Ponte da Barca

On Monday the 9th Mike and I picked up a rental car at the airport and we headed out of town with Laura and Helen to our next destination - The Pena Palace on the hilltop above Sintra, not too far from Lisbon. This is a big tourist attraction and we were part of a large flock of cars, buses and camera toting tourist to visit. We made a strategic decision not to wait in line to visit the palace but instead wandered around the gardens and the outer areas. The palace is relatively new (mid1800s) and is still used for state functions. I think it is best described as romantic in appearance. Although Helen, the architect, said it reminded her of the Disney castle on steroids. I guess that is not surprising because Ferdinand II, then King Consort to Queen Maria II of Portugal was German and had the castle modeled after the Rhine river castles, as did Disney when designing his main castle.
We left the crowds of Sintra and headed to the medieval town of Obidos for the night. The castle at Obidos is a beautifully preserved medieval castle and there is a pousada that operates out of the castle. A pousada is like the Spanish Paradores, buildings of historic significance that have been preserved and repurposed into hotels or hostels. So we had our night in the castle! Only 2 challenges: Mike had to thread our rented Peugeot in and out of the medieval walled town with inches on each side to spare, and we had many, many slippery steep steps to climb even to get to our breakfast. Before dinner, We enjoyed a beverage and a quick read at the Literary Man Hotel which features a bar amongst thousands of books built into an old seminary. Very unique and worth a return visit. We had another memorable meal in the small town. Mike and I both enjoyed dishes made from codfish, which is like the national dish although no cod is actually caught in Portuguese waters- all of the catch coming from northern waters.At the end of the evening the very chatty waiter served us a Portuguese brandy called Lourinha. Mac, I think we are taking your perfect vacation.
We arrived in Porto on Tuesday with a stop for lunch in the picturesque town of Aviero. It is like a little Venice on the coast with small, old fashion wooden boats which are no longer used for trade but only to take tourists out. They were cute but with surprisingly, hmmmm crude cartoons painted on their sides. Laura talked us into the best fish restaurant even though we arrived after lunch hour. They quickly rustled up two large grilled fish with sides.
Then is was on to Porto where we have spent the past three days. We braved some really rainy, cold weather and saw lots of sites. Pretty much wore all the cold weather clothes we brought each day! One day we headed on a small tour to the Douro region for some wine tasting and a boat ride on the Douro. The Douro river is very scenic and reminded us a bit of the Danube with vineyards on steep hills on each side. We came close to capsizing as a large cruise-style river boat steamed by very quickly. With some quick action by the Captain we were saved from disaster or at least a chilly swim. As part of the vineyard tours we were treated to a homemade lunch which included many courses, too much food and lots of wine from the Douro area. Tasted some interesting blends and some dessert wine from Muscatel grapes (sorry if I got that wrong you wine experts)
We enjoyed many things about Porto even though we did not see it at its best. There were a number of things we would like to have visited but lining up in the rain was simply not appealing. Lisbon and Porto are now very popular and quite busy with tourists. Places that the discount airlines fly are now quite crowded, even this time of year. We did walk a lot and tasted some ports, ate more great tapas and Laura picked up some nice Gifts.
Our highlight in Porto had to be last night. Laura contacted a friend from her time walking the Camino de Santiago and Carlos picked us up and took us to a lovely oceanside restaurant for a meal. Laura, the intrepid traveller finally tried the one Portuguese dish that noone else has been brave enough to try. Named Francesinha, it can only be described as a grilled sandwich containing cheese, various meats, perhaps seafood, smothered in cheese, grilled and then served swimming in a piquant, tomato and beer based gravy - yup served with fries. Some stories say that the providence was Napoleon’s army needing calories etc. I think the story about some guys trying to emulate the French Croque Monsieur is likely closer to the truth. Anyway, our Laura soldiered on and ate about half of this concoction while the rest of us had fish/ seafood. We had a defibrillator standing by!

This morning we cleared out of our Porto digs, said goodbye to our very companionable companions Helen and Laura who must return home and resume normal life. Aka work. We will miss their optimism (« I’m pretty sure the rain is lighter than an hour ago, don’t you think? »). Wé’ll miss Helen’s informative descriptions of all the structures that we see. I was just getting my Baroque and Neo-classical sorted out.We will certainly miss Laura’s enthusiasm for everything and her great restaurant picks.
Mike and I are taking a break from the cities and are headed for a week of back country Portugal. We’ll try to walk off a bit of the excesses of the past few weeks and see some of the countryside where there are no tour buses or line-ups. More to follow.
That’s all for now,
Love Heather/ Mom xOkumaya devam et