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| Me & Mom at the Old University of Coimbra |
We choose to book the Rick Steves 12 day Heart of Portugal
Tour the details are here: http://tours.ricksteves.com/tours/spain-portugal/portugal
. Could we have done Portugal on our own?
Sure, but the tour included all the places we really wanted to see and having
been on other Rick Steves tours, the alumni tour discount was very
enticing. We got $50 off for each
previous Rick Steves tour and after 6 tours for me, and 3 for mom, the savings
was a bonus.
Another attraction Portugal provided was the country’s food
and wine. Mom and I were already familiar
with vinho verde and being the foodies we are, we were eager to try more of
what Portugal might have to offer.
Believe me, we were not disappointed in this category.
I was excited to go back to Lisbon, where the tour began, so
mom and I decided to arrive in Lisbon 3 days before the tour started. We flew on Air France to take advantage of
their premier voyager cabin. The tickets
cost slightly more than regular economy, but if we can’t fly business class,
this is the next best thing. Plus
Air France offers champagne as an aperitif before meal service, always a plus!
Thursday, May 9th
We departed Savannah, Georgia on Thursday, May 9th,
the flights were smooth and the connections at Atlanta and CDG were
stress-free. Although we had a 4 hour
(give or take a few minutes) connection time in Paris, you just never know what
obstacles you might face when traveling.
Fortunately there were no problems, but I have to say having Sky Team
Priority status is a nice perk.
Friday, May 10th
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| Travel is tiring at CDG |
When we de-planed in Paris, I knew we would have to go
through passport control. When we got to
this area, the line must have had a couple hundred people in line. However, to the side of the long line there
was another line corral with a small sign saying “Sky Team Priority”. We flashed the attendant our onward boarding passes
showing our gold status and were ushered in to a line with only 2 people in
front of us. In less than an hour from
touch-down we were through passport control and in the Air France lounge
indulging in French croissants, coffee and juice.
We arrived in Lisbon on time and our luggage arrived with
us. Getting a taxi at the airport was
easy, there were plenty available and for about € 20 a taxi whisked us to the Hotel Lisboa Plaza
located at Travessa do Salitre, 7 in about 30 minutes.
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| Cin-Cin Hello Lisbon! |
After taking a nap for a couple hours we refreshed ourselves
and headed to the hotel bar/lounge for the first of many aperitivo drinks. We were not disappointed when we found out we
could order a half bottle of Alveda vinho verde, which was a brand recommended
to me by a fellow Fodorite. With such a
great start to our Portugal adventure, we were now ready to eat.
In doing my pre-trip research I was reading a lot about the
chef Jose Avillez. He has a restaurant
called BelCanto, which had recently received a Michelin star. I knew we didn’t want to go bust the budget
on the first night, and through a little more sleuth work (thanks to foodie blogger
Katie Parla and Fodorite LinCasanova) I read about Cantinho do Avillez, which
is the chef’s more casual restaurant. We
had an 8:30pm reservation and took a taxi there from the hotel. Taxis were plenty and reasonably priced in
Lisbon, from the hotel to the restaurant the fare was about € 7. Here is Chef Jose Avillez’s website where you
can read more about him and his restaurants: http://www.joseavillez.pt/
As we entered we were greeted warmly and escorted to a
table. We loved the room right away,
there was a rustic, yet slightly modern and casual vibe. It was the perfect first night in Lisbon
place for us. Our server was excellent,
friendly, but not overly so. Knowledgeable
about the menu and the wine list and her English was excellent. We ordered a bottle of the house white wine
and was not disappointed, it went very well with all our food choices.
We started with the tempura fried green beans with tartar
sauce, because we had been told that was one of the chef’s signature
dishes. It was ok, but I had wished the
beans were crispier, the tempura batter was good, but the beans had no snap to
them. The second starter we ordered was
the nisa cheese and this was a highlight.
We found ourselves scrapping the dish looking for more. For main dishes mom had a scallop dish that
was excellent, the scallops were perfectly cooked. I had the cod dish, which was ok, but was not
a stand-out. We did order dessert, which
doesn’t always happen, but we are glad we did.
The lemon basil sorbet was cool and light and flavorful, it was the
perfect ending. With 2 espresso to close
out the meal we were off to good food start in Lisbon all for € 87.
Saturday, May 11th
Our first full day in Lisbon dawned with clear blue skies
and pleasant temperatures. In fact, the
weather was perfect every day we were in Lisbon.
After breakfast at the hotel, I set out for the metro
station around the corner from the hotel, where I purchased two Viva Viagem
cards. Lucky for me, there was an attendant at the station who was helping
people use the automated ticket machine and I had the cards in less than 5
minutes. These cards are valid for 24
hours from the first time you use it and they cover Lisbon’s metro, funiculars,
trolleys, and buses. The price for the
re-loadable card was € 6.50. If
you plan to use it another day, you can re-load the card for 50 euro cents
less. We used these cards for 2 days and
really got our monies worth.
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| Mom at Museu Nacional do Azulejo entrance |
I had read a bit about this museum in a few guidebooks and
the museum website, which is here: http://www.museudoazulejo.pt/ but, my friend, who happens to be a tour
guide and a big tile aficionado wrote an excellent guide to the tiles that are
all around Lisbon including information about the museum. If you are interested in tiles I highly
recommending buying his guide to Lisbon tiles at this website: http://endlessmile.com/lisbon-azulejos/
Mom and I were both delighted with this museum, which is in a
former convent. The entry fee was
€ 5 per person and worth every penny!
Since the location is outside the tourist center of the city, there were
not any big crowds on the Saturday morning we were there and it was nice to
explore each floor of the museum and all the beautiful tiles. The tiles ranged
from the religious to modern & geometric. We spent a couple hours marveling at the works
on display.
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| One example of the beautiful tile work on display |
When we were ready to leave, I spied a bus stop right across
the street from the museum entrance. When we walked up I saw the same bus
number listed as the bus we arrived on and we took a seat to wait. Bus after bus came and went from this stop
and none was the number bus we needed.
It finally dawned on me the bus number posted at the stop was for the
night route…Good Grief! So much for my
detailed planning! I tried to figure out
where the stop was for the bus that was a direct route back to our hotel, but
after walking around and not finding anything going in the direction we needed,
I managed to get an alternate route that took us on another bus to the Santa Apolonia
train station and then the metro back to our hotel. I’m resourceful if nothing else!
And now we were ready for our afternoon culinary adventure
with Inside Lisbon tours on their gourmet walking tour. Here is the Inside Lisbon website: http://www.insidelisbon.com/
Prior to this trip I researched food-related activities that
might be fun or interesting for me and mom to do while on our own in
Lisbon. I found the gourmet walking tour
with Inside Lisbon and thought it sounded right up our alley. After reading the tour description I was a
little concerned with how much walking might be involved knowing Lisbon is a
steep/hilly city, and hills are not “great friends” for mom. I emailed the company to ask if the tour was
on mostly level ground, or was there a lot of hills that would be on the
tour. I was impressed with the speed
with which they replied and assured me the tour was mostly level, but there
would be a few streets that involved steep hills, but we would have the option
to wait while the tour group went up the hill and came back down. I’m happy to
say that mom and I managed the whole tour without any diversions on our
part. We may have been “bringing up the
rear” but we kept up with the pace.
The tour started at 4pm at the statue in the center of Rossio
Square. On a typical day the square
would not be swarming with large masses of people, but this day was the final
day of an Iberian festival and there were lots of tents set up in the square
selling all kinds of products from Portugal and Spain and live music
performances. Luckily, we spotted the tour
guide without any trouble. The tour was
listed as lasting about 3.5 hours, but I read reviews on the tour company
website and Trip Advisor saying if Paulo is your guide the tour could go as
long as 5 hours. Can you guess who our
guide was? Yup, it was Paulo, boy was I
glad I made our dinner reservation for 10:30pm!
My memory is fading a bit and I didn’t take detailed notes,
but I recall the group was probably about 10 people from the U.S., Canada and
Australia, we were a definitely a food and wine loving bunch. Paulo the guide was excellent. He lives in Lisbon, but was originally from
the Azores, and had owned a restaurant in London for some years. His knowledge of the food history of Portugal
was vast and mom and I learned a lot about the origin of some culinary
traditions.
Take for instance, tempura, we thought Japanese, right? Guess, what, the Portuguese brought the
tradition of tempura to Japan. This
actually made sense once we realized what a sea-faring, navigational country
Portugal was, think about all the explorers setting out to “conquer the world”,
where did many come from? Portugal….think
about Henry the Navigator. And boy do
the Portuguese people love their coffee and let me tell you, it was some of the
best we ever had. Why? Well, think about Brazil, that was a
Portuguese colony “back in the day” and all those coffee beans they grow
there! We must have stumbled over
several cafes in Portugal called Café Brazil!
Now I can see the light bulb going off above my head! The connectedness doesn’t stop at food, it’s
in the language too. The word for thank
you in Portuguese is Obrigado and what’s thank you in Japanese? Arigato.
Sound similar? It sure does to
me.
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| Me & Bacala vendor in Lisbon |
I wish I had taken better notes about each stop along the
tour, but we did get a taste of Ginjinha a sweet liquor made from the sour
cherry-like ginja berry, sugar and grappa and another stop provided us with
local beer and cod fish cakes. We ended
the tour at the Casa do Alentejo, a 17th-century palace, with an intriguing
interior. Here we sat down for a light variety of dishes and wine from the Alentejo
region. We wrapped the tour up at 9:45pm
and said good-bye to our new food & wine friends and walked over to where
we would be having dinner. I know, it
sounds like we should be stuffed after this gourmet walking tour, but mom and I
were very mindful of our dinner reservation and tasted all the tour offered in
moderation.
Even though our dinner reservation was for 10:30pm we
arrived about 20 minutes early and had no trouble being seated right away. Tonight’s dinner was at Honra by Olivier
located at Praca da Figueira #16. Here
is the restaurant website: http://www.restaurante-olivier.com/honra/honra-en.html
This is the newest restaurant by Chef Olivier da Costa,
which pays homage to Portuguese comfort food.
Although the menu had traditional Portuguese “comfort food” written all
over it, the interior was sleek and modern, we felt like we could have been
walking into the latest “it” place in NYC or San Francisco. But
the service was unpretentious, and friendly.
And, if I had to go by what the hostesses and servers in all the
restaurants we had been to in Lisbon (which at this point is only 2) were
saying, my Portuguese pronunciation of please and thank you was the best they
ever heard! Ha-Ha!
Mom and I settled into our table and perused the menu. There were several items that looked good to
us, and as we were trying to decide what to order the server put down the most
beautiful looking loaf of bread. Why was
this particular bread so stunning to us?
Because it was bread stuffed with some of the most delicious sausage we
had ever tasted. Seriously, we could
have devoured the whole thing, but erring on the side of restraint we limited
ourselves to one piece each, because, as is the norm in Portugal the little “pre-meal”
nibbles didn’t stop with the bread. Beware…if
they place little plates of olives, fish or cheese spread on your table, even
if you didn’t ask for it, and you eat it, you will be charged for it. But mom and I knew this and we really wanted
to try the cod fish spread here, which we enjoyed immensely.
When it came time to order, we decided to order the fried green
beans starter so we could compare it with the one at Cantinho do Avillez. I have to say, the fried green beans at Honra
were miles above the ones the night before at Cantinho do Avillez.
For mom’s main dish, she had the chicken piri-piri, since
she prefers food with a bit of a kick more than I do. She was a little disappointed because it wasn’t
spicy enough for her, which meant it probably would have been great for me, but
the chicken was perfectly moist and juicy.
I had the black pork with apple sauce and rice with spinach. I loved the pork, it was beautifully cooked,
and melted in the mouth. We had a bottle
of house white wine, which was fine, but we did prefer the wine at Cantinho do
Avillez just a little bit more. We ended
the meal with 2 espresso. The total cost
of this meal was € 72.
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| View of Sao Jorge Castelo at sunset |
Sunday,
May 12th
Today we
took a day trip to Sintra with Inside Lisbon Tours. Could we have done it on our own via
train? Sure, but after reading about the
tour offered by Inside Lisbon and that the number of people was limited to just
8 in a minivan plus the guide, we decided to do it this way. And we also got a visit to Cabo da Roca and
Cascais tossed into the mix too.
We departed
from the tour meeting point in Lisbon at Restauradores Square/Ave. de Liberdad
at about 9am. Our guide was Nadia and
she was pleasant and informative. This
was a full day tour which cost € 55 per person.
The first
stop on the tour was the Pena Palace.
Mom and I, along with another mom-daughter duo on this tour choose to
take the little shuttle bus from the entry point up to the palace, the others
in the group did the uphill walk. Both
took about the same time, approximately 10 minutes. This palace sits high above Sintra with
terrific views, but really is a mash-up of all different types of architectural
styles, let’s just say it was interesting to see.
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| Pena Palace |
We did have
plenty of time to go inside the palace, which was mildly interesting to
me. Maybe it was because it was fairly
crowded and people were shuffling through the rooms in single-file, but
frankly, I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
When we were
done at the Pena Palace we took the shuttle bus back down to the entry point
and Nadia had the minibus waiting for us.
We jumped in and were off to the Old Town area of Sintra where we could
wander about checking things out and stop for lunch.
We spent
most of our time in the Old Town wandering about popping into little touristy
shops and stopping for a lunch break.
Mom and I weren’t ravenously hungry, but we did want something cool and
frosty to drink. We found a nice little café
in the center of town and ordered two mocha frappes. They hit the spot perfectly for us. It was a great place to spend an hour relaxing
in the sun, watching the world of Sintra go by.
In fact, we
had a treat while we were there, a big group of locals went into the restaurant
part of the café (we were on the outside terrace), and they were all dressed
up. A few minutes later we figured out
why. Around the corner came a young
couple carrying the most adorable baby dressed in all white, we figured there
must have just been a christening and this establishment we were at was chosen
as the family’s place for lunch after the church service. Well, at least that’s was it looked like to
us.
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| Coffee break in Sintra |
Our little tour
group for the day gather again at the designated meeting point and Nadia pulled
up in the minivan to whisk us away to Cabo da Roca. It was about a 20 minute scenic drive from
Sintra to the westernmost point in continental Europe. There isn’t a lot to see here, but the view
is stunning, and just a tad-bit windy, to say the least.
We loved, with
a capital L, this terrace/lounge/bar. The terrace is open to the public, so you don’t
have to be a hotel guest to go there and it is really worth it to go
there. Here is the hotel website, with
information on the terrace: http://www.bairroaltohotel.com/en/
the view from the terrace is fantastic!
As we were
leaving we asked one of the servers if he would call a taxi for us and he
did. The taxi arrived very quickly and
boy what a character the driver was! As
we got in the taxi he handed us hats to put on and a soccer team scarf with
Portugal written across in big bold letters.
Then we handed the server my camera to take pictures of us in the taxi
with the driver. The guy was hilarious,
and he whisked us back to the hotel for about € 7.
When we got
on the trolley car we were able to get one of the last seats at the back of the
car. We settled in for the ride. We wound our way through the Alfama, Baixa, and
Chiado neighborhoods all the way to the last stop called Prazeres. The car was full, very, very, full and when
we disembarked there was another trolley car in front of the one we had just
exited. As you can imagine, most
everyone jumped on that car to ride back to wherever they were going. Instead of fighting this crowd, mom and I
walked across the street to the big Prazeres cemetery and sat down on a bench
under a shady tree for a little while.
When we decided to head back we walked over to the trolley stop and I
then realized there was a second trolley line, the #25E that we could take and
see a different area and still get us near where we wanted to be, and it was a
lot less crowded, in fact, we were the only ones on for a while.
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| Windy Cabo da Roca |
After a
brief stop at Cabo da Roca, we were back in the minivan and heading in the
direction of Cascais, which is a beach-side town not far from Lisbon. We had time here to stroll on the beachfront
promenade and mingle with lots of locals enjoying the beach and shops. Before we knew it, it was time to drive back
to Lisbon. We were dropped off at our morning
meeting point just around 5pm. It was a
fun day full of some interesting sites.
Tonight we
had a 9pm dinner reservation at As Salgadeiras, a restaurant in the Bairro Alto
neighborhood which I found on a trip report by Fodorites Mr_Go and Ms_Go. However, before dinner, there is always (for
us anyway) aperitivo. And for aperitivo
this night we took Fodorite LinCasanova’s advice to venture up to the terrace
at the Bairro Alto Hotel and we could not have made a better decision!
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| View from Bairro Alto Hotel Terrace |
We arrived
probably around 6:30pm and had to wait for a table (there are maybe 15
tables). There is a bench along the back
wall where people wait to be seated, but the servers will set up a small
folding table there so you can still order drinks and wait for a table that has
a “front and center” view. While we
waited we ordered a bottle of vinho verde, and even before the bottle was
served to us, a table in the “center of the action” that easily seated 4 opened
up. I never expected to be seated there
since we were just 2 people, but it was our turn to be seated and that was the
first table to open and we got it.
Wow! Great wine, great service
and a stunning view. We were 2 happy
ladies.
At about
8:30pm we started to wrap up our aperitivo hour(s) and asked for the bill and
then walked to As Salgadeiras for our 9pm dinner reservation. It wasn’t a far walk, a few blocks, and we
took our time with a couple little hilly streets. We arrived right on time to be greeted warmly
by 3 very capable, funny servers who worked all the tables in the
restaurant. We had a feeling we were
going to like this place. Here is the restaurant
website: http://www.as-salgadeiras.com/
For a Sunday
night, this restaurant was packed, maybe because other restaurants choose to
close on Sundays? But we really enjoyed
all this place had to offer, good service, attentive, but not overly so, the 3
servers working the room had excellent English skills, and could joke in
English with comprehension. And the food
was delicious and abundant, portion sizes were very generous.
We started
with more of the same type of cheese from previous nights and codfish “spread”
which we loved. We ordered a shrimp and
garlic starter to share which was served in a small cauldron and it was still
bubbling hot when it was put in front of us.
It was absolutely delicious. Mom
and I both ordered the same dish, which we don’t usually do, so that we can try
different things on the menu. But when we asked the server which of the many
cod fish main dishes was the best, he responded with the Codfish As Salgadeiras
and we both got that and were not
disappointed at all.
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| Shrimp & garlic starter |
After
deciding on which dishes we wanted I asked the server if he would recommend a
white wine that would pair well with our dishes and he recommended a great wine
from the Douro Valley. We choose to pass
on dessert, but we did have our usual 2 espresso and ended the meal with smiles
on our faces. The total cost of the meal
was € 84.
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| Codfish As Salgadeiras |
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| Friendliest taxi driver in Lisbon |
Monday,
May 13th
There was no
big plans for today except beginning the group tour and meeting our guide and
fellow travelers at 5pm.
Mom and I
had a leisurely morning and decided a great way to see a little more of Lisbon
would be from the window of a trolley.
We decided to start with the #28E trolley line. We walked to the Martim Moniz stop, which is
the beginning (or end, depending which direction you are going in) of this
trolley line and got on the increasingly long line to wait for the next
trolley.
When 5pm
rolled around we gathered in a meeting room at the hotel to meet our guide,
Maria and the other 22 people on the tour.
We all introduced ourselves, and Maria gave us an overview of what the
next 12 days would hold in store for us.
Before long,
we were ready to explore the neighborhood with Maria’s guidance and walk to our
first of several group meals. I didn’t
write down the name of the restaurant we went to, but I was very pleasantly
surprised at how good it was. It was
about a 15 minute walk from the hotel. We
started with salad and then there were mixed grilled meat platters with a nice
selection of chicken, sausage, and pork.
There was both white and red wines to choose from and empty bottles were
replaced quickly. The conversation at
our table was good, there was definitely a common thread with many on this tour
and that was wine. Mom and I would feel
right at home!
After a
fortifying breakfast we met the group for a morning walking tour through
several neighborhoods of Lisbon. We
walked, used the elevador de Santa Justa, metro, buses and trolleys to make our
way across town. Maria shared much of
the history of Lisbon through the Bairro Alto, Alfama, and Baixa
neighborhoods. We even experienced the
stunning view of Lisbon from the Sao Jorge Castle. We ended the tour in front of Lisbon’s
cathedral.
The best way
I can sum up this collection is WOW! The
museum houses the collection of Calouste Gulbenkian who was an Armenian oil
tycoon who left his art collection to Portugal as a gift of gratitude for
granting him asylum during World War II.
The collection spans 5,000 years and includes classical, Oriental, and
European art. I particularly liked the decorative arts collection, give me
furnishings to look at and I’m happy.
The building the museum is housed in is also terrific, it was built
specifically to for Mr. Gulbenkian’s collection and flows very well. We had a local guide give us a 90 minute
tour, highlighting the major pieces of the collection.
Once we were
satisfied with our sweet indulgence, it was time to tour the monastery, and
this was another Wow! It’s a huge white
limestone church and monastery that stretches along the Lisbon waterfront. The interior is really something to behold,
it was just stunning with its beautiful columns and sea-faring motifs. The adjacent cloisters are as beautiful as
the interior of the church.
Tuesday,
May 14th
When Maria
finished orientating people to the directions they needed, mom and I stepped
into the cathedral for a look around.
And, to take a little break, because walking down through the Alfama
neighborhood is not for the faint of heart.
There were lots and lots of steps to maneuver in this area, but we made
it no worse for the wear!
Mom and I
took the afternoon at an easy pace since we had the luxury of having already
been in Lisbon for several days, we didn’t feel like we had to pack every
minute with activities. After leaving
the cathedral we waited for a trolley to take us down the rest of the hill and
got off near Rossio Square, where we promptly found a café with outside seating
to sit and have an iced cappuccino. Well,
at least it was the Lisbon version of iced cappuccino. We weren’t expecting it to be served warm in
a coffee cup, but it did come with whipped cream, so that was a plus!
Tonight we
had dinner on our own. So, at our own self-designated
aperitivo time, we headed back over to the terrace at the Bairro Alto Hotel for
pre-dinner wine and since we hadn’t had anything but breakfast and then coffee
at lunchtime, we opted to try the Portuguese sausage and cheese plate and we
are sure glad we did, it was delicious, some of the best sausage and cheese we’ve
had on a lounge/bar plate.
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| Sausage & cheese plate at Bairro Alto Hotel Terrace |
We chose to
go to the Bairro Alto Hotel again because, well, we really liked it and we were
doing a repeat for dinner also. We went back
to As Salgadeiras for dinner, and the second time was as good as the first.
For the
starter we shared the mussel dish, it was ok, but the shrimp dish the first
time we went was better. Mom had the
shrimp stroganoff main dish, which may sound odd, but it tasted great and I had
the Dover sole in puff pastry, which was also very good. But the portions here are very generous, and
we were getting very full and couldn’t finish either main dish. We also repeated the white wine from the
Douro Valley, because we really enjoyed it.
With 2 espresso to end the meal the total cost was € 83.
Wednesday,
May 15th
This morning
we boarded a private tour bus which took us on a tour of the city, with several
interesting stops. The first stop was to
take in the view from the Edward VII Park.
This park sits above the Avenida da Liberdade and you can get a “straight
shot” view from the top of the park down the avenue to the Tagus River.
Next we
drove to the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, which is located outside the center of
the city, in the Parque Santa Gertrudes.
Here is the museum website: http://www.museu.gulbenkian.pt/main.asp?lang=en
.
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| Painting in the Gulbenkian Collection |
After the museum
we got on the bus for the drive to the Belem district where we visited the Belem
Tower and the Monument to the Discoveries.
Our guide, Maria did a terrific job educating us on the history of
Portugal during the hey-day of exploration and it really brought into my
perspective the ocean-going “might” of Portugal in those days.
 |
| Monument to Discoveries |
We stopped
for a brief lunch on our own and then met up with the rest of the group for an
afternoon tour of the Monastery of Jeronimos, which you can read more about
here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jer%C3%B3nimos_Monastery
Before going
into the monastery Maria had a treat for us, she purchased the famous Pastel de
Belem for the whole group to try. These
custard treats were from the Casa Pasteis de Belem and they were the best we
had during the whole trip.
 |
| Pastel de Belem |
When we were
done with touring this religious complex we had the rest of the afternoon to
ourselves. Mom and I decided to walk
down the street to the National Coach Museum.
The building is the former palace’s riding school and although the
building is not massive, the collection is impressive, with lots of ornate
horse drawn carriages on display. It was
a nice place to wander about for an hour or so.
 |
| Me at the National Coach Museum |
There was a
group dinner planned for this night, so mom and I had our usual pre-dinner
glass of wine at the hotel lounge and then met the group to walk to
dinner. My expectations were not high
since this was going to be a Fado performance and dinner “event”, but I’m happy
to say, my expectations were exceeded.
The restaurant
was Faia in the Bairro Alto neighborhood and I really liked the atmosphere when
we walked in. The food was very good,
especially the pea soup starter. The
hake main dish was good and the wine served with the meal was also very
nice. But the highlight were the 3 Fado
performances. We heard 2 men and one
woman sign and mom and I loved it. We
may have to run out and buy some Fado albums now.
At the end
of the evening mom and I “peeled off” from the group and took a taxi back to
the hotel and enjoyed an after dinner drink at the hotel lounge. It was the perfect way to end our night and
prepare for leaving Lisbon to go to Evora the next day.
Thursday,
May 16th
Today we
said good-bye (for now) to Lisbon and climbed on our private bus and took off
for the Alentejo region, specifically the town of Evora.
This town
was not new to me, I had been there 25 years ago when I was a student in a
study abroad program in Switzerland. Back
then I also did my travel research and which guidebook did I have? A very early edition of Rick Steves Europe
Through the Back Door (I wish I still had that copy, but sadly I don’t). Back then I read about Evora with interest
because according to good ol’ “Uncle Rick”, there was a chapel there made
entirely of human bones, I don’t know why that held such interest for me, but it did, and I felt I
needed to go see this town, so that’s what brought me there 25 years ago. Oh, and it helped that as a student I had a 2
week spring break and my goal was to see as much of Spain and Portugal as I
could.
So, now I
was heading back to Evora, but it was definitely in a lot more comfort! 25 years ago, my friend and I rented a spare
room in a local’s home, this time we stayed at the M’AR de AR Aqueduto Hotel,
which is a luxury boutique hotel right inside the historic center of town. Here is the hotel website: http://www.mardearhotels.com/en/hotels/mar-de-ar-aqueduto/the-hotel/
. This was my favorite hotel of the
trip, in fact, I’d rate it as one of the top 5 hotels I’ve ever stayed in. The room and bathroom were immaculately clean,
there were wood floors in the room and the furnishings were sleek and
modern. This was not the typical type of
Rick Steves hotel I was accustomed to on other tours, but I loved it. The only down-side was that we were only
staying one night.
Before
checking into the hotel we met our local guide, also named Maria and she was a
hoot, a very funny lady. She spent
several hours with us pointing out the sites in the historic center of
Evora. This is a fairly compact town and
easily walkable.
The
cathedral of Santa Maria de Evora was an interesting church which houses a
statue of a visibly pregnant Mary. It’s said
the statue was used by the first priests in hopes of converting Celtic pagans
who worshipped mother goddesses.
After
touring the town for a couple hours, and yes, I got back to the chapel made
entirely of human bones, but now it just freaked me out to be inside of it, we
checked into our hotel. We freshened up
a bit and then hit the shopping streets in search of a cork purse. Our guide Maria told us, if we were
interested in buying cork products, Evora was a good place to do it, because
prices were slightly less expensive than elsewhere in the country. I did find a beautiful blue cork purse that I
couldn’t resist buying. I’m now loving using
it here at home!
On our way
back to the hotel to drop off my purchase we found a non-description cafeteria
and stopped in for the Evora version of pastel de nata and a couple cups of
coffee for a mid-day break. The pastries
were good, but the ones in Belem were still the best.
As we made
our way back to the hotel a light rain started to fall and we were passing a
restaurant that I had flagged in my pre-trip research as being noteworthy. We stopped to take a look at the menu and
liked what we saw. They were open for
lunch so, we poked our heads in to inquire about a dinner reservation that
night. What a cute, but tiny place, only 6 tables. At first the owner wasn’t happy with my
request for an 8:30pm dinner reservation, but he accommodated me and we were on
our way out the door.
We got back
to the hotel and relaxed for a bit, if the weather had been better the pool on
the hotel grounds looked very inviting, but with big grey clouds looming
overhead, a swim was the last thing I wanted to do.
At 6:30pm
our guide, Maria had arranged for a group cocktail/wine party in the hotel’s
bar and it was a nice way to get to know our fellow tour members a little
better.
Just before
8:30 we left the hotel and walked 5 minutes to Tasquinha do Oliveira located at
Rua Candido dos Reis, 45. The husband,
Manuel runs the front of the house, while his wife, Carolina does the cooking
and oh boy! What cooking she does!
Immediately
upon sitting down small plates of appetizers are placed on the table, if there
is one you don’t want, just tell him, “no thanks”. We told him no to the crab dish because we
had “heads-up” that it was fairly expensive but we happily indulged in the
chickpeas & cod dish, pickled quail eggs, and asparagus frittata. For our main dishes mom and I selected the
same item, local pork which was tender and exploded with flavor. A small salad was served on the side. We ordered rice pudding with cinnamon to
share for dessert and it was a rare event that mom licked her dessert spoon
clean. We had Manuel suggest a local red
wine to go with our meal and it was an excellent accompaniment. We ended the meal with a delightful local digestive
that had a minty/herby flavor. The total
cost of the meal was € 83.
 |
| Chickpea & Codfish starter |
This was one
of our favorite meals of the trip, the interior of the restaurant was very
homey and comfortable, the food and service was excellent.
Our bus
pulled up on a one lane country road and we all filed off the bus and were
greeted by the grandson and granddaughter of the matriarch of the family (they
were very warm & welcoming!). Then
we climbed into a covered, open-sided “cart” large enough to seat about 30
people that was pulled by a farm tractor.
Yes, we were about to “rough-it” being pulled through a cork
forest. This sounds great in theory, but
when it’s pouring rain, it’s not much fun.
Yes, we got soaking wet, but looking back, it was worth it to see up
close the cork trees and the process of pealing the bark from the trees.
Then the
food started arriving. We started with a
luscious tomato soup. For the main dish
we had the most delicious chicken pie I have ever had, it was comfort on a
plate, and was creamy, tender and the crust was perfectly flaky. There was a side dish of rice and octopus,
which was excellent, a green salad and for dessert there was fresh homemade
strawberry ice cream.
During our
pre-glass of wine wander about, we saw a tapas restaurant that looked
interesting and with the big “family” lunch we had earlier in the day, both mom
and I were not looking for a lot to eat.
So, after our pre-dinner drink, we walked about 100 yards to Tosca, a
gastro-bar located at Rua Mouzinho de Albuquerque, #4.
Friday,
May 17th
This was one
of the best days of the entire trip, in spite of the rainy weather. We left the M’AR De AR Aqueduto Hotel in
Evora with a heavy heart, but with hopes of one day returning to this terrific
hotel.
We rode
through the countryside en route to a working farm and estate. Today we met a family that owned and worked a
cork farm/olive grove and vineyard and get to spend time with them touring the
cork forest and tasting their olive oil and wine over lunch.
 |
| Cork Farm |
Cork trees
can live for hundreds of years, and from when they are first planted can take
about 20 years before the first cork can be peeled off. Once the bark is peeled the tree cannot be
peeled again for 9 years. It was really
interesting to hear how this all works.
And, don’t think cork is only used for wine bottles, in Portugal you can
buy just about anything made from cork.
Beside a purse, I also bought a pair of cork shoes! But back to the
farm.
 |
| Cork Tree |
Once the
ride through the farm was finished, it took just over one hour, it was time for
lunch. Our group climbed down from the
tractor/cart contraption and we were ushered into an outbuilding on the
estate. Don’t think this was a dilapidated
old structure, it was more like a lodge with a large room for dining. There were 3 large tables set up for us to
sit at and with our very good luck, mom and I were seated at the table with the
family matriarch and her grandson and granddaughter. What a great lady the grandmother/matriarch is! She is in her early 90’s and speaks excellent
English (she had a British nanny as a child) and she loves to travel. We got to hear about her recent adventure in
Chile with her 87 year old friend, her husband doesn’t like to travel, so she
travels with girlfriends, I loved her for that alone!
We started the
meal off by tasting the two different types of olive oils the farm produces and
they were great. Then it was time to taste their wines. There are three types they produce, red,
white and rose. All were good, but mom
and I loved the rose.
 |
| Fabulous Rose Wine! |
As delicious
as lunch was, our table companions were even more delightful. It was wonderful to sit with the family
members and talk to them about their farm/estate, the cork, wine and olive oil
they produce, and just their life in general.
If you’d like to read more about them, here is the estate’s
website: http://www.rgroviscogarcia.pt/
The time at
the farm/estate went by much too quickly and before we knew it, it was time to
leave, but not without buying some of their wonderful rose wine, and at
€ 5 per bottle, I wish we had purchased more than just 2 bottles. But we were trying to be conservative and we
knew we’d be visiting another winery in the Douro Valley in a few days and
wanted to say space I our suitcases!
We made our
way from the Alentejo region to the beach-side town of Nazare this afternoon
and checked into the Albergeria Mar Bravo Hotel, located at Praca Sousa
Oliveira, 71. The staff at the hotel
were extremely nice, the location could not have been better, right across from
the beach and on the town’s main square.
 |
| Me at the Albergeria Mar Bravo Hotel in Nazare |
Mom and I
got really lucky with our room assignment and had a corner room with 2
balconies, one facing the beach and the other facing the main square. The room was clean, but there was just
something about this hotel that I can’t give it a super recommendation. Maybe it was because, this town, even in
mid-May felt like a ghost town to me. It
is definitely a summer beach holiday place and you could tell that
immediately. Maybe it was because the
bad weather was following us and it was rainy for both nights we stayed at this
hotel. Or maybe it was because we had
just been a fantastic boutique hotel in Evora, I just wasn’t thrilled with the
place.
Once we got
situated in our room, we took a little wander around town checking out possible
places for a glass of wine or dinner. We
found a little café not far from the hotel and sat down for a glass of vinho verde. At € 1.50 per glass, we couldn’t
complain, but we were the only people there.
Not just at that café, but at any of the cafes on the square.
 |
| Vinho Verde at Tosca Gastro-Bar in Nazare |
We are very
glad we found this place, the food and service were just great. There was no English translation menu, but
the waitress spoke excellent English and since the restaurant was not very full
yet, she translated the menu for us.
Since we knew we only wanted tapas, we told her she didn’t have to
translate the entrée portion of the menu, I think she was grateful to us for
that! She did recommend an excellent
vinho verde, which we enjoyed with the 4 tapas dishes we ordered.
 |
| Pistachio coated goat cheese |
The first
tapa we had was goat cheese coated with pistachios on toast with pumpkin jam,
it may sound strange to some, but the flavors worked incredibly well together. Then we had a local sausage with chimichuri
sauce, which was great, and a blood sausage & local apple filled savory pastry
that was out of this world good. The
last tapa we had was the best of all, (but really each was absolutely
delicious) and it was scallops with green strawberries on a bed of pureed
celery root. This may sound like a lot
of food, but the portions were perfectly sized for sharing and it was all just
the right amount. We had 2 espresso and
2 glasses of port wine to end the meal, which cost a total of € 41.
The rainy
weather persisted today as we made our way to the town of Alcobaca to tour the
Baroque-Gothic Cistercian Monastery of Santa Maria. Both mom and I thought this church was lovely
inside and out. It is the country’s
largest church and the interior is very bright.
This church is also were Portugal’s most romantic couple, King Pedro and
Ines are buried. The carvings on their
tombs are incredibly intricate and absolutely beautiful.
The next
stop for the day was the town of Obidos, an adorable walled town with lots of
narrow lanes and whitewashed houses. Before we had time to wander about and have
lunch, Maria, our guide, had us stop at a small stand on the street going into town. Here we tasted the ginjinha of Obidos, served
in a tiny, edible chocolate cup. By this
time of day, it was warming up and the sun was shining and the last thing mom
or I wanted was a melting chocolate cup, but, the ginjinha was actually much
better than the version we tasted in Lisbon and the chocolate cup was so small
we could pop it into our mouths without much melting onto our fingers.
There really
isn’t any way one could get lost in Obidos, with just two main arterial streets
running parallel to each other. After
walking through the main gate of the town, mom and I walked up the “high”
street towards the castle, checking out the shops and restaurants along the
way. At the castle we turned around and
walked back the way we came, bought a few things (yes, another cork purchase,
this time a wallet for me and necklace for mom) and at the main gate to the
town, we turned onto the “lower” street and sat down at the first café/restaurant
we saw. I’m happy to say, the place made
a pretty good omelet and we had a couple nice glasses of wine.
This evening
we had a group meal at a restaurant in the Sitio neighborhood of Nazare. We
took the funicular from the beach-side area up the mountain to this
neighborhood for a beautiful view of the crescent shaped beach, at which time
the skies opened and it began to pour rain.
So, we all walked as quickly as possible with umbrellas, navigating the
wet/slick/slippery streets several blocks to the restaurant called O Luis
located at Rua Dos Tanques, #7.
 |
| Scallops on Celery Root Puree |
Saturday,
May 18th
 |
| The Cistercian Monastery of Santa Maria I Alcobaca |
From the
church we walked to the Mercado Municipal, which is the town’s covered
market. Frankly, it did not contain
anything we had not seen before in other European towns or cities, and what was
on offered, didn’t look great. But it
was a place to stop to get a small flavor of the town.
 |
| Obidos |
We met back
up with the group and took the bus back to Nazare to relax a bit in the late
afternoon. The weather was getting worse
the closer we got to Nazare, so mom and I spent time in the hotel room, caching
up with emails (me) and reading. That is
one thing good about this hotel, the wi-fi in the room was excellent.
 |
| View of Nazare |
Again, maybe
it was the weather, or that our group was crammed into one very long table in
the middle of restaurant ( I really don’t like to eat that way, not comfortable
for me all, I prefer tables of 4-6), but this restaurant just did not “blow my
socks off”, even though it’s supposed to have excellent seafood.
Mom and I
both had the fish stew and found it to have very little flavor, my one word
description of the dish would be “meh”.
They did provide plates of barnacles for us to eat, but after Maria, our
guide, showed us the proper way to eat them, I felt like I’d have to work too
hard for my food, if you know what I mean.
Others in the group who did try them told us they thought the barnacles
didn’t taste like anything to them.
Maybe it was a good call on our part not to try them. This was one of our least favorite meals
during the whole 2.5 week trip.
The exterior
of the church is a late Gothic design, with stained glass windows, and gargoyles. Inside there is even more elaborate Manueline-style
ornamentation. The cloister is a
combination of the two styles and is beautiful.
The chapter room has a soaring ceiling and is where Portugal’s Tomb of
the Unknown Soldier is located. We were
fortunate enough to be there when there was a changing of the guard, which was
nice to see.
We arrived
at the bus drop-off point not far from where all the stands/stalls are set-up
selling religious “tat”, and it really was “tat”, or “slock” as mom and I refer
to it as. Once off the bus, Maria gave
us a brief orientation and then let us off on our own. Mom and I were very interested in seeing the
Chapel of the Apparitions, which marks the spot where Mary appeared to the 3
children. The chapel is enclosed in a
glass building. As mom and I walked
toward the building, I thought the chances of us even getting near enough to
see the chapel were pretty slim and it had started to rain again.
We walked as fast as we could, which wasn’t fast, since hail and cobble stones don’t mix well and finally made it into the Church of the Holy Trinity, where we run into 2 of our tour group members. When we asked if they had experienced the hail, they looked at us like we were crazy and said no. Guess, it was just my and mom’s little secret hail shower.
After about
a 2 hours visit to Fatima, we were back on the bus heading for Coimbra, but we
had 2 more stops. The first was for a
lunch break at a highway rest stop and let me tell you, the lunch here was
better than the dinner at O Luis in Nazare.
We had a green cabbage soup and a roast suckling pig sandwich. Both were delicious, although the rest stop
atmosphere wasn’t the most desirable, but the bathrooms were clean!
We first
took a short spin through the museum on site.
Then Maria guided us through the archaeological site with incredibly
well-preserved tile floors, and walls.
The House of the Fountains is an entire dwelling with many of its rooms
and mosaics still intact.
Although we
weren’t “crazy about” the hotel, we were really starting to like Coimbra. This morning started with a bus tour around
the city and then a tour of Coimbra’s Old University. This was another great experience, as we
walked into the university courtyard it felt like stepping into a Harry Potter
book, because part of the student uniform is a black cape and dotted throughout
the courtyard were students wearing them.
After the
university tour, we said good-bye to our local guide and Maria took over,
walking us down the hill through the city pointing out the cathedral and other
sites. We made a stop at a local shop
where as a treat Maria had arranged for us to paint our own ceramic tiles. It was a fun diversion, but let me just say,
an artist, I am not. Mom is much better
in the artistic category than I am!
After lunch
we meandered next door to the church and then did a bit of window shopping before
going back to the hotel. A little while
later we decided it was “wine-time” and went to an outdoor café near our hotel
for a couple glasses of wine, and at € 1.40 per glass it was a steal. At about 6:30pm we met our fellow group
members for a fado performance at Fado oa Centro. Here is the website: http://www.fadoaocentro.com/en
The fado in
Coimbra was much different than what we saw in Lisbon, and both mom and I
enjoyed it much more. In Coimbra fado is
sung only by men. This performance was
private, only for our tour group members.
There were 3 men, one sang, one planed the Portuguese guitar and the
other played the regular guitar.
Although these 3 men had “regular-day jobs” they sang and played so
well, they could have been full-time pros.
It was an extremely enjoyable performance.
We had
several simple pizzas that were pretty good, a bottle of Casal Garcia vinho
verde (love the blue label!) and great conversation. We were all surprised to look around the
restaurant when we were ready to leave to find every table in the place
full. Seems like the guidebook listing
worked in our favor this time.
Tuesday, May 21st
What a
beautiful landscape with spectacular views.
This place really was stunning.
If I am fortunate enough to ever go back to Portugal, I would definitely
dedicate more (much more!) time in the Douro Valley.
Pinhao is a
little tiny town in the Douro Valley and once we arrived I understood why we would
be having a group meal at the hotel dining room. It was because there wasn’t much else in
town. But that was ok with us. I loved this hotel and I never left the
property once we arrived. There is a
lovely swimming pool and since it was sunny and warming up nicely, I decided
the swimsuit I packed was going to get some use. While I lounged by the pool for a little
while, mom relaxed in the very comfortable room which had a balcony with an unforgettable
view of the Douro River.
Sunday,
May 19th
Today was a
jam-packed day and in the morning we said good-bye to Nazare and headed to
Batalha, where we visited the Monastery of Santa Maria, which is a symbol of
Portugal’s pride. After winning the
Battle of Aljubarrota against the Spanish Castilian king the Portuguese King
John I claimed the crown of Portugal and built the Monastery of Santa Maria in
thanks.
 |
| Monastery of Santa Maria |
We also
visited the unfinished chapels, which have no roof. The chapels are behind the main alter and
were intended to be for tombs topped with a rotunda ceiling. But only the walls, support pillars for the
ceiling and double tomb were ever completed.
The second
stop on today’s agenda was the pilgrimage site of Fatima. I know these types of religious sites aren’t
everyone’s “cup of tea”, but for me and mom, this place was high on our visit
list. Mostly because my grandmother, my
mom’s mother, always talked about Our Lady of Fatima.
First I have
to say, that going on a Sunday, probably wasn’t the best day of week to be
there, in regards to the crowds, because it was very crowded. We were also there when an outdoor mass was
in progress, so you imagine the crowds we were dealing with.
 |
| Mom & me at Fatima |
We got as
close as 3 rows of people from the glass enclosure and we had had enough, the amount
of people was just enormous. So, mom and
I turned around, “wormed” our way out of the congestion and started walking
towards the modern (built in 2005-2007) Church of the Holy Trinity. As we are walking the rain seems to be
getting harder and harder. I’m looking
down at the ground and then at the sleeve of my fleece jacket and can’t believe
my eyes, it was hailing! Yes, in mid-May in Portugal, while at Fatima we
experience hail. Could be normal weather
circumstances, or maybe it was a sign from my grandmother telling us, “Thanks
for the effort girls”…that’s what I like to think it was
 |
| Church of the Holy Trinity at Fatima |
We walked as fast as we could, which wasn’t fast, since hail and cobble stones don’t mix well and finally made it into the Church of the Holy Trinity, where we run into 2 of our tour group members. When we asked if they had experienced the hail, they looked at us like we were crazy and said no. Guess, it was just my and mom’s little secret hail shower.
 |
| Roast Suckling Pig Sandwich |
The last
stop for sightseeing today was the Conimbriga Roman Ruins and this was a complete
WOW (!) site. I was not expecting to see
such well-preserved remains. Here is the site’s website: www.conimbriga.pt
 |
| House of the Fountains at Conimbriga |
By now it
was getting to be late afternoon and we were ready to get to Coimbra and our
hotel. We drove into Coimbra with a stop
at the Church of Santa Clara on the opposite side of the Mondego River, which
gave us a lovely view of the city.
We checked
into the very centrally located Hotel Astoria, and that is the best thing I can
say about this hotel. When we walked
into the lobby we thought we had been transported back to the Art Deco era, and
not in a good way. In my opinion, the
hotel really needed some “Tender Loving Care”.
The public areas seemed very old and very creaky, and the guest room,
although spacious felt like I was walking into my grandmother’s house circa
1950. I know some people enjoy that
style, I’m just not one of them, and mom didn’t care for the place either. As I said the best thing was the location, we
could walk out the door and be in the center of everything, so that was the
trade-off. Here is the hotel
website: http://www.astoriahotelcoimbra.com/
We had
another group dinner tonight at A Portuguesa on the river. I really liked the dining room at this
restaurant, and although we were again seated at one long table with all the
tour group members, this time the section of the restaurant we were in had no
other diners, so I felt less like we were in the middle of everyone else’s
meal.
The staff
here was very good, well, as good as it can be for a table of 24! The food was pretty good too, I just think I
picked the wrong dish which was fish w/pasta.
This was supposedly a local specialty, but when I saw the pasta was
elbow macaroni, I was a little deflated, but the flavor was good. The others in
the group who ordered the veal steak, totally “won” in the food category, it
was perfectly cooked and looked out of this world good, yes, and I had “food
envy”. There were also lots of fried
starters served which included veal “cakes”, cod cakes and other tasty little
fried bits and they were all excellent.
And, the wine served with dinner was very good. Mom and I stuck with the white variety, but
those having red said it was good too.
Monday,
May 20th
 |
| Caped Students at University of Coimbra |
The Old
University Courtyard sits above the city and has stunning views of the city and
river below. The King John Library is a
site to see. There are 30,000 books on
display and the door is kept locked to keep out humidity. As you walk inside
there are book shelves from floor to ceiling and huge wooden tables inlaid with
South American woods. We also saw St.
Michael’s Chapel with its Manueline architecture, the Grand Hall where major
academic ceremonies take place and we walked along the View Catwalk to the
narrow observation deck from more great views of Coimbra.
 |
| The Old University of Coimbra Courtyard |
We had the
rest of the afternoon to ourselves, so mom and I strolled down the main
shopping street to Café Santa Cruz, next to the Church of Santa Cruz. This is an “old-timey” elegant café with
simple sandwiches and most importantly wine.
We sat down at a table outside under an umbrella and spent the next hour
or so eating pork sandwiches, drinking wine and watching the world go by. Oh, and they had great wi-fi too!
 |
| Lunch at Café Santa Cruz |
 |
| Portuguese Guitarra |
When the
performance was over it was about 8pm and we had dinner on our own, but I hadn’t
done any in-depth restaurant research for Coimbra, so turned to our guidebook
to find a place. Mom and I and a couple
we had become friendly with decided it was time for a change from Portuguese food
and went to Restaurante Italia on the river and a short walk from our hotel. We
asked Maria, our guide to join us and were thrilled when she said yes.
Tuesday, May 21st
Today was a
beautifully sunny day, the perfect day to go to the Douro Valley! We left Coimbra and drove to the Quinta Santa
Eufemia family estate and winery. Here
is the estate’s website: http://www.qtastaeufemia.com/
 |
| Me & mom in the Douro Valley |
We were
greeted warmly by one of the sisters of this family-run winery, and our tour of
the vineyards began immediately upon our disembarking from the bus. We walked through the vineyards for probably
about one hour and then made our way to the winery facility were we got to see
how the wine is produced and bottled.
This is a very small operation so we really got to see how things worked
up-close.
When the
tour was over it was time to taste their wine, just what we had been waiting
for! This was not a simple sip here or
sip there, we sat down for a full-blown home-made Portuguese lunch extravaganza. And as luck would have it for a second time,
mom and I were seated at the same table as not only a family member, but the
woman (the youngest daughter of the family) who is the wine maker. We loved her.
She not only could make excellent wines, but she liked to cook and mom
and I walked away with a great new recipe for our Thanksgiving turkey!
Now, this is
where not taking notes during the trip has really failed me, because I do not
have any information on anything we ate at lunch. But I do remember it was served family style
and it was hearty and delicious and as you can probably expect it went very
well with the wines. We tasted a white
port, and then 2 other wines, a white and a red made by the very woman I was
sitting next too! For dessert our whole
group moved to another building on the property where coffee, and orange cake
were served (leave it to me to remember the dessert part of the meal!).
 |
| Me & the Wine Maker at Quinta Santa Eufemia |
Before
leaving mom purchased a bottle of olive oil made at the winery, a bottle of
white port and a bottle of white table wine, which we would have with the
dinner we would be having with the group tonight. We did this at the recommendation of Maria,
our guide, because we would be having dinner at our hotel’s dining room and wine
prices there could be “steep”.
We said our
good-byes to the winery family and boarded the bus for the very scenic drive to
the town of Pinhao in the Douro Valley.
Our next stop would be the Vintage House Hotel and to put it mildly this
hotel was sumptuous. Here is the hotel
website: http://hotelvintagehouse-douro.com/
 |
| View of Douro River from Vintage House Hotel |
Instead of
venturing out into town, about an hour before dinner we made our way down to
the very atmospheric lounge and had a couple glasses of excellent vinho
verde. And now we knew why Maria
suggested we buy wine from the winery we visited to have at dinner. Our glasses of vinho verde here, were
€ 7 each. Not outrageous but
since we had been paying € 1.50 in other places, we knew if we ordered
a bottle at dinner it would be more than what we had been experiencing
elsewhere. Honestly, I don’t think mom
and I would have minded buying our wine at the hotel dining room, but Maria
highly suggested doing it the way we did, maybe because others would prefer to
pay less. And, interesting to note, at
all the other group meals, wine was included (this had not been our experience
on other Rick Steves tours where wine was not included with meals), maybe
because the cost at the other places were in a more “manageable range”, who
knows.
I was
actually looking forward to this meal because in my pre-trip research I read
some very good things about this hotel dining room. Basically that it had a very good reputation
in the area. I know, group meals can be
a pain for the kitchen, but I found this meal to be just mediocre. My salmon main dish was good, but the side
dish of mashed potatoes encrusted with macadamia nuts was not worth more than
one taste and the starter of melon and prosciutto was really lack-luster. However, I would not let this stop me from returning
because I think if not dining in a group, I would have had a completely
different perspective. And our
table-mates for this meal, certainly made up for the run-of-the-mill food. We had a great conversation.
Coffee was not
included with this dinner (the only time that happened too), so mom and I
toddled back to the lounge for a couple espressos before turning in for a
blissful night of slumber in extremely comfortable beds.
From the
moment we were greeted at the door we knew we were going to like this
place. The service was excellent and the
food was delicious. For starters mom had
the foie gras and I had the goat cheese in puff pastry, I’ve got to admit, I
had the “winning” starter. For our main
dishes we both had the black pork with farro and a sausage stuffed cannelloni,
the pork was tender and the cannelloni melted in our mouths. We asked the server to recommend a bottle of
red wine for us (their wine list is on an iPad) and he selected a perfect red
wine from the Alentejo region, which was an excellent match with the pork. We don’t always order dessert, but mom (and
me too) love cheese and there happen to be 2 different cheese plates on the
dessert menu. We couldn’t decide which
to eliminate so got both! One was
gorgonzola the other tallegio and both were absolutely delicious. We each had a glass of 10 year Taylor’s Port,
since we were, after all, in Porto and we finished the meal with 2 espressos. Everything here was spot-on and we really
enjoyed ourselves. What made it even more enjoyable was when the other tour group
members who were also dining here stopped by on their way out and said how
grateful they were to me for finding this place, they loved it. Boy did I breathe a sigh of relief that they
liked it.
The walking
tour ended in the Ribeira district adjacent to the river. We had decided the day before we wanted to
have lunch at the restaurant at Taylor port wine lodge across the river from
the Ribeira district in the town of Vila Nova de Gaia. I had read this restaurant, Barao de
Fladgate, has stunning views of Porto. I
mentioned to Maria, our guide, we were planning to do this and could she tell
me the closest metro stop to the wine lodge, she confirmed we needed to go one
stop further on the metro line than what I had thought and it would then be a
fairly easy walk.
After satisfying our thirst, we took the metro across the river to Vila Nova de Gaia and got off at the stop Maria told us to. We followed her directions with one minor miss-step from me, I turned a bit too early but only went about 5 minutes out of our way. After about a 30 minute walk we made it half way down the hill and saw the sign for Taylors.
It was about 1:30pm and I was starting to worry that they may have stopped serving lunch, but we got very lucky and the lunch service went on until 2pm, we got in just under the wire. We were seated on the terrace with fantastic views of Porto and one of the bridges spanning the Douro River. The service here was excellent and so was the food. Mom and I enjoyed a leisurely lunch that started with a complimentary glass of Taylor’s white port. We ordered a half bottle of vinho verde, one of the best we had during our time in Portugal. For lunch mom had the lentil curry and proclaimed it delicious. I had the granny smith apple & lime risotto with crispy duck, it was some of the best risotto I have ever had. We ended the meal with two espresso. The cost for lunch was € 55. The food, service and most of all the views were all worth the trek to get here.
We made our
way back to the hotel to pack up our bags before gathering with the other tour
group members for our farewell meal. We
all met in the hotel lobby for a celebratory glass of sparkling wine, provided
by Maria, and to get the tiles we had painted in Coimbra. Because the tiles had to be fired, Maria had
made arrangements for the shop in Coimbra to send them to her in Porto to give
to us.
After checking in we got our bags organized for the flight
home and at around 5pm we took a taxi to the Bairro Alto Hotel roof top terrace
for our last aperitivo of the trip. We
loved the views here so much we thought it would be a great way to say good-bye
to Lisbon. At first we thought we would
just have some wine here and a sausage and cheese plate, then go back to the
hotel and turn in early since we had a very early morning flight the next
day. But after a couple hours at the
terrace, we realized we were hungrier than we thought we would be, but we didn’t
want a big meal, and we needed a restaurant that was open and wouldn’t be a
long lingering meal. That’s when I remembered
my friend Robert’s recommendation of the piri-piri chicken at Bom Jardin.
The flight
to Atlanta was smooth, passport control, and customs & immigration were a breeze and we
had plenty of time to catch our connecting flight to Savannah. We arrived home 20+ hours after we left
Lisbon, but we were happy to have spent time in a beautiful country, with a
rich history, delicious food & wine and warm & friendly people.
Wednesday,
May 22nd
The weather was
really back in our favor and it was another beautifully sunny day. We left Pinhao and drove through the terraced
wine country of the Douro Valley. The
views were truly spectacular, we just about ohhh-ed and ahhh-ed all the way to
Porto.
When we
arrived in Porto we did a brief bus tour of the city center and then
disembarked the bus for a short walking tour of the Ribeira area by the
river. We had a short break for lunch
and mom and I sat down at an outdoor café on the river for a cup of
coffee. Before we knew it, the time had
come to board the boat for a cruise up and down the Douro River.
 |
| The Douro River in Porto |
The cruise
lasted a little more than an hour and it was a good introduction to Porto. When the cruise ended we were back on the bus
for the drive to the Serralves Foundation Contemporary Art Museum and Park,
which is located away from the center of town.
On our way
to the museum, as we drove through the Foz neighborhood, Maria, our guide
mentioned to me and mom that this is the area where the restaurant I had asked
her about was located. During my
pre-trip research I found the restaurant Cafeina in Porto and after reading
about it, mom and I were very keen on having our one and only non-group dinner
in Porto here. When we were in Pinhao, I
asked Maria if she would be kind enough to make a reservation there for us and
she did.
However, a
few others in the group heard the discussion between me and Maria and while we
were at the museum, asked me if I would share the restaurant information with
them, because they hadn’t been thrilled with the food they had in Portugal so
far. I was reluctantly, not because mom
and I wanted to have an evening away from tour group members, but because food (and
dining in general) is really subjective.
If someone told me about the best restaurant they ever went to and that
I should go there, only to find out it was a sushi place, I wouldn’t have the
same feeling about it, because I don’t care for sushi. And, not knowing these people very well (in
spite of traveling with them for 10 days) I was reluctant to recommend a place
I had not yet been too. When I wasn’t
immediately forthcoming with the restaurant information at the museum, they
approached Maria and asked her to make the reservation for them and she did.
We re-grouped
at the museum and began the tour. If you
are really into modern art, you may love this place. Mom and I are not modern art fans, and to see
7 olive trees hanging upside down from the ceiling in a room with the olive
tree leaves scattered below them on the floor, is not, in my mind art. However,
the museum guide clearly loved her job and was very enthusiastic, so much so,
that when it came time to tour the gardens we did not have much time left and
practically sprinted through what looked to be very lovely grounds.
By now it
was late afternoon and we were ready to get to the hotel to relax. We were staying the next 2 nights at the Grande
Hotel do Porto at Rua de Santa Catarina, # 197.
Here is the hotel website: http://www.grandehotelporto.com/en/ This was another case of a great location and
a mediocre hotel. The street the hotel
is located on is a main shopping street, so as soon as you walk out the door
you are in the middle of action. The staff
was pleasant enough, and the lobby and lounge areas looked promising. Then we got up to the floors where the guest
rooms are located and we felt like we walked into a college dormitory. The rooms, although spacious, were very
sparse and the beds were not very comfortable.
But we made the best of it and we were only staying 2 nights.
At around
7pm mom and I went down to the hotel lounge and had a couple glasses of vinho
verde (at € 2 per glass) and at about 8pm we caught a taxi to take us
to the restaurant Cafeina in the Foz neighborhood. The taxi fare was about € 9 and it
took about 20 minutes to drive there.
Here is the restaurant website: http://www.cafeina.pt/en/cafeina
 |
| Goat Cheese in Puff Pastry |
 |
| Black Port with Farro and a Sausage Stuffed Cannelloni |
When we
asked for the check our server told us that our friends had paid for our cheese
plates as a thank-you. Mom and I were blown away by this generosity. The total bill (without the 2 cheese plates)
was € 91. The taxi fare, both
ways, was so worth this place, in our opinion.
 |
| Cheese Plates |
Thursday,
May 23rd
This was our
last day of the Rick Steves tour and we were blessed with more great
weather. In the morning we did a walking
tour of Porto which started at the Bolhao market. Mom and I enjoyed walking through this market
and wished we had more time there, but we did manage to buy a bollo arroz,
which is basically the Porto version of a rice muffin, it was deliciously moist
and tasty.
We made our
way across the city stopping at the Avenue of the Allies to take in the
elaborate architecture. There was a
visit to the cathedral with terrific views of the Douro River, and we made our
way to the Sao Bento train station to see the beautiful tiles inside the
station. Our final stop was the Stock
Exchange Palace to see the lavishly decorated rooms, it was another
show-stopping building.
 |
| Tile Mosaic at Sao Bento Train Station |
Before
leaving the Ribeira district for lunch, though mom and I decided to quench our
thirst at an outdoor café with a couple beers.
Actually we had a beer with lemon soda in it (mom) and a beer with berry
soda in it (me). They were interesting
to taste, but I’m not sure either one of us will be running out to try them
again, at least they were cold!
 |
| Beer in Porto |
After satisfying our thirst, we took the metro across the river to Vila Nova de Gaia and got off at the stop Maria told us to. We followed her directions with one minor miss-step from me, I turned a bit too early but only went about 5 minutes out of our way. After about a 30 minute walk we made it half way down the hill and saw the sign for Taylors.
 |
| Vinho Verde at Taylor's |
 |
| Risotto at Taylor''s |
 |
| Lentil Curry at Taylor's |
It was about 1:30pm and I was starting to worry that they may have stopped serving lunch, but we got very lucky and the lunch service went on until 2pm, we got in just under the wire. We were seated on the terrace with fantastic views of Porto and one of the bridges spanning the Douro River. The service here was excellent and so was the food. Mom and I enjoyed a leisurely lunch that started with a complimentary glass of Taylor’s white port. We ordered a half bottle of vinho verde, one of the best we had during our time in Portugal. For lunch mom had the lentil curry and proclaimed it delicious. I had the granny smith apple & lime risotto with crispy duck, it was some of the best risotto I have ever had. We ended the meal with two espresso. The cost for lunch was € 55. The food, service and most of all the views were all worth the trek to get here.
The walk back
to the metro stop seemed so much faster, but I find that happens to me a lot,
when I don’t know the area where I’m heading it seems to take forever. Then once I know the route, it seems so fast.
 |
| View from the Terrace at Taylor's |
After saying our thank-yous to Maria we all walked around the
corner for our final meal together. I
really wish I could say this was the best meal of the trip, and in some ways it
was, the conversations at our table was terrific, but the food really was not
very good. In fact, I never even made a
note of the name of the restaurant. Let’s
just say, mom and I were really glad we had such a fantastic dinner at Cafeina
and a spectacular lunch at Barao de Fladgate.
After dinner it was a quick walk back to the hotel, where we
turned in for the night. Mom and I
really enjoyed Porto, I hate to admit this, but we may have even liked it a
smidge more than Lisbon.
Friday,
May 24th
We had a fairly leisurely morning and took our time at
breakfast, then made our way via taxi to the train station to catch the 11:45am
Alfa Pendular (fast) train to Lisbon. I
had purchased our tickets on-line before leaving home. We bought first class seats for
€42.40 each, but the train was not crowded and we probably could have
easily purchased the tickets that morning.
The 2.5 hour ride was smooth and there was free wi-fi on the
train, so I was able to catch up with emails and such. We arrived back in Lisbon at about 2:30pm and
took a taxi to the Hotel Lisboa Plaza for our last night in Portugal.
 |
| Piri-Piri Chicken at Bom Jardin in Lisbon |
We left the Bairo Alto Hotel terrace, and walked to Bom
Jardin and they were open and service was speedy. We knew exactly what we wanted which made
ordering a snap and it is the specialty of the house. The chicken here was great and the piri-piri
sauce just about “set my hair on fire”.
With a final bottle of Casal Garcia vinho verde, mom and I were 2 happy
ladies. We were finished with the meal
in less than one hour and were back at the hotel, ready to climb into bed by 8pm. Good thing to, because we had a 6am flight
the next day.
Saturday,
May 25th
It was a
very early start this morning and by 4:30am we were in a taxi riding to the
Lisbon airport. Good thing we got there
early because the ticket agent had to do a little “magic” with our tickets to be
able to issue all our boarding passes, she was a star and got everything squared
away.
We had a
tight connection in Paris, it was just 1 hour and 15 minutes from touch-down on
the Lisbon flight to connect with the flight to Atlanta. I don’t think I have ever seen mom move so
fast through an airport, she was a trooper.
We arrived right at 9:30am and by the time we changed terminals (had to
take a shuttle bus), we arrived at the Atlanta flight gate just as they began
boarding. This was the first time ever
that we never sat down at CDG. We just
walked off one plane and onto the next, albeit a very long walk with a shuttle
bus ride tossed in there too. I don’t
usually like a connection that close, but fortunately this time it worked for
us.
1 comment:
Hi debtyswan...
Thanks for reading! I love traveling with my mom, we are fortunate that we make very good travel companions!
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