Reset search
European OdysseyEuropean Odyssey
SatelliteEdit route

European Odyssey

February 2017 - October 2018
A 610-day adventure by Joel Read more
+30
  • 611footprints
  • 38countries
  • 610days
  • 2.3kphotos
  • 0videos
  • 58.4kkilometers
  • 9.8kkilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • TravelerEuropean Odyssey
    3
    11141
    Day 31

    Day 31: Exploring Lisbon

    March 18, 2017 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Exploration time! Out of the house at a reasonably decent time, and caught the bus into the city centre. Lisbon is very spread out along the waterfront, and the main downtown and oldest areas were several kilometres east of us. The bus took about 20 minutes where we alighted at the Praça do Comercio, the main square on the waterfront. Hundreds of Boy Scouts around for some reason, I guess they're having one of their gatherings!

    Checked out the statues nearby and the waterfront itself, before we walked further east into the Alfama district. This is the only part of the old city that actually survived the earthquake of 1755 (I should mention that modern estimates put it at 8.5-9 on the Richter scale, that approx 45,000 of 200,000 residents perished, and 85% of the buildings were destroyed). But the Alfama is the old Islamic district that partly survived, so it was interesting to walk around.

    Very different from the rest of the downtown, with narrow windy streets going off in random directions, unlike the main area which felt very Parisian with wider boulevards. Also a lot of use of vertical space - Lisbon is very hilly so there were steps, ramps and little bridges everywhere making navigating a bit difficult.

    Stopped at a nice-looking restaurant for lunch where the staff very kindly moved us a table to the spare front entrance so that we could sit with Schnitzel. Shandos had bacolod, a local speciality made from codfish. Wandered up to the main cathedral where we took turns waiting outside while the other visited. Thought I witnessed a miracle when a young boy in a wheelchair spotted Schnitzel, stood up and walked gingerly over to pat him, but then his broken-legged older brother hopped over and reclaimed his chair! Alas.

    The cathedral was another building which had survived the earthquake with only minor damage, but it didn't particularly grab either of us. Very picturesque exterior though, set on a hillside with old-style trams constantly rumbling past. Tram number 28 is the "tourist tram" which basically does a lap of the main tourist sites.

    We decided against doing a loop as every single tram going past was jam-packed with people essentially hanging out the doors and so on. It was a sunny Saturday, and Lisbon is apparently the seventh-most visited city on the continent, so hardly surprising! Lots of Brits about probably on weekend trips, and a lot of Americans too. We've noticed far more Americans in Portugal than we did in Spain.

    Continued walking and exploring until we ended up at the Sun Gate lookout, where we had a commanding view of the water and the eastern reaches of the city. Quite busy up here as well, trams rumbling past, buskers singing, Africans selling selfie sticks. Had a drink at a kiosk before walking back down past the cathedral and into the downtown area. The streets here are all on a strict grid pattern and flat, so navigating was much easier.

    Found a Vodafone store and bought myself a SIM card as I was having withdrawals from no data! Came across the Elevador de Santa Justa, which is one of the world's oldest outdoor elevators. It's from the late 19th century, built of wrought iron and originally powered by steam (now electric) and takes you up to a viewpoint over the city. But given the queue, the cost and the fact that we'd just come from a viewpoint, we decided to skip.

    Feeling fairly tired at this point, we grabbed a couple of Portuguese egg tarts (they are everywhere here!) and ate them while sitting in a nice square. We were both quite footsore by now in the late afternoon, and Schnitzel although not complaining was most definitely pooped. Decided to catch an Uber back to the hotel which we did!

    The ride back gave us a nice view of different areas - the narrow windy streets of the oldest areas, wide Viennese and Parisian boulevards with cycleways and trams in the centre, leafy suburbs on the hills, and then back down to the grungier university area where we're staying.

    Once we made it back we felt fairly disinclined to head back out again, so we spent the evening relaxing, reviewing footage in my case, and sated ourselves with a supermarket pizza for dinner!    Read more

  • TravelerEuropean Odyssey
    1
    11111
    Day 32

    Day 32: Cascais

    March 19, 2017 in Portugal ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Nice sunny Sunday, what else to do but get out of the city and head for the beach! Cascais (pronounced Kash-Kaysh) is about 30 minutes train ride to the west of the city, and has long been the hangout for Lisbon's wealthy elite. Apparently it's one of the richest areas of Portugal. We figured we'd check it out.

    Getting there was fairly easy as there was a train station only 10 minutes walk from our apartment, though the walk was quicker than usual as the Lisbon Marathon was happening today, and it ran up and down the waterfront right next to the train line. Lots of streets blocked off, sweaty people with pinned bibs, that kind of thing. But we battled through and made it to the train, which wound its way along the coast westward from Lisbon, through some fairly grungy looking suburbs. Reminded me a bit of Alexandria in Egypt - faded waterfront glory facing the Med.

    Cascais was very different though, once we alighted from the train and walked into town. Loads of tourist restaurants and souvenir shops, buskers and street performers, and of course thousands upon thousands of tourists. Lots of Portuguese though, so I guess a trip out to the beach on a sunny Sunday is a good idea for locals too! The whole thing had a very Manly vibe to it.

    Shandos wanted fish & chips for lunch so we found a suitable place and sat down. We both had a decent-enough meal and carafe of wine, though the restaurant itself was quite touristy (called John Bull and decorated in black & white mock Tudor style, ugh). Walked down to the beach and dipped a toe in the water - freezing cold! Probably about 15 degrees, though a couple of hardier souls than me were swimming.

    Walked along the coastline to a fortress which wasn't super interesting, then further around to a place called Boca do Inferno (Mouth of Hell). It's a series of large caves where the waves crash violently, roar loudly into caves and cliffs, and sometimes spray water high in the air. I think it was an English Romatic poet who coined the name, maybe Lord Byron? Wikipedia will know. Unfortunately for us the sea was quite flat, and the Mouth of Hell was more like the Mouth of a Placid River.

    Wandered back into the main area of town, past all the gigantic houses peeping out from behind high hedges. Some nice views and it feels like a nice area, but I wouldn't want to live here and be surrounded by the swarm all the time. Grabbed an icecream and headed back into town.

    We were back at our stop by 4pm, so decided to visit inside the Monastery we'd been to a couple of days previously, mainly because today we didn't have Schnitzel with us and of course dogs aren't permitted inside. The church we'd been to the other day was free (and not overly interesting), but we bought our tickets for the inner cloister and headed in.

    Happy to report it was beautiful inside, though perhaps not worth the 10 euros per head. Although I have no problem with paying governments to view attractions, I'm not real keen on the idea of paying one of the world's richest organisations (the Catholic Church) money to see their buildings. It's not like they need the money while the Pope sits on a solid gold throne.

    The best part though, was that the monastery closes at 5pm and there didn't seem to be any security guards herding people out the exits. So we took our time and managed to get some pretty good photos & videos once most of the crowds had departed.

    On the walk back to our apartment we stopped by Pastries de Belem, the original Portuguese egg tart stall. Apparently they sell 20,000 of these per day!! Very delicious though, and the reason they exist is because the monks used egg whites to starch their robes, leaving excess egg yolks behind. Rather than toss them, someone mixed the yolks with sugar and water, put it in a crispy pastry and the egg tart was born! They're very common everywhere in Portugal, but this store has been selling them since the early 19th century and is very famous. Queue was out the door and probably 50 metres down the street, but it actually moved quite quickly and we were served fairly quickly. Interesting use of pricing too - you can buy a single tart for 1.10, a box of 6 for 5.50, or a box of 50 for 50 euros. And it didn't look like they did other size combinations! Very delicious though, delicate flaky pastry and warm egg custard filling. Glad we bought six!

    Back to our apartment where we crashed pretty hard again. For dinner I cooked spaghetti with chorizo and tomato puree - nothing fancy! We're in a slightly odd spot here without many restaurants around, hence why we haven't really headed out in the evenings for dinner (that and it's not fair on Schnitzel for him to be alone all day and then alone in the evening as well).    Read more

  • TravelerEuropean Odyssey
    2
    12221
    Day 33

    Day 33: Sintra

    March 20, 2017 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Time for another UNESCO World Heritage site! Today was the day for Sintra, about 40 minutes north-west of Lisbon, and the site of several palaces built by Portuguese kings in the 19th century. We hit the road around 10, and getting there was a bit of a mission! Google was a little vague on where exactly to head, and we knew from prior research that parking was in desperately short the supply. The little tourist village has basically no parking, and you're better off parking in nearby towns and either walking or catching a tourist bus.

    In the end, thanks to some roadworks and vague google directions, we ending up parking a couple of kilometres away and walking uphill to the main site. It's quite a large complex, and the entire area is inscribed on the UNESCO list as the "Sintra Cultural Landscape". But they're all fairly spread out, and ticketed separately of course, and I'm sure they're all nice in their own way. But with a 19th century palace, an 8th century Moorish castle, plus a couple of other country estates to see, we opted for the best known and most iconic one - not to mention we've seen plenty of Moorish castles already with more to come!

    So we rocked up to the Palacio da Pena at around 10:30, bought our tickets and puffed our way further up the hill, having already walked uphill for 30+ minutes! This is the main palace here, and was built in the mid-19th century by a Portuguese king who wanted to recreate the storybook castles of his childhood. It's considered one of the finest examples of Romantic art anywhere in the world, and looking at it you can see why!

    It's brightly coloured, and strongly incorporates elements of Islamic, Gothic, and Renaissance art into the design, as well as having a real "storybook castle" feel to it. The palace was built as a summer palace for the royal family to escape from the pressures of Lisbon, and its position on a rocky outcrop hundreds of metres above the distant city really adds to the feel. Particularly on days like today where the wind howls in and tosses you around.

    We spent quite a while wandering around the outside, marvelling at the details in the finishing and the way various elements fit together. There's also a wall walk which goes around the exterior of the castle - nothing extreme but given the high wind it was quite exciting!

    Next up we headed inside, where many of the rooms were kept in great condition and furnished as they were in the time of the last Portuguese sovereigns. Queen Amelia was the last before fleeing into exile in 1910's Republican Revolution, so much of the furnishing was from the early 20th century. A very early telephone, for example, plus clawfoot bathtubs, ornate glasses in the smoking room, fancy crockery and cutlery etc.

    It was quite interesting, but certainly nowhere near as visually arresting as the exterior with its bright colours and bold lines. Wanting to stay out of the cold (it was a grey and overcast day in addition to being windy), we ate a late lunch in the restaurant - Shandos had duck with rice and I had a tuna lasagna. Not too bad but a bit overpriced I guess. That said, food generally is more expensive here in Portugal than in Spain. Everywhere in Spain you could find cheaper tapas for 1-2 euros, whereas here in Portugal it's rare to get even a tart or pastry for a euro!

    Palacio da Pena is surrounded by a large park and wooded area where the royals would walk, ride and hunt, all of which is still preserved by the government, so we set off for some more walking. It was quite nice, though a little underwhelming perhaps - the weather didn't help. On the brighter side, today is officially the first day of Spring so things will seem a little less dreary.

    Still some highlights in the gardens though, including a fernhouse, lakes with ducks, and a great viewpoint on a rocky outcrop with a perfect view of the castle. We managed to get separated as Shandos powered up a hill and I puffed my way up - at the end I went left and she went right, and it took about 20 minutes before we were reunited! If only I'd had a map as well.

    Having exhausted the castle and the gardens, and it was now mid-afternoon, we tramped back down the hills to the car - much easier going this time! We drove back to the main town of Sintra to see what we could see, but it was only brief glimpses of the other palaces and castles, and an awful lot of tourists. We felt we'd made the right decision by skipping.

    Last stop for the day was a minor but notable landmark - the most westerly point in Europe! There wasn't much there other than howling wind, tourists and an obelisk mentioning the fact, plus of course a cafe and souvenir shop. We had a hot drink to warm up in the cafe, entertained briefly by an army helicopter zooming past, followed a short time later by a small warship, likely a destroyer.

    Back to Lisbon we went, in a fairly uneventful drive. More tolls on the freeway though, very annoying! Seems like the government funds roads here via tolls, since I don't think we've ever had to pay for parking since arriving in Portugal. Shandos jumped out at the nearby supermarket and picked up some supplies for dinner - roast chicken and fresh bread, plus another couple of days breakfasts. Another quiet night in watching daily footage and Match of the Day!    Read more

  • TravelerEuropean Odyssey
    Day 34

    Day 34: Chilling in Lisbon

    March 21, 2017 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Very quiet day today, as I decided I needed a rest day! Spent most of the day in our apartment, editing video and writing backdated journal entries. Shandos went out in the afternoon to visit a nearby art gallery she'd heard about, and was gone for a couple of hours before returning suitably impressed.

    Managed to get through three videos and scheduled each one for posting later in the week, so that I've got a slight breather on what I need to do. I've still got a couple to finish off, and we're heading north tomorrow for more sites! The fun never stops!    Read more

  • TravelerEuropean Odyssey
    1
    11111
    Day 35

    Day 35: Triple UNESCO, Coimbra

    March 22, 2017 in Portugal ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    Today was an exhausting day. There's a trio of UNESCO World Heritage sites in cental Portugal that we had decided to visit (a pair of monasteries and a convent/castle), and although each looked nice, none of them seemed to warrant a long visit. And with short-ish driving distances being what they are, we figured we could tackle all three of them in one day!

    Up early at 7am, one of our earliest starts so far. Packed up and left Lisbon by 8:30 and headed northwards out of the city. The first destination was about 1.5 hours away, a monastery in the small town of Alcobaça. Lots of rain around today and very low temperature as well so we rugged up heavily! Got a good park and checked out the monastery, originally dating from the 11th century.

    Very plain and unadorned inside, very spartan and a good reflection of the monks who lived here for hundreds of years. Bought a triple site ticket (includes here, the other monastery and the convent/castle for later) and headed into the inner cloisters. Interesting to start picking out architectural details as we've seen so many different similar buildings now. Manueline style ceiling vaults, picking the difference between early and late gothic columns, later additions like baroque belltowers and so on.

    It wasn't a huge site though, and we were back in the car by 11:15. According to Shandos's schedule, we'd gone from 30 minutes behind to 30 minutes ahead! Schnitzel seemed very content to have been left in the car, as he doesn't like cold and he doesn't like rain - inside was neither of those things!

    30 minute drive to the next monastery, this time in the town of Batalha. This monastery was slightly newer than the previous, but larger and more ornate, reflecting the growing power of the church and the Portuguese monarchy. This was at one point their main religious centre, and an entire dynasty of Portuguese monarchs are buried here (including the famous Henry the Navigator, not a king but a prince credited with kickstarting the Age of Discovery by opening the route to first the Azores and later western Africa).

    A larger site here so we spent a bit longer looking around, including checking out the beautiful stained glass windows. Weather had cleared slightly but still a bit miserable, though thankfully we didn't get too wet. Our next site was directly east before we'd have to turn northwards for our final destination, so we decided our best lunch option was McDonalds. One of the things that fascinates me about Maccas is how their menu is constantly adapted for local tastes - you can always get a Big Mac, but here in Portugal you can get four different types of soup or a "bifana" - a diamond-shaped bread roll with two thin slices of grilled pork. We opted for a pair of those, and ate in the car rather than suffer sitting outside in the cold with Schnitzel, or inside without him.

    Final stop for the day was about 45 minutes drive further east, a convent and castle combination in the town of Tomar. This turned out to be an interesting site - the oldest part was the earliest thing we'd seen so far, a circular Romanesque Catholic temple originally built by the Knights Templar in the 11th century, just after they'd come back from the Second Crusade. The rest of the building was newer (Renaissance and so on), and the attached convent was newer again, but it was an interesting site to wander around and discover various parts.

    It was a little confusing at first since we arrived in the midst of a heavy rainstorm and didn't get our bearings properly, but managed to sort ourselves out in the end. The convent was also fortified as a castle, and some of the walls and towers were still standing, so we wandered around this for a while as well. It had a great defensible position over the town, and apparently held out against a siege during its first year of operation. It's been a strategically important spot over the centuries as well, since Spain and Portugal have often had tense relations and Tomar is near an important river crossing.

    All three sites done, we turned northward for the town of Coimbra where we had an apartment booked. Coimbra is home to another UNESCO site (Portugal's oldest university), which we planned to look at in the morning. The drive took longer than expected: we couldn't use the freeway since it was electronic tolling only, and we didn't have the requisite tags or passes. So it was second-tier highways for us, continually getting stuck behind trucks and caravans.

    Finally arrived in wet and cold Coimbra around 6pm, very tired but happy we'd achieved our goals. According to our Airbnb host, this year is the coldest winter on record in Spain and Portugal - we could definitely believe it! Neither of us felt like venturing far, so I found a convenience store just down the street and bought some spaghetti sauce to have for dinner with our leftover spaghetti. And of course a couple of sneaky Portuguese tarts! Off to bed early, hoping for better weather tomorrow.    Read more

  • TravelerEuropean Odyssey
    2
    Day 36

    Day 36: University of Coimbra -> Porto

    March 23, 2017 in Portugal ⋅ 🌧 7 °C

    Time to move on again, a bit of a shame since our Airbnb apartment was really nice and we didn't have much of a chance to enjoy it. But such is the life of a traveller! We actually vegged out a bit in the morning, catching up on stuff from the previous day before packing up and heading out at around 11am. Drove into the downtown area of the city near the University.

    The University is a world heritage site, not particularly because of its buildings (although nice), and also not because of famous scientists or discoveries here, but because of its influence on the world. It was founded originally in the 12th century in Lisbon and moved to Coimbra in the 16th century, but more importantly it was the only university in Portugal for much of its history. And because of Portugal's global status via the empire, the ideas and concepts developed here spread quickly around the world.

    We had a look at the main quadrangle, overlooked by some impressive buildings. The Royal Hall (actually a repurposed part of an old royal palace) was very cool, a hall very heavy on dark decor where "PHD defences" are held. Essentially, PhD students sit at a table in the centre of the hall and defend their thesis against argument and criticism, I assume from the professors and academics. One was in progress as we visited so we couldn't enter the hall, but the view from the windows looked cool.

    The highlight here was definitely the library though - a huge building that housed 60,000 Renaissance era books. It was one of the first purpose-built libraries in Europe, and much thought was put into preservation. For example, the walls were 2 metres thick and the doors constructed of a special wood to regulate both temperature and humidity. Bookshelves made of a certain wood that smells repulsive to insects, and there's even a colony of bats living in the walls to feed on paper-eating beetles!

    Had lunch at a restaurant near a clifftop, which, although it looked and felt expensive, was actually very reasonably priced. We both had a fish dish of something very similar to grilled octopus, but not octopus, along with bread, wine and coffee for just 8 euros per head!

    Dashed upstairs to the Physics Laboratory where we had a guided tour of the faculty's collection of old instruments, an interesting throwback to an era when physics experiments were done with brass pipes and strings, not computers. We also went through the natural history department which had an enormous collection of preserved and taxidermied animals. The fin whale skeleton was the highlight, although some of the stuffed animals were comical - I guess taxidermy as a science and an art has come a long way since the 18th century!

    Back to the car where Schnitzel was faithfully waiting for us, fast asleep in his bed. He seems very happy there, and I suppose since we move houses every few days, the car and his bed are the main constants in his environment aside from us.

    Out of Coimbra we hit the road and headed north, this time thankfully on the freeway rather than the highway. About 90 minutes driving later we arrived in Porto, the second-largest city in the country and home to about 1.5 million people. Found our accommodation with no dramas and settled in. As usual, we're staying in an apartment about 20 minutes walk from the main centre of town.

    Although it was approaching evening, we headed out for a walk to stretch Schnitzel's legs. Found a park a few hundred metres up the road where he did his business and entertained himself chasing pigeons, before we headed a bit further on to a supermarket. Schnitzel and I waited outside while Shandos bought some supplies. I think I've mentioned before, but Schnitzel gets far more attention here in Portugal than in Spain - people often react like they've never seen a dachshund before (although we have seen a few around). It's nice that he's popular, but the attention gets a bit tiring sometimes. Particularly when you're cold and waiting around outside a supermarket for 30 minutes on a busy street at dusk.

    Back to the apartment where we relaxed in front of the heater and ate our dinner of soup and spinach frittata. Expecting a long day of sight-seeing tomorrow as I've heard great things about Porto - and of course it has a World Heritage listed Old Town!    Read more

  • TravelerEuropean Odyssey
    2
    11341
    Day 37

    Day 37: Exploring Porto

    March 24, 2017 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    Big day today! Up at a reasonable hour, and decided to head out pretty much straight away, despite the gloomy overcast weather. We headed over into the main old part of town where most of the action was, and already it was noticeably different to Lisbon. In Lisbon you have these large areas that feel very Victorian, rebuilt after the earthquake of 1755, whereas Porto was basically unaffected and seemingly feels much as it always has done. Indeed, its UNESCO listing isn't for any particular building or place, but rather the atmosphere of the old town and how it's been preserved.

    First stop was the main train station, which outside was fairly unremarkable. But inside were enormous blue tiled mosaics of key moments in Portuguese history. Several stories high and intricately detailed, they were an incredible site! It was done in that typical Portuguese tiling style of blue and white, which is known as (I think) azurejo.

    Also wandered over to the nearby cathedral and had a brief look inside, though given how many cloisters and chapels we've seen, we opted against paying for the inner areas (and besides we had Schnitzel, who wasn't allowed access). Nice viewpoint from here, though good footage was hard to come by since the lower buildings were quite close and high.

    Pressing onwards we walked down quite a few hills to the waterfront, still the most impressive area of the city. The oldest part is adjacent to an enormous iron girder bridge, 400 metres long and nearly 50 metres high. The river actually cuts a surprisingly deep valley, and there are several bridges making the leap across the chasm between Porto and the city of Gaia on the southern bank, but this is easily the most impressive.

    Lots of old stonework around the waterfront, and old five-storey buildings towering over as well. Decided to stop for lunch and picked a waterfront place at random. I wanted to try a Francesinha - a local speciality which is a sort of croque monsieur on steroids. It's a sandwich with chunky bread containing steak, sliced sausage, ham and three layers of cheese. It's then coated entirely with cheese, pan-fried, and topped with a runny egg and spicy tomato sauce. Served on a bed of chips, of course. It was delicious, although enormously unhealthy!

    Big downpour after lunch so we sort of hovered around waiting for it to dissipate. I didn't have an umbrella and the only ones for sale were north of 5 euros (extortion), so I satisfied myself with just my jacket. The rain lifted a bit to a light drizzle so we walked across the lower deck of the bridge.

    On the southern side are a whole bunch of port "caves" as they're known, where Portuguese wine-makers used to store their wine before exporting abroad (mainly England). Fun fact - "port" is named for the city, and it's essentially a trademark like champagne is, so if your fortified wine isn't made in the area of Porto, you're not allowed to call it port. Lucky for us, a lot of the caves were doing port tastings, so after surveying the options we indulged in a tour.

    It was less of a cave than an old stone warehouse, but it was interesting nonetheless and the port was very tasty. We bought a bottle for consumption over the next few days, and as usual all the staff and other patrons were cooing over Schnitzel.

    Next stop was up on the cliffs above us - a monastery that's specifically named in the world heritage listing, so we felt duty-bound to visit. It was repurposed in the Napoleonic era to serve as a defensive fortress given its position high above the city, so we didn't feel compelled to pony up for another monastery and just satisfied ourselves with the view from the lookout.

    Walked back home from here across the upper deck of the bridge, dodging the trams that rumble across every few minutes. Got some good photos from the vantage point as well, as the clouds had receded slightly though it was still fairly frequent showers. Walked the 20 minutes back to our apartment where we collapsed exhausted and rested up. Dinner was a soup-in-a-can thing that Shandos had found at the supermarket, not the greatest but filled a hole at the end of a very long day!    Read more

  • TravelerEuropean Odyssey
    2
    1
    Day 38

    Day 38: More of Porto

    March 25, 2017 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Another big day of exploration - Porto is a big city and has a lot to see! Decided to head out without Schnitzel today as I wanted to get more filming done, and managing him in addition to everything else can make things a bit difficult at times.

    Walked through a few of the main streets, past a beautiful art deco theatre where something important was happening - lots of police lining the streets and men in suits with earpieces. Maybe the president or something? We didn't stick around to find out. Got some more good footage of the outside of the cathedral and the train station, though when we headed for the neo-classical stock exchange building it was closed for a siesta! Go figure.

    Down to the waterfront again where we got some much better footage and photos of the buildings, as well as a good wander through the backstreets just behind it. Very atmospheric here, with tiny maze-like alleys, towering buildings and stone warehouse style buildings doubling-up as basements.

    Nothing specific for lunch today, aside from definitely not having another Francesinha! We just picked and grazed and bought things whenever we felt the need - a meat pastry here, a sweet pastry there. Ended up at a relaxed bar on the waterfront playing jazz music and had a drink with some "rustic fries" ie wedges, but still nice now that the sun was out a little bit.

    Headed back up into the main area of town and checked with the stock exchange again. It was now open and tickets were being sold, but the next tour in English wasn't for another hour (tours run every 20 minutes and alternate between Portuguese, English and French) so we decided not to bother. Found another couple of shopping streets with interesting shops to look at, which Shandos indulged in for a while. Also stumbled across some odd clock tower thing on the corner of a department store building that was chiming bells, though it wasn't on the hour.

    Last stop for the afternoon was a cafe called the Majestic, which was opened in the 1890s and barely renovated since. I realise that sounds awful, but it's in great condition and decorated amazingly in perfect Parisienne Belle Epoque. Apparently it was a favourite haunt of JK Rowling's, and she even wrote some of the Potter books here. It's famous for Majestic French Toast which was only lightly fried but absolutely covered in egg yolk and sugar batter, almost like eating a Portuguese egg tart. Also topped with almonds, cinnamon and raisins - delicious!

    By now it was 5pm and I headed back to the apartment while Shandos continued shopping for a bit longer. Stayed in again, snacking on some bread, artisan chocolate and strawberries that we'd bought in the afternoon. And of course putting a serious dent in the port from yesterday!    Read more

  • TravelerEuropean Odyssey
    Day 39

    Day 39: Guimarães

    March 26, 2017 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Time for a day trip, and a UNESCO day trip at that! Guimarães is a small town about 40 minutes to the north-east of Porto, and it's UNESCO listed because the town has a great mix of Renaissance buildings and is essentially undisturbed from that era. So we jumped in the car and headed off in fairly wet weather.

    First stop was the castle, which sort of pre-dates the town. It's actually considered to be the birthplace of modern Portugal, as the first king of Portugal (Afonso Henriques) was born here, and it was just outside the walls where a key battle in Portugal's independence was fought. The castle was fairly small, though the walls and keep were in great condition. Did a bit of filming though the wind and drizzle were a continual pain in the neck.

    Also checked out a nearby palace that was impressive but much newer - 16th century I think. It had fallen into disuse until the mid-20th century when the dictator of Portugal (Salazar) had it renovated and turned into an official residence of the President.

    Back into town where we had a look around the main square and the little alleyways. Had lunch at a tapas restaurant with decent food, though because of Schnitzel we had to sit outside and it was very cold! Being a Sunday, most of the shops were closed and once we'd exhausted the square and the outside of the main church there wasn't a whole lot to see.

    We found a shop selling local speciality pastries so we bought a few of those and then drove to a look-out point up above the town with a good view. Ate pastries in the car as it was raining, before we braved it outside and had a quick look from the proper viewpoint. Couple of shrines to Mother Mary and a gorgeous red-and-white mobile phone tower. Back to Porto we went!

    Back home by 3pm, a bit early than planned and slightly disappointed with how the day had panned out. But I guess they can't all be winners! It was still raining, quite heavily at times, so we turned the heater up and got busy with planning the next steps and editing some videos.

    Headed out later for dinner, found a burger restaurant about 5 minutes walk away. Had another Francesinha since I like to live dangerously, though this one was burger-style and had a meat patty, ham and small Portuguese sausages instead of the usual fillings. And a basket of pomme noisettes instead of fries, nice change! We also got a complimentary spinach croquette and codfish noisette as an appetiser.

    Back home in the rain to a very happy but warm and snug dog. Overall we've enjoyed Porto, perhaps even moreso than Lisbon I think. It's a great city with a lot happening, though it's just a shame the weather hasn't really co-operated for us - we haven't had a day without rain since the trip to Cascais almost a week earlier. But weather is the one thing you can't control I suppose!    Read more

  • TravelerEuropean Odyssey
    Day 40

    Day 40: East to the Alto Douro

    March 27, 2017 in Portugal ⋅ 🌙 10 °C

    Time to leave Porto for our last couple of days in Portugal! We were heading eastwards to the Alto Douro wine growing region (so named because it's around the Douro River), where they grow and manufacture the port wine that Portugal is famous for. In a two-for-one deal, it was also a UNESCO World Heritage site, since wine has been grown here since Roman times, and the sides of the canyons around the river have been turned into thousands of terraces.

    We left Porto around 11am and headed east, first on the freeway and then soon afterwards following the course of the river. Arrived in the first of several towns along the river at around 1pm and had a light lunch of sandwiches and wraps before checking out the museum dedicated to wine-making and port in general. Quite interesting, and some good info I'll be able to use in my video of the area!

    Drove further along the river and checked out a couple of view-points before eventually deciding to stop at a winery. We recognised the name Sandeman from one of the port caves in Porto, so we drove up their comically long driveway and had a look. Did the tour which was good, interesting to see that because the terraces are so narrow their grapes are all still hand-picked, though the process of crushing is now done with robots rather than human feet.

    Then of course came the tasting which was the best part. Had a good chat with the Canadian retirees who were on our tour, though had to cut it a bit short when we realised our Airbnb host Antonio was waiting for us in a carpark about 30 minutes drive away. We'd missed a previous message from him, though were still in the wrong as we said we'd be arriving between 3 and 5pm, and it was now just before 5pm. Whoops.

    Drove back in a very safe hurry, met him with no problems (he gave no indication he was at all put out by the delay) and then followed him up the hills to our accommodation. We're staying in the downstairs floor of his house, where I think port was once produced. They still have a small vineyard out the front and produce a few hundred bottles each year. He gave us a welcome drink from the 1959 vintage! It's apparently family tradition that you drink the previous-but-one generation's port. So he drinks his grandfather's port, while his son drinks his father's port. And one day his (eventual) grandson will drink his port.

    He was very clear that the 1959 bottle was for tasting only, though we were welcome to shell out 95 euros for a bottle if we wanted! He also had vintages available going back to 1910!! We politely declined, though it was very nice.

    Decided against going into town for dinner since we'd only just arrived and we don't like leaving Schnitzel in totally unfamiliar places. So I popped down to the supermarket and picked up supplies - pizza and egg tarts, naturally. Early start tomorrow, as we have a 2 hour drive to our next world heritage site! Though we're staying here again tomorrow night.    Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English