Day 40 Wednesday 25 September 2019

This morning I went out on the balcony to say goodbye to this “as you find it – warts and all city”, and whilst not quite not quite as extreme, I think it is gloriously like the Naples of Portugal. With a medium weight blanket of fog draped over her she looked quite mysterious and calm. It was 7am and the morning was beautifully quiet with few cars and sparse people activity. Porto has been a pleasant surprise and memorable, definitely a city we would recommend stopping by and enjoying her simple pleasures.

Our transit to the station went smoothly as we rolled our bags down the hill, their tired wheels clacking faithfully on the concrete and tiles. On arrival we double checked with an attendant which platform to go on, found our seat and got ready for identifying the one stop where we had to change to the higher speed inter-city line.

We only had a second class ticket on the high speed train instead of our usual first class, but that was fine as there really was no notable difference to this and the very small 1st class section. The train was modern, comfortable, roomy and rocked along at an average of 240km for most of the nearly 3 hrs to Porto.

I can’t comment too much on the scenery as I tried to catch up on blogs as I have done zilch the whole time in Porto however, Vern reports it was quite green but a bit untidy and unkempt. When we arrived we got a taxi as planned and a short trip and €7 later we were at our boutique small family run hotel. It is in a lovely restored 18th century building in a central historic area, at the top of one of the many steep hills that make up Lisbon.

We had a very nice warm check in with a bottle of wine, personal letter, and help sheet of the area including restaurants, map and connections. There is a beautiful common room and areas with free coffee, fruit and cakes all day and two different ports to help yourself to – groan. We enjoy a private terrace over the garden from the second floor. I think we will be very comfortable here.

First on the agenda was lunch, so we headed down the hill to the food market called ‘Time out’’ which comes highly recommended. It has stands from top chefs and other good food places. By the throngs of people there – it is clearly very popular. We did the circuit inspecting plates and decided on sharing a sandwich and a cake so as to not ruin our appetites for dinner. The sandwich happened to be beef steak, foie gras, and truffle mayonnaise and boy was it delicious – best steak sanga I have ever had and I award it the top NOM NOM award.

Really, the experience of chewy fresh bread roll, tasty tender juicy beef topped with creamy perfect foie gras, caramelised onion and musky truffle mayo with combined juice dribbling down your chin. Finger smacking good. The food is not cheap there compared to Porto, but then this is a very different city.

In deed, you would think you were in a different county, not just a different city. Porto feels like it is on a different time zone; whilst still full of tourists it retains its character and remains connected to a slower time. Lisbon feels very modern along side its historical features and is even more jammed packed with tourists than Porto if that is at all possible!

After lunch we wandered along the picturesque Harbourside/riverside to the large town square and main touristic traffic free shopping street – promenade. Along the way were loads of people strolling, or simply sitting on chairs or rocks basking in the sun like lizards. We noticed a large cruise ship just ahead at the port, so it must be quite a deep harbour close to the city.

We were warned that prices were high in this shopping district and not to eat here, but I did try a codfish ball with sheep’s cheese as you could see them being made and I am a sucker for sheep’s cheese ….. It looked better than it tasted but I was warned!

There is a famous elevator – de Santa Justa which is a 147ft (45m) tower built in 1902 that connects the flat Baiza district with the Bairro Alto/Chiado districts along this promenade. Built in the style of the Eiffel Tower, it also has a viewing platform up the top which we want to experience but you guessed it – the queues were ridiculous so we gave it a miss for another day.

Instead we saw the tram heading up the look out hill so we managed to get on a not too crowded one and took in the very fun ride up to this old Alfama district. This area was not so damaged in the big earthquake so retains its medieval streets and older buildings. There are several great lookout points along the way but because we actually got seats we stayed put till the end of the line, and we plan to do a hop on hop off another day. The area looks very scenic and the ride was a real highlight; weaving in-between buildings on a narrow line, and honking and avoiding the oncoming and side traffic in a delightful organised chaos where accidents are barely avoided, all without any great concern.

At the end of the line we found our way home – about a 15 minute walk mostly downhill, and tried to get into dinner at a recommended place from the list our host gave us with no luck.

So we tried the next on the list which was still within a 10 minute radius of home, but didnt like the menu and it had a big queue so we continued up and down the eat street area looking at places but couldn’t find anything that appealed.

The area was charming, shabby chic, and cobbled. A lot of people were wandering around looking for fado restaurants, clearly making the most of the cheap booze. We must have got off track from a locals area to a tourist street but it was getting late – 9pm by then so we choose the best we had seen and sat down. The menu was limited but better than grilled fish and chips and salad or grilled meat chips and salad, so we got a squid and shrimp in garlic oil with boiled potatoes and a pork with mustard and honey and a plate of vegetables.

The vegetables were mushy soft, and my seafood was bouncy dry. The waitress did check how it was so I told her it was not good and grossly over cooked. She offered to take it back but I said that it was ok as we had waited so long for the meal, I didn’t want to wait again. She assured me that she would get it quicker and wanted to right it so I let her take it. True to her word she came back within 10 minutes with an new dish that was a lot better but pretty unremarkable. Ah well, you win some you loose some. Verns pork was pretty blah, but edible. These places get away with it due to the drunk diners and sheer volumes of people day in day out.

We enjoyed our late night stroll home, along those fabulous yellow lit, worn, old cobbled streets with sounds of happy diners and the beginnings of late night soulful fado shows closely guarded to prevent bystanders hearing for free.