Matosinhos & Pinhais Canning Factory

In the afternoon, we made our way to Matosinhos to visit the Municipal Fish Market. Home to Portuguals best seafood market where fisherman deliver their fresh catch daily. You can hand pick anything from octopus to sardines straight from one of the many stalls and take it to a nearby restaurant to have it cooked for you.
For anyone who is not a seafood lover, the smell was very overwhelming, so we headed out into the rain and found a bakery/small cafe for a treat. Once we bought some beers and had them dig out some vodka from "Grandma's" cupboard, the hospitality kicked in, and Darrell got his sardines! 😂

Next, we headed for a tour of the Pinhas Canning Factory. Founded in 1920 and known for its hand prepared canned fish, primarily sardines. This includes hand-gutting and preparing sardines and hand-wrapping each can. We got to go onto the factory floor and watch the process before taking a turn at hand wrapping our own cans. The tour concluded with a tasting of their products...4 different sardines, 3 different mackerel and a pate` for those that wished to try them along with a glass of wine.

In the evening, we walked to The Hard Rock for supper.Read more