thesimpleHOUSE

Our last full day in Portugal before we were to get up at 3:30am for our early flight out and our 27 hour trip home. We had booked a tour of the Palácio da Bolsa, the stock exchange building. In Portugal, this is more like the local Chamber of Commerce.

It was formerly a convent that burned during the siege of Porto in 1832. Attached and adjacent is the Igreja de São Francisco, which was not destroyed. I’ll leave the jokes about separation of church and state to your imagination. But it made for some interesting thoughts.

The interior is extremely detailed in the neo-classic style, generally, with an eclectic mix of other styles as well. The Arab Room is called “the jewel of the palace” and is definitely the highlight of the tour.

We also toured the adjacent Igreja, which did not burn.

Since we were in the neighborhood, we walked across the Dom Luís I bridge, designed by the Eiffel Tower engineer. We walked across the top, enjoyed the scenery, had lunch in Gaia, then walked back across the lower level.

That evening was our last dinner in Portugal and we found a little cocktail bar just a block from our hotel. The host was Lucas and the bar was Cais Nobre, Bar Et Cocktails. We thought it was amazing. We later found out it has 96 reviews on TripAdvisor. And 96 five star reviews. Nothing lower. Unheard of.

Wanting to eat light, since we were getting up very early, we just had a chicken wrap and some mushrooms. And I FINALLY found a good hazy IPA.

On our last night here. Go figure.

We walked back to our hotel and set our alarm for 3:00 am.

We had a full day lined up. It started with a trip to Aveiro, billed as “the Venice of Portugal” due to the canals. We had a short boat ride through town (it’s a small town) and saw some now-familiar architecture. Still wonderful weather.

We then had a walking tour through some of the main streets.

We then went a short distance to Costa Nova, where they are known for their brightly-painted houses. We walked down the main “house street” and enjoyed the architecture.

We then went back to Porto and went for a walk. There was a restaurant known for their hot dogs and made “famous” by the late Anthony Bourdain. So we had to try it. They were quite good! And, from the delivery while we were waiting, apparently quite fresh.

From there, we went to the train station, which was nearby and enjoyed the architecture and decor. Tile everywhere.

Then we just had to have an afternoon snack. We heard there was a Time Out Market in Porto, too, so we ventured over there. Had some good espresso, a macchiato and some pastries.

Sitting outside, we watched workers as they renovated some buildings just across the courtyard. There is construction/renovation activity just about everywhere in the cities we visited.

After that, we went back to our hotel and rested. We had just one more full day in Portugal before we were to head home.

Our next day in Porto was largely a free day. We decided to walk down to the bridge (more about that, later), take the funicular to higher parts of town and just wander around. We had tickets to the Livraria Lello, a neo-gothic building housing a bookstore that is so famous you have to pay to get in. And wait in line. Long line. With timed entry. And buy your tickets a day in advance.

The bookstore was totally worth it. As an Architect, I appreciate the intricacies. And a lot of what looks like wood is painted plaster. Well done.

Adjacent to the bookstore was the Torre dos Clérigos, a baroque tower that you can climb to the top of. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was built from 1754 through 1763 and was restored in 2014. There are 225 steps to the top, which is 246 feet high. The steps get steeper and narrower as you ascend. But the views are worth it.

After this day, we returned to the hotel for a little rest before dinner with the larger group. We chilled in our hotel courtyard. We certainly got our steps in this day and were glad to kick our feet up for a while.

Our second day in Porto brought a road (and boat) trip through the Douro Valley. This is the home of Port wines as well as just some amazing wines in general. As I’ve mentioned, I hadn’t found a beer I liked. It’s probably because this isn’t beer country.

It’s wine country.

While I never found a beer I liked, there wasn’t a wine I DIDN’T like. Even the Ports, which I normally find too sweet and too strong. But the Ports we had this day were awesome.

We toured two wineries. The first had a variety of wines. All amazing. The second specialized in Ports. Also amazing.

We had perfect weather (again). A good lunch. Beautiful scenery and a nice, relaxing boat trip on the Douro River for a very scenic stretch.

This trip was probably one of my favorite days on the whole trip. Relaxing. Great wine. Nice boat ride.

After we returned to Porto, we decided to take a walk up to the Jardins do Palácio de Cristal. The building there is a stadium/arena and not much to look at. The gardens were average (wrong time of year, I think). But the view of Porto and the river was wonderful.

Especially at sunset.

Afterward, we walked to a nearby restaurant to try some Francesinha, a layered sandwich that originated in Porto. Layers of bread, meat and cheese. And cheese. And cheese.

Day eight saw us leave Lisbon and take the train north to Porto. Porto is Portugal’s second largest city and it is right on the Douro River. It is also home to Port wine, which I’ll talk about tomorrow.

Our hotel was in the historic Ribeira district, a UNESCO World Heritage Site Heritage site with amazing old buildings, cobblestone streets and located right on the river.

We arrived around lunch time and had the rest of the day free to explore areas of the city. We made our way through narrow streets, which we were now accustomed to and to a Saturday evening mass at the Catedral do Porto.

After the mass, we made our way to a largely pedestrian street with cafes and street musicians. This particular man was an ex pat from Brazil. He was very good on the soprano saxophone.

We sat and listened, had some drinks and generally just chilled. When dinner time rolled around (which in Portugal is late, 7:00 to 8:00), we decided to try the restaurant right next to us. They had wonderful salad and soup. The salmon was curry spiced and very good. Overall, our food had been average (not much variety), but this one was excellent.

We Ubered back to the hotel. Tomorrow would be a tour of the Douro River valley, Port wine tastings and a river tour. The weather had been mid to high 70s our entire time in Portugal and tomorrow looked like it would continue that trend.

Since our Sintra/Pena Palace day was kind of a bust, we decided to visit the Palácio de Queluz. A good friend I’ve known my entire life highly recommended it (thanks, Mark). It is an 18th Century palace in Queluz, in the Sintra area. It is often described as the Portuguese Versailles.

It was incredible! The architecture, the grounds, the interiors were amazing. I’ll simply let the pictures speak for themselves. So glad we did this. It made up for missing the Pena Palace.

After the Palace, we decided to walk a couple of blocks away to the small town of Queluz. It was about lunch time, so we looked for a good place to eat. Found a burger/steak house with amazing food and fresh squeezed lemonade. Score!

Our sixth day was a day trip to Sintra. Pena Palace and Quinta da Regaleira were on the docket. Except they weren’t on the docket of our tour drivers. Even though that’s what their summary said. Oh well.

Sintra was a very pretty fairy tale town. The narrow streets and steep climbs were now a natural part of our vocabulary and expectations.

After returning to Lisbon, we met up for a walking food tour through the downtown area. Our guide was a young Polish woman and very personable. Our first stop we sampled the Chouriço, which is a sausage with a smoky flavor from paprika.

Our main stop was to sample the sardines. I remember sardines as a kid and hated them. But I was willing to try most anything, so I did. They were actually quite flavorful and I liked them. Probably not enough to order them again or look for a recipe, but they were tasty.

After dinner, we stayed downtown and just walked around. Enjoying the rough, patterned cobblestone streets and walks and the Memorial Arch (this time at night).

Our next day, our last in Lisbon, was a free day and we already knew what we were going to do.

Our fifth day was full. We had events and sights from morning to evening.

MORNING

We went to the Castelo de São Jorge sitting atop one of the major hills in Lisbon. It’s old, dating to the 1st Century BC. A fortress that provided shelter and protection through hundreds and hundreds of years. It also provided a great view of the city.

From there, we went into town for lunch and had a very good pasta seafood dish and rustic bread. The rustic bread in Portugal became one of my favorites. You’ll note we had ice tea and Coke. Still not finding beer that I like.

AFTERNOON

The afternoon was our cooking/baking class. One thing Portugal is famous for is their Pastel de Nata. They are small egg/custard pastries that you sprinkle with cinnamon. They are decadent. Our larger group participated in a cooking class to learn how to make them.

Our chef/instructors were twin siblings that were amazing. We were taught step by step through the process of making the pastels and when we finished, we got to eat the fruits of our labor.

The pastels were amazing. They were also an incredible amount of work to create.

EVENING

Our day ended with a sunset wine cruise on the river to finish out our day.

On the fourth day of our Portugal journey, we joined the rest of our small tour group. This marked the “official” beginning of the tour. It actually started the evening before with a wine “meet and greet” and dinner.

The morning brought a trip to the southernmost part of Portugal, Algarve. Algarve is a region with sedimentary cliffs, resorts and tourism. “Algarve” is derived from the Arabic word for “the west.”

We had a short boat trip scheduled out of Portimão, a very cute community of about 60,000 people with gorgeous buildings along the harbor. We went out around the southern coast to view the sandstone cliffs. And yet again, we had amazing weather: 75ºF and sunny. This would be the rule for the entire trip!

It was a long drive from Lisbon to Portimão. Almost three hours each way. While it was beautiful, I’m not sure it was worth that long of a drive. But, the weather really helped moderate that, though.

Tomorrow: baking class making the famous pastel de natas, a sunset cruise and the morning at one of the castles.

Day three was a day trip to Òbidos and Nazaré. Both are a bit north of Lisbon. Òbidos is a walled medieval town dating back to the 12th century. Narrow cobblestone streets, very old houses and shops. It was a beautiful small community with a fairy tale atmosphere.

We found great souvenir shops (we bought some cork placemats) and just enjoyed walking up and down the hilly town. We also had Ginja de Òbidos, which is a sweet cherry liquer served in an edible chocolate cup. I’m not usually one for ultra-sweet liquers, but it was very good.

After visiting, we headed north to Nazaré. This is an area on the Atlantic coast famous for 100 foot waves and surfing at Praia do Norte. It became famous when Garrett McNamara surfed a 78 foot wave. We were a bit early in the season for the huge waves, but saw a couple of surfers. The high waves are the result of a large underwater canyon.

The Fort of São Miguel Arcaño lighthouse is an iconic symbol and a great viewpoint.

We went in to the actual town of Nazaré for lunch and had some seafood dishes, one of which was a seafood stew. Frankly, it was nothing to write home about. Not a lot of spice or flavor. We are used to foods that have a lot of flavor and spice. We were going to find the lack of robust food flavors is common in Portugal.

We headed back to Lisbon to meet up with our small tour group and begin the actual “organized” tour. This was the tour agents first trip to Portugal and was kind of a reconnaissance mission. So we were guinea pigs in a sense, which we knew going into it.

Back at our hotel, we had a welcome wine and dinner meet and greet. Most of the group had traveled together before to Italy and France. This was the first adventure to Portugal.