October 2014

It’s Friday morning and it’s a beautiful day here in Porto.  We will be here for a few more days and are really enjoying our time in this historic city.  One of teh best parts of our visit is seeing the Douro river that runs through the city.  This city is also the home of port wine and it’s the only place in the world that wine of this name comes from.

And there’s more.  As an added benefit of visiting the city, I get to do a real boating related post, finally, as the river is the home to a unique style of traditional sailing craft.  These boats were used for many years to transport wine in casks down the river from the wine country that is upstream from the city.

Port is a fortified wine that is made from either white or red wine that is made elsewhere and then brought to Porto where it is mixed with additional alcohol and aged a minimum of three years and often much longer to make the well known wine.  This is a good link to learn more about this type of wine.

While the wine is brought to the city via truck these days, the city still has a tradition of maintaining the historic boats that used to transport it from up river.  And, it seems that they are still building a few new ones.  And, the tour boats that are used today on the river are still built out of wood although they are now powered by engines.  We really enjoyed our short cruise on one these nice boats.  

The style is unique to the region with a high bow and stern, designed to manage the rapids in the river north of the city.   The current really rips when the tide is ebbing.  The force of the current is impressive.

Our hotel is a short distance from the river just off of a really impressive city square.  I guess that you could call this the “modern” section of the city.  As you go down to the river, you are in the really old section where the port wine business are located, even to this day. The sides of the river are very steep and there are a number of really impressive bridges.  In particular, this one was designed by Eiffel of Eiffel Tower fame.  It’s beautiful and has a pedestrian walkway on it’s top. The boat that we boarded for the river tour looked like this one.  It was constructed locally out of wood.  I like the design and was impressed with the speed it could make against the current that was ebbing at close to 5kts. Unlike so many tourist boats you see in historic areas that only barely resemble their traditional counterparts, these are very nice and there is a high attention to detail in their construction.   The interior was quite well appointed.  Brenda and I were the only ones on board that seemed to appreciate the need to stay out of the sun.  I guess it’s from our years aboard, always trying to avoid getting a “good tan”. We went under a number of great bridges but the Eiffel was clearly the most impressive. There is a boatyard perched on the bank of the river, right in the heart of the city where they are building and repairing traditional boats.   There were several traditional boats under construction and a big tour boat being made as well.

Quite a bit of activity.  Notice the chain saw near the guy on the scaffolding.  The builders are clearly all about efficiency and using the best tools for the job.The port wine companies are thriving and each “house” underwrites a traditional craft that’s moored on the river and flies their banner.  It’s impressive to see them lining the waterfront.   They appear to be in excellent condition.  It’s good to see a thriving classic wooden boat tradition living today. I found this wonderful video of the Douro wine boats making their way down the river back in the 20s.  It’s very well done.  Check it out.  Amazingly, the video only has a few hundred views.  

We also took a tour of the Ferreira Port caves.  It was very well done and the tasting was spectacular.  Bummer that we can’t bring more than a few bottles home with us.  The cellars were room after room of huge barrels, some holding 15,000 liters of wine and there were hundreds and hundreds of them.  After the tour and yet another tasting we enjoyed a terrific dinner overlooking the river as the sun set.  Yes, we even had wine with dinner.  What a spot.  Brenda and I have been wondering if it’s possible to die from too much cheese, bread and cured meets?  Yes, we know the hazards of too much wine as well.  However, no risk of DUI as our rental car is safely in a parking garage.   So far, we seem to be surviving on our “limited diet”.   Yumm…I just never get tired or nighttime views of these beautiful cities.  Well, today a walk over the top of the great Eiffel bridge.  We’d better get on with our day as it’s almost time for lunch.  Bread and cheese?  Hmm…

It’s Thursday morning and we are now in Porto, having arrived yesterday after a few hour drive north.  Speaking of roads, it’s amazing to see how much money they have spent on roads here and it seems to me that on a per resident basis, Portugal might have more roads than anywhere I have ever been.  It’s just not that big of a country and there are roads heading everywhere.

When I asked a resident what they thought had contributed most to the out of control national debt for the country, his immediate reaction was “highways”.   He told me that the government had made many new highways over the last few years that were way beyond what was needed.  I agree, the roads are terrific.

The other reason that he felt that the debt had gotten out of control was because they had built many stadiums for their hosting of the World Cup soccer a few years ago.  He said that they had built a dozen or more and most, if not all, are now sitting empty.  We saw one of these beautiful stadiums on our trip and it was indeed a grand building with lots of nearby housing that also looked vacant. I guess it’s pretty easy to get carried away with national pride and loose sight of what it’s going to cost in the long run.

Nice stadium.  Bummer it’s not in use these days beyond a display for a local car dealer. In case you are wondering, I took that photo while standing on the wall of this castle.  I’d say that’s about as much of a contrast as is possible.  In many ways, Portugal is a good example of contrast; the contrast of old and new.  So, speaking of old, we are now in Porto, the home of Port wine which we plan on trying a bit of while we are here for a few days.   Today we will be touring the old part of the city on foot which should be fun.  I expect that it’s built on a hill as it seems that most everywhere we go involves a hill.  Always up both ways, it seems.

I should include a few more photos of our time in Coimbra.  While we were there, we headed up to the highest point in the city and enjoyed this beautiful panoramic view of the surrounding area.  Click on it and it will go full screen, I think.  Very scenic, if a bit vertigo inducing. We loved this Mini Moka car.  It’s a car that only a golf cart could truly love.  Looks like something out of a cartoon. And, of course, always food on display in the markets to make you think of your next meal. On our last night there we enjoyed a walk in the city after dark and happened upon a group of young singers who were camped out at a little bar on a back street in the historic area.  They were students at the university, the oldest in Europe, BTW.  Note that they are wearing black capes, a tradition at the university.  It was a bit chilly and they had wrapped them around themselves giving them a somewhat medieval look.   Their impromptu “concert” of traditional Portuguese ballads was perhaps designed to get free beer, which they did.  We loved it and sat across the street at a bar and had a glass of wine, listening to them play for an hour.   It was a magical scene. What a wonderful and completely non-commercial experience that topped off our visit.  How serene.  A nice trio of young men. The one in the center was particularly engaging and charming.  However, I am not sure I’d want him dating my daughter, if I had one.  He looked like a bit of a scoundrel, in a nice way.   I guess that only added to the magic of the moment.

The rest of the city looked lovely in the twilight. Off to simple dinner.  And, all this with a 6.5 Euro bottle of nice red wine.  Can’t beat it.   We have eaten a LOT of tomatoes on this trip.   They are, unlike in the US, as good as they look. All this is making me hungry.  Perhaps I’d better head off to breakfast.

It’s Tuesday morning here in Portugal and it’s a special day as it was 42 years ago today that Brenda and I had our first date.  As we enter the second half of our month long trip to Portugal, we are certainly in more interesting surroundings than that day back in 1972 when we went to a tropical fish show in Norwalk CT. Yes, a “tropical fish show”…  Only the best for Brenda back then as well as today.  Well, perhaps there has been somewhat of an upgrade during that time.  We are after all, in Portugal.

No, hold on for a minute, let me think… Was October 28 our first date or was it when I asked her to “go steady” while we went on a long walk in the woods while I tried to summoned up the nerve to ask her if she “liked” me.  Hmm… Is this the beginning of dementia settling in?  One thing I do recall clearly from our walk in “Devils Den” in Weston CT, way back then was that her dad freaked out after his oldest was AWOL in the woods with some blond guy with shaggy hair, in the rain, for hours. I am afraid that he never really got over that one. 

It’s Monday afternoon and we have just returned from wondering around this wonderful little city.  The hotel where we are staying is located just on the outskirts of the old part of the city.

Interestingly, this is the home of the oldest university in Europe.   I expect that we will tour the campus tomorrow.  For now, I’d like to share a few photos of this picturesque city.

First, here’s a shot of the view from our hotel window.   Pretty nice if you ask me, even if you didn’t. Yesterday there was a display of antique fire engines along the main street in the shopping area.  I was struck by the brands on these trucks.  I have never seen fire engines from these companies in US car shows.    Interestingly, all of the vehicles were open and folks didn’t seem at all bashful about climbing up and sitting in the drivers seat. In the US, that just isn’t done.  Don’t touch!

I loved this Packard.  I didn’t know that they made fire engines.   Actually, they probably didn’t and just sold the chassis to someone who made it into a fire engine. How about a Ford? Or, a MAN.With the exception of one VW bus, the only vehicle in the group that wasn’t from the US was this Citroen.  I guess it was an ambulance. I was particularly amused by this police car.  I can’t imagine any self respecting cop in the US giving up his Crown Vic for one of these.  How would it look for one of them to get into a high speed chase with a souped up muscle car in one of these?   “He copper, want a drag?  Eat this…”  However, perhaps the bad guys would have to give up as the’d likely wet themselves when they looked in the rear view mirror.  As in other cities that we have visited so far, the streets here are impossibly narrow.   I don’t think that our hulking SUVs would work well here.  Perhaps US drivers could learn a thing or two from the Portuguese about proper cars.I was struck by this remarkable olive tree out behind a church.  I suspect that it’s age can be counted in thousands of years.   Well, that’s what the plaque near it seemed to suggest. The food here is really amazing with bread everywhere that you just can’t find in the US except where it is sold as “artisanal” bread for $5.00 a loaf.  Here, the best bread ever is just well, everywhere and it’s less than one Euro a loaf.

Pastries appealing to you?   Yes, this is the place. All along the narrow alleys you can see picturesque shops selling all sorts of goods.  When we visited this shop to buy a bottle of wine for about 3.5 Euros, the shop keeper tried his best to tell us how terrific our choice was as it was one of the most expensive bottles of wine he had in the store.   However, some of the bottles of port were a lot more as some were from the 1930s.  Everything looked so terrific.   I wanted to buy one of everything.  This was an interesting shop selling local pottery.  He was painting a plate with traditional designs.    After painting, it was to be fired in a kiln.  Beautiful stuff. It’s pretty clear to me that Brenda will be stuffing our luggage with some.    Can you say 50 lb maximum weight?As it’s nearly dinner time, perhaps I’ll close with a photo of last nights’ dinner, beautifully presented.  Grilled cod and pork shish kebob. (did I spell that right?) Yum.Oh yeah.  I almost forgot.   We really enjoyed our visit to Quinto do Campo, the inn in Valada dos Frades.  That was the place that was originally built some 900 years ago that I wrote about a few posts back.   We really enjoyed staying in their home.  They treated us like family and we’d love to have them visit us in the US some day.   What a nice group.  The only one of the picture that actually lives there full time is the guy in the blue shirt.   The rest of the group comes up on weekends.  Well, I had better sign off for now.  Dinner’s coming up.

It’s Sunday morning and yes, they set their clocks back in Portugal too.   How fun, now I get to adjust to yet another time change.

Anyway, the good new is that I have EXTRA HOUR to write more about CASTLES!

Yesterday, we drove around and spent time touring two more castle.  Portugal really has a LOT OF CASTLES.  It’s really remarkable how many castles a country can accumulate when they measure their history in thousands as opposed to hundreds of years.

It’s very different as a some folks here live in houses that are four times older than our country.

Yes, a very different mindset to think about time in the context of “oh yeah, that was built by the Romans when they occupied my ancestor’s land”.  “But not to worry, they left and now I live here.  Isn’t that castle great?”

Well, that’s OK, I guess.  When Brenda and I lived in NJ we had 5 (count em) shopping malls within a 15 minute drive from our home.  And yeah, and we even have Epcot too!

Here, there aren’t so many malls here but within a 30 minute drive there are Castles, and plenty of them.  Enough in fact, that it’s becoming hard for me to keep track of which pictures came from which castle.  Is it the one with the 200′ chimney in the kitchen or was it the one that St Bernard (the guy they named the dogs after, I think) was buried in?  Whatever…

Seriously though, these are very nice castles.  And they are REALLY BIG.  I can only imagine what it took to build them.  “I’ve got great news… We’ve decided to build a castle on that mountain over there.  And, you get to be a mason…for your entire life.  And, by the way, be sure that you and the misses you have lots of children as they too will be working on that castle, and their children, and their children and….  Well, don’t just stand there, get started.”

It took a really long time to build this…and this is only the part that’s visible from the square.  It’s really a pretty fancy place.  Actually, this was the home to lots and lots of monks and it’s technically not a castle.  However, my point remains…This is the monastery at Alcobaca, perhaps the most elaborate in Portugal.   Wikipedia tells the history better than I could so check it out.  This is one elaborate building.   And it’s been there for a VERY LONG TIME.    

If you were the queen, you might have been buried in one of these.  I would imagine that they started working on this sarcophagus when the queen was about 10 years old.   “Hurry Olad, chisel faster, the Queen is already nearly 12 years old.  You’ll never finish it in time…”
Seriously, the level of detail is just amazing.  And the spaces…beautiful.  Me, I could “contemplate” very well in this courtyard.How about this as a kitchen in a “model castle”?  Yes, I’ll take one of those.   That huge tiled thing in the center is the chimney for the “stove” and it’s several hundred feet tall. .  And, they even had a aqueduct, several miles long, built to bring water to the kitchen.   Check out the marble counter top.  Now that would be a great spot to roll out some pie crusts.  No, make that a gross of pie crusts…  It must have taken a lot of pies to keep the friars happy.  And, on top of that, there’s “pies for the poor” to give out.And, that was just our first stop of the day.  

On to the “other castle”.   And this one was the home of the “Knights Templar”. They were one nasty group of guys as they were the ones that brought “The Crusades” to Europe, on behalf of Christianity.  I looked and looked and didn’t see even a single “round table”.  Hmmm…

Anyway, this castle tops all.  And, they were clearly ready for any sort of siege that might come their way.  Look at this footing for the walls.  I’ll bet that took generations to build. And, that’s just to protect the front yard.  This is what you see when you enter.  Nice digs. Actually, the knights were pillaging all over Europe on behalf of the Catholic Church and after that it became a convent.  It’s a remarkable place and one of the most important historical sites in Portugal.   The Templar guys and the wealth that they accumulated supported the maritime voyages of discovery for Portugal in the 15th century.  There was clearly a lot of wealth concentrated within these walls.

The chapel is amazing and in wonderful condition and a great deal of care has gone into refurbishing it.
And, what a great courtyard, one of several.   I would imagine that planning pillaging required proper places to prepare in.The level of craftsmanship.  Amazing.  How about this spiral staircase? Everywhere you look, more over-the-top detail.  And, all of this was done without the aid of any sort of heavy lifting equipment beyond levers and pulleys.   Make that lots of levers and pulleys.Look at the lower window.  The grate is made of stone.  How’d they do that?It’s hard for me to imagine the kind of dedication, and availability of raw labor, to make something like this possible.   I’ll bet that they didn’t have any problems with labor negotiations either.  Hmm…  I’m not thinking that you said no to the Templar guys, ever.  Perhaps best not to think about that.

“Bob, Bob, what’s with the chicken thing in the title?”   Oh yeah, chickens.

We also visited a farmer’s market.  No plastic doodahs for sale at this market.  This was a REAL market, complete with chickens.  Lots of chickens. Little one and big ones. All sorts of great stuff.  We bought some cheese, dried fruit, bread, olives and pastries and had them for dinner here at the inn last night.  Very nice.

Oh yeah, wine too.

We’d better walk a LONG way today to work that all off.  Speaking of food, it’s time for breakfast.  Gotta go.