Porto
Day 10: May 4
Our arrival in Porto on this sunny day was with mixed emotions. I was excited to start discovering for myself what Portugal's second largest city is all about. Porto had been described to me as very vibrant and charming but also a little gritty. I'd heard much about the intense rivalry between Lisbon and Porto, not just in sports but apparently in almost everything! My other feeling was some sadness that we were in the home stretch of our tour. The time had gone too quickly and now we were about to check into our final hotel.
Porto lies along the Duoro River, right where the river meets the Atlantic Ocean. Approaching by bus, we were on the road that runs along the Atlantic coast. Anyone who was thinking it would be nice to hop out of the bus and walk along the beach while we were there was in luck. That's exactly what had been planned for us. Some explored the exterior of the 15th Century Fort of São Francisco do Queigo while others took a short stroll on the sand or checked out the marine life in the little pools of water amid the rocks.
Back on the bus and riding along the river, the water and beautiful bridges drew our attention, but when we looked out of the windows on the other side of the bus we could see that yup, Porto was another hilly city! Our hotel, the Grande Hotel do Porto, was in the historic city center, way uphill from the riverfront. Paulo was going to drive us as close as possible, but since the hotel is located on a pedestrian-only street, we'd have a two or three block walk, some of it uphill. We were undaunted! This is why you pack light on a Rick Steves tour!
The Funicular dos Guindais is the way you can save your hamstrings getting between Porto's riverfront and its city center. Claúdia told us that, unfortunately, the funicular was down for repairs. We could all say a little thank you that Porto came at the end of our tour's itinerary. Our calves had gotten tuned up in Lisbon and Coimbra and we were ready for this!
The Grande Hotel do Porto is on a vibrant shopping street, Rua de Santa Catarina. I loved this historic hotel. It has been in operation since 1880 and has stately elegance. The common areas (dining room, bar, lounges, library, afternoon tea room) are opulently decorated with polished wood, mirrors, chandeliers, marble columns, leaded glass. Nobles and aristocrats from around the world have stayed here. If you're someone who might enjoy a stay at The Drake in Chicago or the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, this iconic hotel, rich in traditions and history, might be your choice for Porto. All of our hotels on this tour had been unique and wonderful. Here are some photos of our arrival on foot and this lovely hotel.
Food, Glorious food!
Today's group meal was on the move! We spent the afternoon meandering the neighborhoods of Porto with lots of stops to savor the flavors of its food and wine. This was a walking food tour lead by Ricardo and Joana, two guides from Taste Porto. Gary and I were in the first half of our group, which headed out with Ricardo, and 30 minutes later the rest followed with Joana. Dividing up got us into small places and made for more personal interactions with the proprietors of those places. We did join up in our final spot, a trendy and hip wine bar, providing a big festive finish to this wonderful gastronomic experience.
I love food tours and this was a really fun and high quality one! Ricardo and Joana clearly love their jobs, love story-telling, and love bringing their city's rich culture and warm hospitality to life. We were the lucky beneficiaries of the relationships they've built with the market stall vendors, restauranteurs, bakers and sommeliers we visited.
Food markets are popular in Portugal. Housed in buildings or held in the open air, they are the places where local residents walk from stall to stall to buy what they need from local vendors: fish, meat, produce, cheese, eggs, olives, flowers, wine and more. You can find a few daily food markets in Porto, but the granddaddy of them is Mercado do Bolhão (Balhão Market), right in city center, in operation since 1839. We met up with Ricardo in Balhão Market, but not in the beautiful neoclassical hall that it has occupied since 1914. The 60 vendors were all moved out of that building four years ago, for what was supposed to have been a two-year renovation project. Fortunately, they were given temporary quarters, the lower level of a nearby urban shopping mall, where we now began our tour.
We started in the fish area, where we learned that Porto, with its long coast, is third in the world for fish consumption, behind only Japan and Iceland. Except for the cod, which is from the cold waters of the Baltic and North Atlantic seas, all the fish we were seeing was local and all was very fresh: caught within the past 24 hours. I was surprised to learn that the cod is not local, given that dried and salted cod (bacalhau) is such a staple of the Portuguese diet!
As Ricardo took us through the market, he explained that many of the vendors are the second or third generations of their families to operate these stalls. When the renovated Balhão Market hall re-opens, there will be room for 60 additional vendors, and because the new space will be so nice, the rental will be double the old amount. However, the 60 old vendors will be grandfathered at their former rate. Ricardo said this is the way for the city to show those long-standing local merchants just how important they are.
The photo at left is Ricardo pointing out that the pig butcher sells every part of the animal, from nose to tail.
A lot of canned fish is consumed in Portugal! The country is world famous for it! Because this is such an important part of the cultural heritage of the Portuguese, the starter course for our moving feast today was canned mackerel and canned sardines, both flavored with picante seasoning, served with crackers and paired with white wine. We were still in the market hall. The wine merchant talked to us about his family's wine and used a map to teach us about the wine regions of Portugal. We've purchased tins of sardines at home. (My father-in-law always liked them.) At home I'm not a fan. But there's an amazing difference between those and what we had here! These canned sardines were so tasty that Gary and I made a plan to return here during our free time to buy some to take home. An easy to pack "souvenir" that would allow us to re-live the memories of this food tour.
Leaving Balhão market, we strolled past the grand hall that the vendors would soon be able to re-occupy, with renovations finally nearing the end. Across the street was a bakery where Ricardo picked up something that had been packaged for him, in two bakery boxes. "For later," he said. A few tried to cajole him into giving us a little peek, but he resisted their charm, steadfast in his commitment to keeping our dessert a surprise. From the wonderful aromas in the bakery, we trusted it was going to be worth the wait.
Taxca was the restaurant chosen for the next course. We enjoyed sausages, breaded and fried fish cakes, and a tomato and rice dish, all very hearty and delicious, with a spritzy sangria as the perfect refreshing beverage to accompany the food.
Our tour wasn't only about food and wine. As we walked between destinations, Ricardo talked about the city's history, pointed out landmark buildings, and shared stories that gave us insight into the culture of daily life in Porto. The exercise helped build up our appetites between courses. We enjoyed fabulous views of the rooftops and river from one of the city's highest spots. We learned why there was a huge line of people outside of a bookstore. (It's a beautiful bookstore with amazing staircases, and because J.K. Rowling once lived in Porto, it's rumored to be the inspiration for some of the Hogwarts scenery described in her Harry Potter books, but Ricardo tactfully suggested that in our limited free time in Porto, there were better things to do than line up to pay 5 Euro to get a peek at the inside of a retail bookstore.) We learned about the funny little rows of dog houses scattered around the city. (They weren't for dogs but were cat communes. A former mayor sought to rid the city of stray cats, and succeeded, but the rodent and seagull population grew so rapidly that he realized his mistake. Cats were re-introduced onto the streets, with cat apartment buildings constructed to give them a welcoming place to sleep and eat.)
Bottom row photos, L to R: a cat commune, the Livaria Lello bookstore, and looking down at the wine bar to which we were now headed, our final stop on our food tour.
At Prova Wine Food & Pleasure we were served flaky-crust veal tartlets, paired with a red wine, and then we enjoyed the dessert that Ricardo had picked up at the bakery, a concoction of two crispy, sugary wafers, with a layer of delectable custard between them. The dessert wine was a Tawny Port. As we were finishing the food, the second half of our group arrived. We weren't shooed out to make room for them. The intention was for all of us to reunite at this point. While they ate, we continued sipping the wine and chatting with the sommelier, full, relaxed and happy. The icing-on-the-cake was when Gary's tour buddy, Mark, sat down at the piano and entertained us with several lively numbers. We knew from the information we'd elicited for buddy intros that back in the day, he had been the pianist in his university's jazz band. How had we not discovered some earlier opportunities for him to share his incredible improv talent with the group?? The camaraderie and music were the perfect jovial way to end our phenomenal food tour!
Drifting down the Duoro
After all that food and wine, our next activity was perfect. It was a walk down to the riverfront and a leisurely boat ride on the Duoro River. There was some narration by the boat company, but honestly, I can't remember what I learned. Don't be so quick to blame all the wine! For me, this was a chance to just kick back, relax, and enjoy a beautiful day in the company of friends. I love any opportunity to be on water. It was fun to see a party boat of black-robed college students gleefully celebrating the end of the school year (photo at right in the row below).
Evening fun
This had been a big day, chocked full of fun activity, all perfectly timed. That's one of the things I've loved about each of our Rick Steves tours. They're designed with a focus on not just what to see and do but also on when to go. The most crowded times at popular sites are avoided and transitions from place to place are seamlessly smooth. The order in which everything is done makes sense. Any downtime is purposely built into the day, to give everyone a chance to explore on their own, or to rest, versus accidental waste-of-time gaps in the day because of an "oops" in the planning/timing.
I'd have been content to spend the whole evening relaxing back at the hotel, and that's how our evening started out, casually socializing with a few tour mates in one of the lounges. Then someone asked if anyone wanted to go down to the café on the corner for a francesinha. Even though we'd eaten our way through the afternoon and some were still a bit full, all ten of us acknowledged that we'd be remiss in not experiencing this quintessential sandwich of Porto that Claúdia had described to us. It's made of three or four kinds of meat (sausage, ham, beef, bologna) between two thick slices of bread, with melted cheese poured over the top, and a slightly spicy tomato and beer sauce, the whole thing topped with a fried egg. It's traditionally served with french fries. This sandwich can be found on menus in bars and restaurants throughout Porto, but Claúdia had told us that Café Santiago, right down the street from our hotel, had one of the best francesinhas in town. Café Santiago was casual, noisy and crowded but that's just what you expect a popular sandwich café to be. They squeezed us in once we assured them that it was okay to split us up into a couple different tables.
When we were walking back, we spotted four members of our group inside the very upscale Majestic Café across the street from the hotel. It's a historic café with stunning Belle Epoche decor. The waiters wear classy tailored white uniform jackets over their black pants. While we'd been gobbling down those decadent meaty and cheesy sandwiches, they'd been down the street sipping after-dinner coffee like elegant ladies and gentlemen. Porto has something to suit everyone's taste!
Day 11: May 5
Rise and Shine! Porto beckons! These shoes are made for walkin'!
Up and at 'em! This was the last full day of our tour and we had places to go and things to see! Immediately after breakfast, we'd be meeting our local guide, Margarida, in the hotel lobby. She was going to be leading us on an all-morning tour to parts of Porto that we hadn't seen when we were traipsing through town as foodies yesterday.
Margarida was a treasure. She and Claúdia clearly have a close personal friendship (despite being residents of cities with a fierce rivalry!) I was immediately charmed by Margarida's warm, dimpled smile and her engaging personality. She was born in 1974, in Africa, where her family had been living during dictatorial rule of Portugal. Throughout our time with her, Margarida shared poignant stories from her own family's history that gave us moving insight into Portugal under dictatorship, Portugal when communism was on the rise, and life in Portugal today. We learned that about 80% of Portugal's people closely link their national and cultural identity to Catholicism even though many are non-practicing. I loved that Margarida spoke with us about the prominence in her life of her devout Catholic faith. We also got to hear amusing stories about her other important job . . . the parenting of her 19 year old son and 10 year old daughter. Margarida's wonderful sense of humor allowed our tour to be enjoyed with lots of laughter. Did we learn a lot about the history and architecture and importance of the sites we were seeing? You bet we did! But this tour was more, a truly deep dive into the culture, politics and lifestyle of the people of Portugal, past and present. All articulated with passion by someone we now thought of as our new friend in Porto.
There is so much beautiful, ornate architecture in Porto! I loved all the blue-tiled churches we passed on our walking tour, and the tall, narrow, colorful apartment buildings with their small wrought iron balconies. Postcard-pretty! The first photo in the gallery below provides a glimpse of the funicular that was down for refurbishment. The red boat (and the yellow one pictured across the top of this page) are just-for-tourism replicas of rabelos, the flat-bottomed boats traditionally used to bring barrels of Port from the Duoro Valley to Porto.
Wow!!
São Bento train station
For the past 11 days, I'd been feasting my eyes on stunning blue and white ceramic tile work adorning the interior and exterior of buildings all over Portugal, not just on and in monasteries, churches, palaces and museums but also homes, shops and restaurants. The name of this ornamental art form is azulejo. Azulejos are hand-painted, tin-glazed ceramic tiles. We'd seen stunning azulejo ornamentation in Lisbon, Belém, Évora, Óbidos, Alcobaça, Nazaré, Coimbra, Tomar, and even at the Duoro Valley quinta. Now we were seeing vast amounts of this beautiful tile work in Porto. Portugal and blue and white azulejos are forevermore going to be linked in my mind's eye.
One of the stops on Margarida's tour was the São Bento train station in the historic center of Porto and here, in my opinion, was some of the most dazzling of all azulejo adornment we'd seen. The entrance hall of the train station is a cavernous space three stories tall, and from floor-to-ceiling, the walls are covered in azulejos. I feel sheepish about labeling a visit to a 20th Century railway depot as a "Wow" moment, but artist Jorge Colaço's work in the station really did take my breath away! There are 20,000 blue and white azulejos, some forming huge murals depicting epic moments in Portugal's history, others making up smaller panels showing rural life in various regions of the country. At the top of the blue and white tiles, near the ceiling, a band of multi-colored tiles stretches around the room, telling stories mostly about the history of transportation. Colaço spent 11 years creating this masterpiece, from 1905 to 1916. If there was something important to the cultural identity of the Portuguese at that time, it is depicted here in São Bento train station! The hall also has beautiful yellow and white leaded glass windows and doors, an ornate ceiling painted in cheery yellow and white, and a splendid large clock you walk under to get to the tracks. The whole place is airy and bright and really just so, so lovely! A place where people go to catch a train, for Pete's sake. Wow . . . just wow!
The station is a National Monument of Portugal and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A 16th Century Benedictine monastery used to sit on this site, the Convent of São Bento do Avé Maria. When religious orders were extinguished in Portugal in 1834, nuns could no longer take vows, but those living at that time in the Convent of São Bento were allowed to remain. When the last of them died, in 1892, the monastery could finally be taken down by the government so that construction of a train station could begin. The station was named after the monastery.
Palácio da Bolsa
The Palácio da Bolsa is so big and opulent that you immediately assume it’s a former royal palace but it’s not. The name translates to “Stock Exchange Palace.” It was built in the 19th Century to be the headquarters of Porto’s Association of Commerce and it still serves as the seat of that merchant organization today. Before it was built, businessmen in Porto traded on the streets and in the squares.
Margarida's tour of the Palácio da Bolsa started in the magnificent Patio das Nacoes (Hall of Nations). It’s the central courtyard in the building and is covered by a magnificent octagonal glass paneled dome. Under the dome is a row of coats of arms, painted on metallic gold-colored panels, the crests of Portugal and all the countries with which it had commercial relations in the 19th Century. The courtyard's floor is the best floor my feet have ever stood upon!
We went up the Escadaria Nobre (Noble Staircase) and saw Gustave Eiffel’s office, still containing his desk. The large window in his office looks out over the Duoro River. How perfect that Gustave had the ability to stay warm and dry as he kept tabs on the construction of the iron railway bridge that he had designed. His company had been relatively inexperienced when it won the 1875 design competition for a rail bridge across the Duoro, but Eiffel's credentials checked out and the price was right: only 2/3 of the cost of the next lowest-cost design proposal entered in the contest. Eiffel ended up building a total of about 30 bridges and iron structures in Portugal before he moved back to Paris and began work on the structure for which he is most widely known, the Eiffel Tower.
The most exotic and lavish room in the Palácio is the Salao Arabe (Arab Room). The décor is Moorish. Dripping with opulence, the Arab Room has been used for delegations of business people from all over the world. When dignitaries visit Porto today, this is where the reception is held.
The Palácio is filled throughout with paintings, sculptures and other works of art. Some of the most beautiful are the painted murals in the courtroom, where trade lawsuits are held. Don't forget to look up . . . the ceiling of the courtroom is fabulous!
Covid compliance and time to wander
The final stop on Margarida's tour was the Church of São Francisco (Church of St. Francis of Assisi), next door to the Palácio da Bolsa. It was built from 1350 to 1430 and is considered one of the most beautiful of the country's churches. The Baroque decor includes oodles of intricately carved woodwork, much of it gilded. This church is really a stunner but you'll just have to take my word for it. Photography isn't allowed.
After we said goodbye to Margarida, most of the group had free time for the rest of the afternoon, but Gary and I first had to get some business out of the way. We were flying back to the U.S. tomorrow and we wouldn’t be able to board our plane without proving we were Covid-free, showing the result of tests conducted within a day prior to our flight. Claúdia had known we needed to be tested this day. At our welcome meeting, she had taken the names and flight dates for all group members who would be going back to the U.S. on flights originating in Porto, and she had made Covid test appointments for all of us. Now that’s service! She had thoughtfully scheduled Gary's and my appointment for 15 minutes after the morning's group walking tour would be over and now she wanted to walk the two of us to the clinic. Some construction on the streets and sidewalks of Porto had closed off access to the most direct route and she didn’t want us to get lost. Honestly, on this whole tour, there had been no tasks too big or too small for Claúdia. She'd taken care of all our needs with efficiency and a smile, making it all look so effortless. I can't imagine a more hard-working or more big-hearted tour leader!
The Covid testing was super quick and easy. Inside the door of the clinic was a machine where we entered our names and then pulled a number tab. We waited just a couple minutes for our numbers to be called. We provided email addresses for the results and paid 20€ per test. After the quick swab by a lab-coated technician, off we went, knowing we'd have results by email within 2 hours.
We had no real agenda for the rest of the afternoon. On a visit to Prague a few years ago, we'd discovered the deliciousness of doner kebabs, so when we saw a corner restaurant that featured them, with outdoor seating, we stopped for lunch. And then we just strolled. We saw street musicians and groups of black-robed students. We went back to the market hall where our food tour had started so that we could buy some canned sardines to take home. I went into a couple of jewelry stores in the hopes of finding a silver charm to add to my travel charm bracelet. Found one! It’s a rooster.
The Rooster of Barcelos is an unofficial symbol of Portugal, representing faith, justice and good luck. Silver bracelet charms are one of the limited exceptions to my general rule against souvenirs. Gary bought me a tiny cow bell charm on our honeymoon in Switzerland in 1980 and it started a tradition of collecting travel charms. They of course take up no room at all in my bag. Finding them can be a bit of a scavenger hunt but I don’t let myself get too focused on it. I've happened upon them often enough that I've filled two bracelets. I love wearing my jingly bracelets and remembering the trips, both domestic and international, where I bought each fun charm! My new little rooster would be the perfect way for Portugal to be represented on my bracelet!
One last happy hour, with accolades for Claúdia
Before walking to the restaurant for our farewell dinner, we gathered at the hotel for a champagne toast in celebration of travel and friendship and all the wonderful experiences we'd shared since the time we'd first introduced ourselves to each other at our Lisbon hotel. John praised and thanked Claúdia on behalf of all of us and Mark presented her with a journal as a gift. We'd each had a chance to write a personal message on the first few pages. Then the group surprised John and Chris with an inscribed journal as well, a gift in recognition of the fact that this trip was taken to mark their upcoming 50th wedding anniversary. Claúdia had gifts for us, too . . . lovely handtooled leather bookmarks. Making them is a hobby she and her mother enjoy together.
Farewell dinner
We'd had a lot of opportunities to break bread together on this tour, six group dinners and three wonderful lunches. Wine had been included in all of them, which I think may have been in part due to some magic that Claúdia had managed to pull off. This farewell dinner was bittersweet. The tour wasn't over until after breakfast tomorrow, but Gary and I were saying goodbye to everyone tonight. We had a 9:15 a.m. flight to catch and our cab was already booked to pick us up at 6 a.m.
