that, they have their own names for the various cuts.
We chose Coimbra style bacalhau (with olives, onions, fried potatoes and egg) and a breaded version (with eggplant and broccoli). Both were great and it was hard to believe they had spent much of their life as salted, dried slabs.
Our primary target was to visit the Joanina Library with its rich baroque architecture. It has more than 300,000 works dating from the 16th to the 18th centuries arranged in beautiful gilt-covered bookcases. They are under strict environmental controls so no photos and you mainly only get to see the closed bookcases.
Arriving late in the day to the Vintage House Hotel in Pinhão and without dinner reservations, we went to the bar and ordered a very fine charcuterie (cheeses, sausages, homemade jams, olives, bread & toast) and two glasses of wine. After our dinner we were treated to a complimentary port.
Sunday
Pinhão is a very small village in the Duoro Valley, east of Porto. It is surrounded by acres of mountainside vineyards on steep slopes from the top down to the river. Many of these grapes are destined to go into Port wine. But a few will yield fine white and red wines. We were mainly visiting the area for the latter although most wineries include their ports in the tastings. Fine with us!
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SIDEBAR: A primer on Port wine. It is OK to skip ahead if you are not a wine lover.
There are White Ports, Ruby Ports and Tawny Ports, as well as, several styles of each, including:
- White (Fine white, Extra Dry)
- Ruby (Fine Ruby, LBV, Vintage)
- Tawny (Fine Tawny, Colheita, Aged -10, 20, 30, 40 years)
Ruby Port is aged in big oak casks. This limits the contact with the wood so that the wine retains a youthful ruby color and fruity flavors ...good with chocolate & berries, and soft ripened cheese.
Tawny Port is aged in small barrels. With more contact with the wood, the wine changes to a browner color and rich flavor. Good with apple pie, hard dry or salty cheeses
Vintage Port (a ruby port) is at the top of the pile as far as price, aging potential and prestige are concerned. It’s made only from the best grapes of a single vintage, and only in years that have been “declared” vintage-worthy. It is bottled at 2 years and if vintage worthy it is tucked away to mellow and mature for 18+ more years before being released.
LBV (Late-Bottled Vintage) Ports are Ruby ports that aren’t bottled until four to six years from the vintage date. This means they spend about twice as long in wood as Vintage Ports.
Colheita Port is a single vintage Tawny Port that is aged in wood for at least seven years (often as long as 20), giving it a nutty, oxidized character. Being the product of a single vintage it can show considerable variation from year to year. Colheita years must be "declared" by the Institute of Douro and Porto Wine Board. Both the vintage year and the date of bottling are included on front and back labels respectively, and generally, Colheita Port should be consumed within a year of bottling.
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A stop at Ventozelo winery got us off to a great start in our exploration of the Douro. The winery has a great view down to the river with Pinhão in the distance.
During our walk around the grounds we discovered a slightly warped (drunk?) ladder and a vintage truck.
We tasted several wines and had an excellent meal at the Cantina. Checkout the dishes below.
Back in Pinhão we (and a few other tour groups) had a very crass, commercial wine and olive oil tasting at d'Origem. The highlight was the host. He actually managed the crowd amusingly well.
Monday
Every day rain was in the forecast. Usually it didn't come or it didn't interfere with our day. We had rain Sunday night and Monday started off quite gray. By noon it was much nicer and delightfully balmy.
To get to Crasto for our wine tasting we had to drive up one mountainside and back down and then up another. We and the driver were happy to do this without the rain. Actually Bill was thrilled to not be driving at all. Our tasting was excellent. Early on we caught the master winemaker and an assistant checking the 4 day old juice from one of their two top vineyards. We chatted a bit and he gave us samples. It shows great promise. Wait for those 2023's!
The tasting was excellent, 5 wines (one white, three reds, and a port). They were great examples of what can be done with the local grape varietals.
We returned to Pinhao for a relaxing river cruise on a traditional Rabelo boat, a very laidback experience. Previously these craft were used to transport Port wine down river to Vila Nova de Gaia (across the river from Porto) for aging.
Our final tasting of the day was at Cavalhas. An intense thunder storm made the driving tour of the vineyards impossible. We traded that for a couple additional tastes, including a great Port, not a "Vintage" but a Colheita (harvested in1976 and bottled in 2016 - a mere 40 years in wood). As noted in the Sidebar above, the vintage year is on the front label and the bottling year is on the back,
For dinner at the hotel we shared grouper on a bed of barley and leeks. We treated ourselves to some special desserts (one with sabayon and one with pistachio ice cream) and port.
Tuesday
We began our trip to Porto with a stop at a view point overlooking much of the Douro Valley that we had been visiting. We then continued on to Amarante.
The Amarante bridge perpetuates the memory of the heroic resistance of the population to the forces of Napoleon who, at the beginning of the 20th century, invaded Portugal. The city was besieged. The Amarantes bravely resisted the siege, guarding the bridge for 14 days but then they finally surrendered.
After a brief tour of the city, we wandered across the bridge (Ponte de São Gonçalo) to have lunch at Le da Calçada. We had a wide selection of appetizers to pick from. We chose Arroz de Tamboril e Camarão for 2 (rice with monk fish and shrimp) for our mains. It was very good and complemented nicely by the owner's Vino Verde (Quinta do Outiero de Baixo).
We arrived in Porto in the late afternoon and headed out to meet with friends (Amy and Tim) that evening at Mercado Bomm Successo (an upscale food court) for a little food and drink. They are founders of the facebook group "Go With Less". They were in Porto bird sitting for a month, I think. They had invited a bunch of local travel buddies for a meet up. There were folks who had moved or were moving to Porto and others who were traveling through. A interesting and fun bunch
Wednesday
We started the day with a Port Tasting at Burmester. We had a private tasting that ended up in a tasting room with an amazing view of the Luis Bridge (which Pat fell in love with on our previous visit).
We tasted two white ports (a Fine and an Extra Dry), an LBV, a 10 Yr Tawny and a 30 year Tawny). We liked all except the Extra Dry white. We now know we like a range of ports and have a growing appreciation of the styles, but aren't quite up to judging the quality in detail.
Next up: Pat got to return to the upper deck of the Luis Bridge. The upper deck is only open to pedestrians and the metro. The bridge connects Porto with neighboring Vila Nova de Gaia – the area where the Port wines are stored and aged. Why does Pat love being on the Upper Deck of the Luis Bridge so much? Well, it is high above the river (150'), and standing in the middle of the bridge it is 650' from either side with no structures noticeable, not even the edges or base of the bridge (if you are looking straight ahead or up.) She feels like a bird up there gazing around. Simple delightful.
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| View of Vila Nova de Gaia from Luis Bridge |
After crossing the Luis bridge our food and drink tour of Porto continued with stops at:
- Leitaria do Quinto Cervejaria Gazelle, an institution in Porto. We werer there for "Hot Dogs" (grilled thinly sliced meat), fries, and Super Bock Beer.
- Casa Louro for homemade codfish fritters, fried sardines, and brown bread (made with molasses, rye, & wheat).
- Cafe Santiago. (Not). We passed this up but it is noted for Francesinha á Lupa (Francesinha is a sandwich made from thick slices of bread stuffed with sausage, cheese, steak and more cheese and then put in the oven til the cheese melts. It is then topped with a slightly spicy sauce and served with egg either in the sandwich or on the side. That was just too much for us.
- Mercado Bolhao, an upscale "local" market or maybe I should say former local market. Things are so beautiful and beautifully stacked that you know the true locals can no longer afford to do their daily shopping here.
- Leitaria da Quinto do Paço / Porto Eclair Factory which speaks for itself. The 103 year old company serves 43 types of eclairs.
- Mantegaria for Pasteles de Nata (Pasteles de Nata are a small flan/custard pastry and typical local dessert), along with Espinheira Ginja (a fruit liqueur with a cherry flavor).
That evening we enjoyed wine & cheese with Amy & Tim at Wine Quay Bar. Coincidentally the next time we expect to see Amy & Tim is in Chiang Mai Thailand in January 2024.
Thursday
The next day we drove north to Gerês National Park/Parque National Peneda-Gerês (shared by Portugal & Spain). We started by driving to the northern part (in Spain) and then down through the park to see:
- Espigueiros of Lindoso – traditional Grain storage containers made of granite (raised to keep the vermin out). The oldest date back to the 17C but some are still in use today. The side walls have vertical vents so the wind can blow through and dry the corn. The top consists of two slabs of granite.
- Fortress in Lindoso. Around it we noted chestnut trees like the one Pat's family had in Maine, green but ripe figs, and flowers (autumn crocuses). Later Pat even had a discussion with a Roman Centurion...
- Small cascades in the River/Rio Homem
- A collection of Roman mile markers
- Aguas termais de Riocaldo / Thermal Waters of the Hot River in Ourense Spain. Pat had to check. And yep the water coming out of the spigot was too hot to touch, but it cooled off as it spread out into a small shared pool. Folks were sitting in the pool and in the nearby stream to enjoy the waters.
- Animal life: cows wandering down the road and lazing in a field, feral horses grazing, and goats at the Pedra Bela viewpoint. The goats are there as a maintenance team. Their job is to keep the weeds down but weeds aren't enough and we saw them help themselves to one couple's lunch.
- Rua da Cascata do Arado, a lovely ~2500' waterfall.
- Lunch at Lurdes Capella in Gerês. We had a veal cutlet that looked like a big pork chop (tasty but clearly not from a baby cow) and a plate with a selection of pork cuts. Shared with Carlos, our driver/guide
In the evening we went to Bacchus Vini under the Luis Bridge.for a wine tasting with: Dão, LBV, 10 year tawny, and a 30 year white accompanied by "a selection of cheeses platter"
Friday
We had a pretty intensive touring day on our way to Lisbon. We stopped at:
- Aviero: A coastal town known for its canals. Today working boats called Moliceiros, that formerly were used to harvest and transport algae for fertilizer, transport tourists (including us) around the lovely town (at least it seems lovely but much is hidden by the construction work intended to make it easier to manage the tourist traffic). They seem to decorate bridges with ribbons here (rather than weight them dow with padlocks). We stopped for a snack at a pastelleria.
- Nazare: Noted for its spectacular waves (in winter). One of the "big" waves for surfers. One surfer is recorded as having ridden a 100 footer. The surf was quite mild though for us. We enjoyed the outdoor museum on the beach with a selection of former working boats and lots of fish drying on racks The drying octopus were impressively displayed.
- We had a great lunch at Taberna D'Adelia. It has an amazing fish selection: Sardines, Squids, Red Mullets, White Seabream, Gilt-Head Bream, Golden Eye Snaper, Wild Seabass, Red Porgy, Red Seabream, Bluemouth Rockfish, Sole, Turbot, Brill Fish, John Dory, Grouper, Wreckfish. That's 15 types of fish! We shared a John Dory. It was plenty for the 3 of us. John Dory is ugly looking but tasty and expensive. €60 per pound in this case...it has a "mild, slightly sweet flavor, pearly-white flesh and firm, succulent texture. It's a heavy-boned fish, and more expensive because of its low yield". But basically it is well worth every penny.
- Obidos: A fortified town with crenellated walls. Obviously very cute and touristy. It's Mediev:al Village has been repurposed into lodging and tourist shops but still quite charming.
In the evening we enjoyed wine and yet another cheese / charcuterie plate at the rooftop hotel bar overlooking the city of Lisbon.
Saturday
The next morning we adjusted our luggage for our Sunday morning flight. (Note: When we fly we split our clothes into our two bags; when on land, we prefer our separate bags.) Then we took a walk before meeting with friends from SMA (Ricardo & Cynthia) for lunch at nearby Baixa Mar Restaurant. We had:
- Seasoned olives, crushed jacket potatoes,
- Baixamar octopus - Slow-cooked octopus, sweet potatoes, pimento vinaigrette and dried olives
- Fresh sea bass fillet with crushed jacket potatoes with vegetables
- Passagem (By La Rosa) white Douro Superior Reserva 2022. The pairing worked very well.
After lunch we were off for some Madeira Wine at Wines of Portugal. We don't recall ever having Madeira before.
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Another wine sidebar:
Madeira is a fortified wine made in the Portuguese Madeira Islands, it can be dry or sweet with flavors of roasted nuts, stewed fruit, caramel, and toffee. Dry Madeiras are consumed as an apéritif, while sweet ones are typically paired with dessert. Exposure to extreme temperature and oxygen are key elements of the aging process. This causes the wine to oxidize creating a long lasting wine with a brownish color. They say that even an opened (but re-corked) bottle will survive unharmed indefinitely. For some nomenclature: A true "vintage" Madeira, must be aged for 20 years. A long time to wait for your return on investment. In recent years they have introduced Colheita which must be of one single grape variety and aged for at least (but only) five years ...helping the wineries cash flow!
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We started with a dry white Serical and moved on to a sweet Colheita Malvasia.
- Justino's Madeira Sercial 10 Years Old "has delicate aromas of ripe fruits, notes of dried fruits and lemon zest. In the mouth it is complex, persistent with a dry and vibrant finish. Good with cured cheese and fruit desserts". Yep I copied that from the web but it gives you the idea.
- Justino's Madeira Colheita Malvasia 2009, "a wonderfully sweet liqueur. On the nose it shows notes of caramel and toffee paired with notes of tea and tobacco leaves and fine spices. On the palate, the dessert wine is rich and sweet, but very elegant with a long finish. Goes well with dark chocolate, pralines and sweet and rich desserts, such as mousse au chocolate." Yep, again from the web.
Its doubtful we'll find a worthy selection of Madeira in SMA or even Queretaro but it was interesting to try.
Afterwards we wandered back to our hotel so the two of us could get ready for our sunset cruise.
The Sunset Sail on the Tagus River was a relaxing way to wrap up our stop over enroute to Venice. Along the way we enjoyed...
- The Golden Gate Bridge (of Lisbon). The 25 de Abril Bridge is based in part on two San Francisco Bay Area bridges. Its paint is the same International Orange color as the Golden Gate Bridge, and the design is similar to the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge.
- Chatcuterie & wine (Muralhas de Moncão VinhoVerde
- Other sailboats there for the sunset
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| Praça do Comércio (Commercial Plaza) |
- The 17C Church of Santa Engrácia is a 17C monument was converted from a church into the National Pantheon, in which important Portuguese personalities are buried.
- The elevator Boca Vento is situated in the urban area along the south bank of theTagus River, along the cliffs, with a view of the city of Lisbon.
Panoramic Elevator of Boca do Vento
- Sanctuary of Christ the King is a Catholic monument and shrine overlooking the city of Lisbon. It was inspired by the Christ the Redeemer statue of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil.
- And then it was time for sunset.
- Belém is the "capital of the Portuguese Discoveries" and a photographer's paradise. You can spend an entire day(or more) exploring this neighborhood: monuments (Jerónimos Monastery, Belém Tower, Monument to the Discoveries), and museums (Coach Museum, Centro Cultural de Belém) .
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| Belém Tower |
- Also in Belém, Padrão dos Descobrimentos celebrates the Portuguese Age of Discovery (or Age of Exploration) during the 15th and 16th centuries. It stands over 150 feet high with heroes of the era standing on the prow of a ship.
- A fitting finish - Murganheira Espumante Tavora Varosa Reserva Brut 2017.
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