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Portugal, Spain and Brazil

September - December 2015
A 85-day adventure by No Cheese Read more
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  • No CheesePortugal, Spain and Brazil
    Day 22

    Lisbon

    October 21, 2015 in Portugal ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    We've been hanging out in Lisbon for just shy of a week. This city has its ups and downs... literally! Lisbon has got to be the hilliest city I've been to. There is no getting from point A to point B without having to go up one hill only to have to go down another. That being said, Roch and I both love the vibe of Lisbon. It's a good place to hang out a while.

    The choices for vegans are much better here than in a small city like Figueira da Foz but we've not really come across anywhere to rave about in terms of quality and price combined.

    Our first night in Lisbon, we dined at "Jardim das Cerejas". They had a mainly vegan dinner buffet for 9.50€ which is an amazing deal. We found the food to be quite good, particularly the lentil soup, but nothing was knock-your-sock-off wow.

    We had lunch one day at Santapiadina. They make a vegan piadina with hummus and grilled veggies which is absolutely scrumptious. The portions aren't huge though... or maybe we were just really starved. In any case, we found ourselves still hungry after we scoffed down a whole piadina each so we hiked up the hill to a little pizza joint that sells pizza but the weight. Roch had a slice of pizza margarita and I had a slice of mushroom pizza. Both were quite delicious but they were no bargoon either. The piadinas were 6€ each which Roch had with a pricy glass of wine at 3€. The two slices of pizza came out to $11.24 CAD.

    We've become regulars at the "Pingo Doce" supermarket where we can buy ready-to-eat salad greens and fresh soups that taste homemade. Occasionally we buy cooked broccoli or spinach or rice at the deli counter as well.

    We've shopped at the Mercado da Ribeira but generally find that the prices at the frutarias to be just as good if not better. There's a frutaria on Avenida Infante Santo that we like in particular. They have the most amazing persimmons and the best prices for chestnuts. We've been happily taking advantage of the small oven we have at the "quirky" apartment we rented through AirBnB to roast our own chestnuts rather than pay 2.50€ for a small bag of 10-12 chestnuts from the street vendors.    Read more

  • No CheesePortugal, Spain and Brazil
    Day 22

    Happy 5th (9th) anniversary!

    October 21, 2015 in Portugal ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    Waking up in the hospital after a blood transfusion is not the ideal way to start an anniversary. Sadly, the meal we had at "Princesa do Castelo" did not brighten the day. We started the meal with nachos and hummus but the cumin they put into the hummus was just... weird. For our mains, we shared a tagine (over rice rather than couscous) and a veggie dish done in a tomato coconut sauce. I liked the latter well enough but the tagine was only OK. Both dishes were verging on cold which was a little off-putting, and the whole dining experience was underwhelming ;-(

    We stopped off at the mercado to get a bottle of Portuguese bubblies and we also picked up some pastries on the way home. All's well that ends well.    Read more

  • No CheesePortugal, Spain and Brazil
    Day 25

    Belem

    October 24, 2015 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    We took a tram ride out to Belém on Wednesday. The "pasteis de nata" that we see throughout Portugal originated in Belem and are known as "pasteis de Belém".

    A little history: At the beginning of the 19th century in Belém, next to the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, there was a sugar cane refinery linked to a small general store. Following the liberal revolution of 1820, all convents and monasteries in Portugal were shut down in 1834 and the clergy and labourers were expelled. In an attempt at survival, someone from the monastery offered sweet pastries for sale in the shop; pastries that rapidly became known as 'Pasteis de Belém'.

    In 1837, the baking of the 'Pasteis de Belém' began in the buildings adjoining the refinery, following the ancient 'secret recipe' from the monastery. This recipe, passed on and known exclusively to the master confectioners who hand-craft the pastries, remains unchanged to the present day.

    The pastry on these Pasteis de Belém are wonderfully flaky and a little crunchy. The custard is not too sweet. Sprinkled lightly with cinnamon, they are divine. I have no idea how many millions of pasteis they bake up and serve each day but one went happily into my belly and another into Roch's.    Read more

  • No CheesePortugal, Spain and Brazil
    Day 25

    Rosa da Rua

    October 24, 2015 in Portugal ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    On one of our many jaunts through the streets of Lisbon, Roch noticed an interesting restaurant called "Rosa da Rua" on Rua da Rosa. They offer a buffet for 10€ that included several vegetarian/vegan items.

    Our first attempt to eat at Rosa da Rua on Monday got sidelined by a trip to the emergency...

    Our second attempt to eat at Rosa da Rua was on Wednesday. We arrived at the restaurant shortly before noon but it didn't open until 12:30 pm so while we waited, we poked around the many frutarias in the vicinity. We went back just shy of 12:30 only to be told that the only table that wasn't reserved was just given away to the couple ahead of us. We could take our chances and go back after 13:30 but there was no guarantee that a table would be available. We later learned that the Wednesday buffet was extremely popular because they serve traditional Portuguese dishes.

    At this point, feeling starved and defeated, we decided to go back to one of the frutarias that had a small pastry and lunch counter attached. Yes, it was a moment of weakness because we knew we were going back for the quiche we had spotted. We got there just in time because the restaurant became quickly packed with locals, standing room only, all of us leaning against the counter or one of the bars along the walls. We started with a vegetable soup made with chickpeas and spinach; it was one of the yummiest of many yummy soups in Portugal. This was followed by a slice of quiche each. No, the quiche was not vegan. It wasn't even vegetarian since it contained tuna but OMG, it was so delicious. Overall, a truly amazing and memorable dining experience. Total bill for lunch for the both of us, 5€!!! (1€ for the soup, 1.50€ for the quiche). We tried to find the name of the frutaria/pastelaria but couldn't see anything displayed so Roch snapped a photo of the street corner for reference.

    We did make it back to Rosa da Rua the next day, and yes the buffet was very good. For meat and seafood eaters, it would have been a really good value but the choices for vegans was a little limited. We did try the vegetarian spinach lasagna but instead of a traditional tomato-based lasagna, it was made with a very heavy cream - too rich for my blood. The soup, which was velvety smooth, was once again the highlight of the meal for me. (Food photos are from Rosa da Rua.)    Read more

  • No CheesePortugal, Spain and Brazil
    Day 29

    Málaga

    October 28, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    We were told Malaga receives 300 days of sunshine a year so when we arrived under rainy skies after an 11-hour overnight bus ride from Lisbon, we were of course disappointed. Add to the fact that it was a Sunday and most places were closed, we soon had hunger, tiredness and crankiness to contend with.

    Despite this rather inauspicious start to our sojourn in Spain, it feels like our luck has changed and things are looking up.

    We've gone back to a mainly whole food raw vegan diet since arriving in Malaga so we've been foraging the vicinity for good fruits. We're a short 10-minute walk to the Mercado Central Atarazanas but we soon discovered that the Mercado does not necessarily have the best prices. It's also a little annoying that none of the vendors allow us to touch or even select the fruits we want to buy.

    We've discovered several fruterias in our neighbourhood on Calle Don Juan de Austria. One in particular has very good prices and I'm sure we'll be returning there over the next 10 days (cherimoyas 1€/kg --> 4 good size cherimoyas for 1.10€)

    East and a little north of where we're staying on Avenida Rosaleda, the neighbourhood becomes more local in flavour and this is reflected in the price of fruits. We bought a case of 9 perfectly ripe persimmons for a total of 1€!!! Mangoes that weigh in at almost 1 kilo each cost about 1.60€. It's so easy to be a fruitarian here... as long as your fridge is stocked coming up on a Sunday.    Read more

  • No CheesePortugal, Spain and Brazil
    Day 39

    La Tranca

    November 7, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Malaga has been good for us. It's a very livable city with an interesting history but there aren't a million tourist attractions and consequently, it's not flooded with tourists. As a result, we've been able to take it easy and just enjoy day to day life here.

    We've been enjoying the wonderful fruits available in Spain as well as Roch's culinary skills once again. In fact, we only went out for our first meal yesterday even though we've been here for almost 2 weeks.

    In our many jaunts to the old city and the beach, we often passed in front of a small tapas bar called "La Tranca". The place was always full of locals and so we decided to join the crowd. We sat at the bar and ordered 2 slices of vegetarian tortilla made with lots of spinach-like greens and a cana each. The tortilla was really tasty and unbelievably inexpensive (1.50€) for the huge portion we got. We also ordered the chickpea cazuela not knowing that it would have many chunks of pork in it. We ate it nonetheless; it was also really delicious though we both commented on how odd and unpleasant it was to have meat stuck in your teeth!

    Our barman/waiter was a really nice guy and he did his best to speak to us in English. The vibe of the whole place was ace.

    The cazuela was 2€ each and the canas were 1.40€ for a total of 9.80€.    Read more

  • No CheesePortugal, Spain and Brazil
    Day 39

    Tapas y canas

    November 7, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    For our last day in Malaga, we decided to indulge in tapas. We knew we would be challenged to stay vegan but how could we come to Spain and not eat tapas? After looking online for tapa bars that had good reviews, we set out to check them out.

    Our first stop was Bodega Quitapenas where we each had a tapa-size portion of seafood paella. For a tapa-size portion, it was very generous. A quick look around to the other patrons - mostly locals - revealed that we were not the only ones to be enjoying the scrumptious paella. At 2€ a serving, it's not hard to understand why.

    Our second stop was Bar Lo Gueno. We ordered a ratatouille that came topped with a quail egg and a bean dish that admittedly had flecks of ham or bacon in it. We found both tapas to be very tasty but rather oily. We're just not used to eating so much oil anymore.

    Our third stop was supposed to be Casa del Perro but it was closed so we circled back down towards the harbour to sit in the sunshine for a while. We dropped into the tourist information centre to ask where we could find an Internet cafe to print out our bus tickets and that led us to a part of town we had not explored previously.

    After taking care of business at the Internet cafe, we were just walking about when we noticed a billboard sign for Bar Copetin advertising free paella. Since Roch was still feeling a little peckish, we went to check it out. The bar was very no frills but what it lacked in decor, the owners made up for it with their warm hospitality. The hostess literally beamed as she offered us free paella which she promised was rich and delicious. Roch ordered a beer but I got a free tapa-size portion of paella even though I didn't order anything to drink. The paella was traditional style made with chicken and it was indeed delicious. After we each finished our share and were about to pay, the hosts insisted on offering us yet a third portion. It was hard to say no, especially since it was so yummy. So, for the price of a beer (1.50€), we got 3 free portions of paella. Well, it don't get better than that!    Read more

  • No CheesePortugal, Spain and Brazil
    Day 42

    La Paella Sevilla

    November 10, 2015 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 20 °C

    We miraculously made it to Seville on a bus that went "go-go-go-stop... go-go-go-stop", and with each stop, it had a harder time going again. As we entered Sevilla, the bus load of passengers prayed for green lights and cheered each time a red light turned green without the bus having to stop, but our luck ran out about a kilometre from the Sevilla bus station. The bus stopped at a red light and would go no more.

    Fortunately for us, that put us closer to our AirBnB accommodations so we checked in at 13:00 as scheduled with our hosts before heading out for lunch.

    Having arrived on a Sunday, we were fully expecting everything to be closed so it was a pleasant surprise to see so many people out and about and eating at all the tapa bars and restaurants that were open and chock a block full of diners. The city was incredibly "alive"!

    We decided to try out "La Paella Sevilla" because many online reviews raved how it was the best paella joint in town. There was definitely a wow factor as we walked in and saw the huge paella pans, each ready and waiting to be dished up into "ración" or tapa size servings according to your order, 5.95€ per ración or 2.95€ per tapa.

    We decided to go with a full size serving of the seafood paella and two tapa size servings, one of the traditional Valencia paella and one of the "paella a banda". We had no idea what the "paella a banda" was but it was literally flying out the door with locals ordering double portions of it to take away. So many locals couldn't be wrong...

    ... and they weren't. The "paella a banda" is a Mediterranean paella made with squid and peeled shrimps. Yummy! In fact, all 3 paellas we tasted were delicious.

    As we sat and savoured our paellas, there was a constant stream of locals coming in to do take away orders, including one patron who walked out with 2 of the huge paella pans that we reckoned must serve at least 10 people per pan. Party on!!!    Read more

  • No CheesePortugal, Spain and Brazil
    Day 46

    Sevilla oranges

    November 14, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    We bookended our stay in Sevilla with paella, returning to La Paella Sevilla with my family before we caught our bus back to Malaga. Lucky me, they had vegetarian paella when we went back.

    In between our two paella sessions, we ate a lot of mandarin oranges. Our favourite stall at the Mercado de Feria was selling them for 2€ for 2 kilos and though we could get mandarins for the same price elsewhere, the mandarins at this particular stall were exceptionally sweet and juicy. We bought 2 kilos as part of the breakfast we brought over to my family when they arrived. We ended up buying them 5 kilos more… then 2 kilos more…

    I didn’t eat out with my family very much but I did join them at the Bodega Mateo Ruiz across from the Airbnb apartment where we were staying. The bodega was a family run local joint, a true Spanish experience. There was absolutely nothing vegan on the tapas menu painted on ceramic and posted on the wall. The only vegetarian option - the asparagus tortilla - was no longer availability due to lack of popularity. Everything available was laced in garlic and doused with olive oil. My family loved it. They stood at the bar alongside the local clientele and happily chowed down their tapas and soaked it all in.    Read more

  • No CheesePortugal, Spain and Brazil
    Day 47

    So long, Spain

    November 15, 2015 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    We took the bus back to Malaga to catch our cruise to Brazil. We couldn’t check in to the Sovereign till 15:00 so we walked around town and had one last tapa and caña to say goodbye to Spain. We stopped at the Azahar Tapas for a slice of tortilla and a tapa-size portion of paella. The caña was San Miguel and the portions were generous. Everything was so yummy and inexpensive, plus the owner was super nice. We couldn’t understand why the place wasn't jammed packed full.

    We were sad to leave Spain, but we know we'll be back.    Read more

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