Food and Wine

We really should have checked the hours for so many things before we planned our days.

We already had poor luck, the previous day, finding a Vodafone store that was open on a Saturday afternoon, in Portugal's second-largest city. We eventually found one, but it took time (the silver lining comes in that we actually did have that time to use, while we waited to check in to our hotel).

In preparing for our trip to Portugal, DW and I had watched countless videos about what to see and what to do, but we also focused on another factor for our visit: what to eat, and where.

Porto is largely known as a port wine city, even though the wine houses are actually across the river, in the town of Vila Nova de Gaia, or simply Gaia. Only fortified wine from this area, and more specifically, from grapes that are grown in the Douro Valley region, can be called port wine. It's one of my favourite styles of wine, even though I only treat myself to it on special occasions.

Like my first-born's 19th birthday, when I saved a 2001 vintage port for that very occasion.

We had already planned to spend a day in the Douro Valley on the Monday, but that's where the grapes are grown, harvested, crushed, and where the juice is placed in barrels before being shipped to the wine houses, in Gaia, for aging and cellaring. Our plan, for today, was to head over to Gaia in the afternoon for some port tasting.

But first, we had to take care of business.

As I told you, yesterday, we had yet to withdraw any money from bank machines. We really didn't want to use the Euronet ATMs because of the extortionist fees so we were hopeful that some bank machine would accept our Interac card.

We got up around 7:30, showered and dressed, and DW ate some yogurt and cereal before we made our way to the heart of the city. Around the corner from us is the famous Livraria Lello, the lavish bookstore with an elaborate, winding wooden staircase that is said to have inspired JK Rowling for some book series she penned. (I dunno... I've never read any of her books.) Already, there was a queue to get in, even though the doors had yet to open.

Around the corner from this shop was a Manteigaria bake shop, where I sank my teeth into my first ever authentic pastéis de nata. Sorry, Farm Boy: while your custard filling is pretty good, your pastry doesn't hold a candle to the flaky, crackling crunch of the real deal. Served warm, sprinkled with cinnamon and just a light dusting of icing sugar, my first bite had me converted instantly. I had my tart served with an espresso, and I felt charged enough to get on with the day.

We tried about a half dozen bank machines, all with the same rejection message. Note to travellers: get your euros before you fly.

Feeling stuck and being stubborn enough to not want to get gouged at a Euronet machine, I used my bank app on my phone to transfer a whack of cash onto one of our credit cards: enough to cover any balance that we owed and then some, to have a credit balance. We then took a cash advance on the credit card, still leaving a positive balance so as not to accrue any interest charges.

Problem solved.

We wandered the town, capturing photos and getting a good feel for our neighbourhood, and then made our way to city hall, where we met up with Susana, our tour guide, to give her a healthy tip for guiding us the previous day.

Workers were busy on the front of city hall, hanging massive banners in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II. Her funeral was the next day and the city wanted to pay its respect.

From city hall, DW and I headed west, to the Crystal Palace Gardens, a 19th-century collection of landscaped gardens that also had an assortment of birds, including peacocks. From here, there is a great view of the Douro River. This site is free.

For lunch, we planned for a meal that is famous in Porto, and one place in particular is a popular spot for it. The dish is called francesinha and is a thick sandwich that is loaded with five different meats: mortadella, steak, two kinds of sausage, and ham. The sandwich is then covered with a thin cheese and a hot, specialty sauce is poured over it, melting the cheese and encasing the sandwich in a gooey covering. Finally, a fried egg is placed on top and the dish is served with French fries.

Essentially, it's a cholesterol sandwich.

The place that is most famous for this dish is Café Santiago but here's where we should have checked hours of operation before we arrived in Porto. The place is closed on Sundays.

There is another place that's know for francesinhas, Café Restaurante O Afonso, but we couldn't trust that Google's posted hours for the place is accurate and it would mean an Uber ride to find out, so instead, we crossed the street to another restaurant that, while it isn't famous for francesinhas, it is famous for its steak sandwiches and boasted a baked francesinha.

This is where we went: it's called Brasão Coliseu.

The atmosphere was warm and the staff was friendly, though our server spoke no English (there were plenty of servers who did). DW and I each ordered the francesinha: I had egg on top; DW did not. The meat was tender and flavourful; the sauce, tangy and tasty. It was a lot to eat, but DW and I were actually in a calorie deficit, and we had plenty more walking in store for the day.

I ate all of my francesinha but DW could only eat about two-thirds of hers. Properly stuffed, we moved on to our next plans.

From Brasão Coliseu, we walked across the Luis I Bridge into Gaia and negotiated the meandering streets to one of the most famous of all port wine houses, Taylor's. Going back as far as 1692, Taylor's makes one of my favourite tawny ports and offers self-guided tours for 15 euros, per person. You are provided with an audio system that plays a recording at various stages of the tour.

Personally, I found the recordings to be a bit long and grew tedious in extolling the wonders of Taylor Estates, but I guess that was to be expected. I skipped a few of the recordings and opted to simply read some of the plaques that stood at each station.

The tour ends in a garden where peacocks wander freely among patio tables. You are served two glasses of port wine: we were given a dry white (Chip Dry) and a 2017 Late Bottled Vintage that was quite fruity. While I was tempted to pick up a bottle or two, we decided to hold off because most of what we could afford, we could pick up in Ottawa.

We wanted something uncommon to bring home.

We wandered down to the riverside, for sunset, and then made our way to a restaurant that we had seen the previous night but had a long line. This time, the line was short so we queued up to grab a table.

Tempêro D'Maria (sorry, no Web site) offers excellent, fresh seafood and its patio overlooks the Douro and Porto. I had an octopus dish with clams and prawns, while DW feasted on a beautifully baked cod.

We wandered both sides of the river until we were thoroughly worn out and took an Uber back to our inn. We needed to get a good night's sleep because the next day was going to be even busier and longer than this day had been.

Stay tuned.