Porto

Oh I loved Porto………in fact, I liked it more than Lisbon. So today I’m going to give you a quick guide to Porto and what the highlights were for me.

I’ve sorted my photographs and this afternoon I have time to write……..because I am partly incapacitated after being told little white lies by a vicar of all people! I’ll tell you briefly about that first. This morning I have run a local fell race, which was a fund raiser for the local primary school. It was 8 miles but quite tough on the fells, quite muddy, and icy in places, with 1230ft of ascent. The morning didn’t start well when I had to de-ice my car and scrape the ice off the windscreen in my shorts! Anyway the sun came out, even though it was still minus 3 degrees, I got there and was all ready to start when the quite cool, ultra running vicar, Revered Mike, came out to bless us all! 😄

Now I have to admit I’m not really into blessings and all that sort of thing and thought quietly to myself that it was going to take a lot more than a blessing from an ultra running vicar to speed me around this, even though I had put my go faster, knee length, pink compression socks on. It’s the first time I’ve been blessed before a race ……….. let’s see if it makes a difference I thought! Anyway, Reverend Mike then thought he’d share a verse from the bible to inspire us 😕…….. Isaiah 26:7 I think he said it was…….and it went like this: ‘The path of the righteous is level; You, the Lord, clear a straight path for the upright; The way of the just is smooth; the path of the just, You, the Lord, make level.’

Now let me tell you, I might be banished forever from the pearly gates for saying it, but this is simply not true!!!! I can confirm that the path was not level, was not straight, was not smooth. So either: Reverend Mike told us a little white lie; Isaiah has never run this race and that passage needs re-writing because it’s a load of codswallop; or perhaps it’s just that I’m neither righteous, upright or just, and my name is on the wrong list so he made it an uphill, rocky, twisty, bumpy, muddy slog for me. I can confirm no angel appeared to speed me to the cakes at the end quite as quickly as I would have liked. The upside is I’m now all snuggled in my bathrobe, music on, treats in place with time to tell you about Porto, because I ache too much to do anything else. This photograph below, from the race, made me smile. You have to zoom in on the man behind me (yes, there are people behind me, I’m not always at the back!). That is the face and brow wipe of a man who on a cold and frosty morning has just been overtaken by a grinning 52 year old female in knee length pink socks, shouting “Good morning, it’s a lovely day for it isn’t it!”. I like to remain cheery in the face of adversity!

So………Porto. It was another late arrival in the dark and I was tired and hungry. But as if by fate I walked past a bar on the way to the apartment that sold Pinxtos………yes, Pinxtos in Portugal……and I love Pinxtos, so I disappeared inside for a few of those before going to my apartment and my bed.

I was so tired I didn’t even have time to explore my apartment but it appeared to have a lovely view over the city and down to the river.

I awoke the next morning to discover it was a little gem of an apartment, and I would very much recommend it. So if you are looking for an apartment in the old town, or Ribeira as it’s called, I can recommend Casas de Sant Ana. The apartment was located in the oldest street in the city, right in the historical centre. The building looks really old on the outside but inside it was so modern and well appointed, nothing had been forgotten. I had my coffee machine, lovely comfy bed, lounge area, view of the river and despite the hustle and bustle outside it was so quiet inside.

First of all breakfast. I was very hungry and went to Floresta Cafe, following a recommendation. It was so good. Now this might look and sound like the oddest combination for breakfast, and I must admit when I read it, it sounded odd, but I was intrigued as to how the combination would work together. It was toasted sour dough topped with cream cheese, smashed avocado, strawberries, halloumi, pistachios and strawberry conserve. Now doesn’t that just sound like the most bizarre breakfast………but it was so good and just worked together so well……..with of course a white coffee.

Then I made an exciting discovery! Just as I was walking around the old town past my apartment on the way to my first stop, the cathedral, I came across a Camino shell way marker on the path………I was back on the Camino!!!!…….how exciting…….this time the Portuguese Coastal Camino, which unbeknown to me went up the street of my apartment!! “Oh this is fantastic”, I thought, and I couldn’t resist following the yellow arrows as I just knew they would take me to the cathedral, because the little yellow Camino way markers always do.

The cathedral was lovely. Smaller than Lisbon but much more ornate. Lots of Azulejo tiles, a nice view from the top of the tower and a lovely gold alter, more like the ones I am used to seeing in the Catholic cathedrals of Spain and Italy. It was so much prettier than Lisbon’s and worth a visit.

I then wanted to visit the iconic bridge for which Porto is famous, but I got distracted by the train station of Sao Bento so went inside. I’ve never quite seen a train station like it, it was so pretty, all decorated with old Azulejo tiles from 1916 by ceramic artist Jorge Colaco. It was sort of strange to see the juxtaposition between the old station and the modern electronic arrivals and departures board.

I made my way through the streets to the iconic bridge that spans the River Douro. This bridge appears on all the photographs of Porto and is called the Ponte Dom Luis I. It was designed by Theophil Seyrig, a German engineer and his business partner Gustave Eiffel. The similarities in the structure with those of the Eiffel Tower are evident as it towers above the river like a huge iron Meccano set. It is a double deck bridge, the top level carrying the trams of the metro system, and it links Porto with Vila Nova de Gaia on the other side of the river where all the port lodges are situated, which was where I was heading.

You can walk across both levels of the bridge and it’s good to do both. It is so high on the top deck but you get the most fantastic views of Porto from the top. You don’t see much of the bridge though from the top deck and to really appreciate that you need to walk on the bottom deck and look up at the huge structure. It is such a feat of engineering and even better at night all lit up.

On the Porto side of the bridge is the beautiful riverside walkway, Cais da Ribeira. It is lined by all brightly coloured houses and tabernas all tumbling down the hillside and is so photogenic. It looks even nicer from the Vila Nova de Gaia side of the river looking back across. It’s the perfect spot for a stroll, drink or ice cream at any time of day or evening. It’s here where you will see some of the old Rabelo boats moored. These are the traditional, wooden, Portuguese cargo boats used for the transportation of port wine up and down the river, until the arrival of the train in the late 19th century.

I was walking down the Cais de Ribeira, and across the bridge, on my way to a very important appointment in Vila Nova de Gaia, on the other side of the river. Porto is well known for the production of port wine or simply, port. Port is a fortified wine which has to be produced from grapes grown and processed in the demarcated Douro region, which is the area straddling the Douro river as it travels inland from Porto. Port has been produced here since the early 18th century by large shippers or producers of port wine who owned ‘Quintas’ along the sides of the valley. A Quinta, I suppose you would say is like a vineyard. It consists of a huge farmhouse surrounded by fields stretching as far as the eye can see, along the banks of the river Douro where the grapes are grown and processed. The most powerful shipping and producing families at the time were, and to some extent still are, British. Names like Graham’s, Taylor’s and Cockburn’s are still prevalent along the valley and have been since the first trade deals were set up between Britain and Portugal, when we shipped our port back across to Britain in exchange for shipping textiles and cod from Britain to Portugal.

My appointment was at 3pm at Graham’s Port Lodge, promising me a tour around the premises, into the cellars and a tasting session to explain all about the different types of port and their production. All the port lodges are on the other side of the river in Vila Nova de Gaia, and Graham’s is the furthest walk, around 30 minutes. I was told it was worth the extra walk and I would get to see most of Vila Nova de Gaia on the way, which in itself was supposed to be really pretty. It’s often at those times when you are wandering aimlessly, that you come across something quite good. On my way to Graham’s, over the other side of the river, I came across the ‘Half Rabbit’, a giant sculpture of rubbish and trash, a critique of society’s wastefulness and its consequences for the natural environment. It’s by Portuguese artist Bordallo II. It wraps the corner of a building with one half painted and the other unpainted. It is made of street signs, plastic containers, cans, wire and all sorts of rubbish and it does make you think about all the waste we produce and where it ends up.

Eventually, after wandering I got to Graham’s, on the top of the hillside, a white Quinta with lovely views over Porto and the river. The guide was really knowledgeable and the visit was fascinating. I went down into the cellars, learnt about white port, tawny port and ruby port, about the different methods of production, different barrels and materials, storage and age. I got the full family history of the Symington family, who now own Graham’s as well as Cockburn’s, Dows and many other small producers. Then I had a dilemma, did I want to taste ruby or tawny port? Well the answer was I wanted to taste both! And I’m on holiday so I did. What I did not realise was that you got three of each and the glasses were quite big! You got a standard port, an older or crusted one and then a very old vintage, of each type. So that was 6 big glasses of port. So what can I tell you? They do all taste different, I definitely prefer ruby to tawny, it has a warmer feeling when you drink it, is smoother and reminds me of Christmas. The very old vintage ruby tasted best, but it would do, it was the most expensive! Tawny is nice, but in my opinion (I’d probably get shot for saying this in Portugal) it tastes similar to a supermarket sherry. And beyond that I can’t tell you much more, because after all six glasses my lips and teeth had gone purple and I felt quite fuzzy! It was a good afternoon and is a must do, to tour a port lodge while you are in Porto.

The following day I had arranged an exciting day out. I wanted to explore the Douro valley itself and see the iconic views I’ve seen in my National Geographic traveller magazine. So I’d booked myself on a small tour up the valley. A coach was to take me so far and then I was to transfer to a boat to go further up the valley on the river. During the day we would stop at two Portuguese Quintas. One producing just port, and the other producing a small amount of port but mainly wine. There were to be tours and tastings at each, as well as a tour up the river. The weather was not great, but it could have been much worse, and although a little cool, the sun did keep coming out and I had my raincoat to keep the wind out. We made for the town of Pinhao on the banks of the river, and the views were just as beautiful as on the pictures. Quintas and vineyards as far as the eye could see, all along the banks of the river.

We made out way to Quinta de Sao Luiz. Here they produce port for C.N. Kopke, Portugal’s oldest port producer. I had a tour around the cellars, tasted some more port and learnt about their production process, which was on a much smaller scale than Graham’s. They are a quite a small Quinta compared to others, but their selling point is their position and the quintessential view that they have over the Douro, just stunning!

Then our guide drove us to the second Quinta of the day where they were preparing us a traditional Portuguese meat stew for lunch, with more wine of course. This was Quinta Santa Julia and this Quinta specialises in wine production and had some of the prettiest oak and chestnut aging barrels. There was another tour, another tasting and a most delicious traditional lunch with guess what………..as much wine as you wanted! Remembering my fuzzy head of the day before, and the impending bus trip back without a pee stop, I behaved myself remarkably well and didn’t have too many! The traditional stew of meat, vegetables and pasta in a sort of broth was delicious. It was a very long 10 hour day trip but very much worthwhile, I enjoyed it lots and it was nice that it was only quite a small group.

The following day was my final day and I had a few more things to see in Porto that I hadn’t visited. The first was a book shop which is supposed to be one of the prettiest in the world, the Livraria Lello. Now I am known for entering a book shop and coming out hours later, and not just a few hours. I love, love, love a book shop! The good thing about bookshops at home now are that a lot of them realise there are people like me who like to browse and they have now opened coffee shops inside the bookshops. I love coffee and cake too so if I get inside a bookshop with a coffee shop in it I could be in there all day. Anyway, I found the bookshop and believe me it is not just a bookshop, it is a work of art. It was designed by Xavier Esteves and has a beautiful Neo Gothic and Art Nouveau exterior. Inside it just takes your breath away. There is a lot of wood, stained glass, and an amazing bright red spiral staircase. They say that JK Rowling was inspired by this bookshop when she wrote Harry Potter and you can see why, it is quite magical inside.

The only downside is that because it is quite small they have had to make entry to it ticketable to keep the numbers manageable. So you do have to pay a small fee to get in. You reserve a ticket online and then get a time at which to turn up, which means you are not queuing long. The ticket is not expensive and you can redeem the ticket cost against a book, which of course I was going to get, because if I go inside a bookshop I very rarely come out without a book! Once inside you can stay as long as you want and it does get less crowded when inside because a lot of the visitors don’t have that much interest in books, they want a quick selfie with the staircase and then off they go. Quite sad I guess but there you go, the world would be quite tiresome if we were all the same wouldn’t it.

There are books in all languages and the bookshelves are just heaving with books. It is amazing. I don’t know if you have read Carlos Ruiz Zafon ‘The Shadow of the Wind’, but basically I felt like Daniel in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. There is something quite magical and special about it all, wandering around this labyrinth of books. What did I buy………..I bought a classic short novella from 1952 by Nobel Prize in Literature winner, Ernest Hemingway, entitled ‘The Old Man and the Sea’. I’ve not read it before but I’ve been meaning to. There’s usually a message in Hemingway’s work and apparently this one is about hope, being determined and never giving up, the conflict between desire and weakness…………so a tale of life in general really! So given that I have a marathon coming up I thought I might learn a thing or two from it, ‘The Old Lady and the Marathon’ does not have quite the same ring to it, but I shall have that in mind as I read.

Given I had spent so long in the bookshop, I had to rush through town to see the final two sites I wanted to see. The first was the Igreja and Torre dos Clerigos, a really ornate church alongside a tower which was once the tallest building in Portugal. There are 225 steps to the top of the tower if you did not see enough of Porto from the top of the bridge.

The Church of Sao Francisco is also worth a visit. Very elaborate inside and then underneath the church is a very eerie and bizarre maze of catacombs where the remains of some of the Franciscan order are buried, some of who you can see below through a grate in the floor. Very macabre.

My final visit was to the very beautiful Palacio da Bolsa. This was the former Portuguese Stock Exchange Building and was built to encourage wealthy traders to invest in the city. The interior is so extravagant and clearly shows that there were obscene amounts of money in 19th century Portugal due to its many trading alliances with other countries.

Then it was a quick dash back to the apartment to get ready for dinner. But on the way, this is where I met Benji, and I just have to show you him. He was sat in a doorway looking very bored and just had ‘fuss me’ written all over his face. The store was a little boutique and the owner (Benji’s human mum) was clearly very busy inside and did not have much time for Benji. There was a little sign at the side of him that said “My name is Benji”. Well you could just tell that Benji liked cuddles and our eyes met and that was that………..Benji liked cuddles and I like cuddling dogs so it was like a match made in heaven.

By now I was really late and had to get in the shower and get ready at the speed of lightening for the ‘last supper’. This is the nickname I give to the very special meal I have on the last night of any trip abroad where I treat myself to a really, really nice dinner. So where did I go. Well I had spotted that the bar I called into for the Pinxtos on the first night had a very nice looking restaurant down in the cellar, so I had booked myself a table. It was not a Portuguese restaurant it was Basque. I thought it a little unusual finding a Basque restaurant in Porto but it is part of a chain who have a few Basque restaurants in key cities throughout the world. It was founded by two Basque brothers. Now I love food and wine from that area, having walked though it a couple of times over the last few summers. The restaurant was called Sagardi, which I’m not sure but I think it translates as apple cider, and if you get the chance to try food from this area do, it’s delicious. What did I have? It was a difficult decision as I could have eaten everything off the menu.

To start I had a traditional grilled ‘Txistorra’ which was like a twirl of sausage made with sausage from Orio in the Basque country, a little town I actually walked through this summer. For anyone from the UK it looks a little bit like our Cumberland Sausage but it’s smaller and the sausage is more spicy , a little like chorizo but at the same time different, it’s so very much nicer, finer in texture and not as fatty.

Then for main course it had to be Farmhouse Pork Ribs. They were superb, and on a lovely bed of creamy potatoes with some vegetables. The remnants of my plate told the story of just how much I enjoyed them. All this was washed down with my favourite Basque wine.

I wasn’t having dessert, but then I read the dessert menu, saw someone’s dessert on the next table, and quickly changed my mind. I had Goxua. I’ve not had it before but I liked it. It was a layer of a type of sponge, a layer of a whipped creamy middle, more sponge and then a caramelised custard layer on the top…….divine! And just because I’m greedy, and it was my last night, I had a little glass of a Basque liqueur to finish…….Licor de Sargadoz Zapiain.

So if you come across one of their restaurants, or indeed any other Basque restaurant that sources it’s products from the region, I recommend you try it, because the food is really wholesome, homely and good. If it’s cooked to perfection like this was, it is just the best.

So that’s your guide to Porto, as a 7am flight beckoned the next morning and I did not have time to squeeze anything else in. It’s another city I’d definitely tell you to visit. I’m back in the UK now, all wrapped up for winter. Next flights booked for late winter, so there will be more foreign adventures then, but in the meantime I’ve got all sorts of other little things to share: the great custard tart debate and bake off; a recipe to share; some Christmas things, but they will all have to wait because if I stay laid here in my bath robe, in my post race state, any longer, I might just find myself unable to move at all.😄