Portugal

Hello. Thank you for checking back in on our adventures. Got the next several days, we will be visiting Portugal, on the SW tip of Europe. 

While Portugal is home to 10 million folks, it is a very small country. (Its neighbor, Spain, is nearly six times larger.) It is however the oldest country in Europe. It produces some 60% of the world’s cork, which is primarily used for wine bottles. Which is convenient, because Portugal is best known for its fabulous wines. It is also home of Bertrand’s, the world’s oldest bookstore, which is in Lisbon. (Unfortunately, we were unable to visit this establishment due to the heavy shopping bags I would be toting later in the day, but more on that in a bit.)

Today we arrived in Lisbon, the capital and cultural center of Portugal. This hilly city of 3 million is located on the Iberian Peninsula. The city is very colorful r. However, perhaps the city’s most striking features include its Golden Gate Bridge look-alike located in the city center, and their Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking the city. Hmmm…

Ninety percent of Lisbon was destroyed by a  massive earthquake in the mid-1700s, killing 40,000 people. When rebuilding, they opted to make the building colors vibrant, and to utilize ornate ceramic tiles to really make the city a unique work of art. 

Lisbon still has bullfighting twice per month. Unlike Spain, in Lisbon, the bill is not killed. Attending these bullfights is a city tradition, as is sitting in the cafes in the evening, watching the ferries carry the city workers from the city-center. 

While the city has several famous underground wine bars located in the tunnels that once carried all of the city’s water, we opted to cross the Targus river, and visit the renowned winery of Jose Maria da Fonseca. 

Located near the stunning Parque Natural da Arrábida, the winery was stunning, and the wine was pretty good too. We sampled some Porto, and looked forward to sampling more the following day. We also learned of a local specialty (not available at this particular winery) called Vinho Verde (pronounced “VEEN-yo VER-da”), which translate from Portuguese as “green wine”.

It turns out that it is made from immature (not necessarily)  green) grapes, and is sometimes bottle with the sugars not fully processed during the fermentation, giving it a slight effervescent. (There is a great Washington Post  article about this if you are interested.)

So the winery was one of the better ones that we have visited over the years. The founder was an accountant who had graduated from a prestigious US University (the first one in the county actually) and his father was a business man who obtained the vineyard to reconcile a business deal gone wrong. Upon returning from university, in the early 1800s) the young son convinced his father to let him have the vineyards, and he hired local expert to convert it to a winery. A number of years later, he had the business acumen to be the first Portuguese winery to bottle  their table rather than to sell them in barrels. 

Skip forward two hundred years and six generations later, and they had bought up the whole valley, and become one of the most notable wineries in the country. 

We especially liked their private cellar, where they have barrels dating back to the 1940s! 

This is remarkable, as can only leave Moscatel wine in a barrel this long. Other types of wines would have turned to vining at long ago. 

Their secret is that they made a business deal in 1900 to trade wine to a failing barrel manufacturer. Some of the  barrels are so large, they were hand built inside the winery buildings. They were built out of mahogany, which does not interact with the wine as oak does. (So the wines are moved to the mahogany barrels at some point during the aging process.) The wine aficionados among us are probably chuckling to themselves as they read this, but I found it fascinating. Oh yeah, it tasted great too!

So Ms. Karen was somewhat underwhelmed, but they redeemed themselves in the lobby gift shop, where they also sold sparking wines made by neighboring wineries. 

So it was with a heavy heart, an even heavier shopping bag, and a lighter wallet that I returned from the winery. Along the way, we thoroughly enjoyed the  previously mentioned Parque Natural da Arrábida. I always like driving through heavily forested mountain vistas that occasionally open up to palm tree laden vestibules overlooking the seas.  

Returning to Lisbon, we walked the narrow streets near the port, eventually stumbling upon the perfect little outdoor cafe tucked away in a well concealed alleyway. 

With only a handful of table, the elderly gentleman waiters were such a treat. We selected several small plates to share, including a Portuguese sausage, which was spiral sliced so as to still be whole. 

The sausage was brought to the table on a small alongated ceramic dish with a built in grill. The dish was filled with a flammable liquid, which was lit on fire table side. Every now and again, the stately waiter would drop by to rotate the sausage until it was seared to perfection. Yummo. 

Also, not to dwell, but I have to say that I think their prawns were the best we have ever had. First off, they were cleaned before they were cooked. (Don’t hold me to it, but I think that is the difference between a prawn and a shrimp. Personally, I prefer if someone else breaks the head off of my food before they serve it to me, but that is just me.)

On the way back to the ship, we checked off another item from our list, sampling Lisbon’s favorite drink, a Ginjinha. This is a small shot served in an edible chocolate glass contains a cherry flavor liqueur with a cherry in it. It is sold by street vendors and restaurants all over the city, and is a must do item on every travelers list while visiting Lisbon. Pretty good stuff!

A few hour later, as we sailed away a bit before sunset, we enjoyed the view from the pool deck. We passed underneath the bridge, and sailed past the Redeemer statue we had visited earlier in the day. 

The following morning, we awoke in Porto (also known as Oporto) the country’s second largest city, and the birthplace of Port Wine. (Insert brief angelic choir sound-bite here!)

So, now we had our itinerary from the following day. Sample some Green Wine, and drink some port in Porto (which has been in my bucket list for years). 

We spent our second day exploring Porto, a coastal city best known for its port wines. We had several stops in Portugal on a previous cruise, and both swore we had been to Porto, but eventually figured out that we were mistaken. 

Dating back to the 8th century BC, Porto claims to be the “oldest city in Europe”.  They also have the oldest railroad, which extends throughout the country. Unfortunately, Portugal has a different size railroad tracks than the rest of Europe. (So folks have to change trains at the boarders for international travel.)

I was looking forward to trying a  Portuguese sandwich named. “Francesinha”, which originated in Porto.  It is similar to the French sandwich croque monsieur, but covered in a beer/cheese sauce.

(The name means little Frenchwoman in Portuguese).

After a bit of research, we picked a restaurant that had plenty of sites to peruse along the way. 

Port is a beautiful and very walkable city. The sandwich was okay, put I did prefer the French version better. 

We found a street performer along the way, and sat at a sidewalk pub and listened for several hours. She was a young Gypsies girl who could play guitar and sing like nobody’s business. What a voice. 

While we generally do not prefer sweet wines, I do enjoy an occasional after diner port, and the local ports did not disappoint. However, the green wine stoled the show. After a bit of research, I found that our favorite is available in the ABQ area, so we look forward to enjoying some with you in the near future!

So our two days in Portugal have come to an end. Next stop, one last day in Spain. More on this tomorrow, in yet another story. 

Thank you for visiting my friends. 
– Mike
“Sometimes you forget you’re famous. You wonder, ‘Why is that person staring at me? – Bob Newhart, 9/5/1929-7/18/2024