Located along the Douro river, Porto is the second largest city in Portugal. Porto, or Oh … Porto (aka Oporto) has been designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Maybe Oseattle would get us similar notoriety ? Most recently, Porto has recently become an Instagram mecca because of Harry Potter. Never read it, seen it, or know anything about it. The only Harry Potter that I know rides a horse and served in the Korean War. It was easy to spot the Potter Points of Interest, based on the bus loads of Potter people pounding the pavement in pursuit of their precious prize … a selfie proving they percerveered in their pursuit of a pointless pilgrimage. Don’t worry I can keep going with this … but I won’t. Promise. Probably.
Porto may be a large city, but the historical center is actually quite compact and easy to get around. Well, there are the hills. Very steep hills. “How much do we want to go out for dinner ?” kind of hills. During our stay in Porto, a massive construction effort was underway to expand the subway system through the historical center. It made for some challenging navigation. Fortunately, unlike our stay in Naples, the weather was wonderful and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Just hills. Hills that only seemed to go up. When the hills were too steep, there were stairs. Yippee. However, every local that we met seemed to have a ‘hidden’ path. We took full advantage of these secret treasures. It was like our own Harry Potter hunt for treasure … if that is a thing. An escalator in this building or an elevator in that parking garage. Salvation. Unfortunately, in a paradoxical twist, the one obvious elevator located in our apartment building was out of order.
When we last visited Portugal, we missed out on Fado. This time, we did not. It turns out, it is not the masculine derivative of Fido. We attended an intimate presentation of Fado … which was performed by two guitar players and one singer. The singer’s voice was amazing. I didn’t understand a single word of the music, but the sad and haunting melody would make any Finn seem like a happy, go-lucky, upbeat sort of character. I can see why they invented Port.
When in Portugal, it is mandatory to have cod. I think it states so in your passport stamp. We have had very good cod in Lisbon before. We had some in Porto this time. It was nothing particularly noteworthy. However, after taking a private cooking class at someone’s home, we learned the ‘traditional’ way to have cod in Porto. Bacalhau a Bras is shredded cod with shoestring potatoes. Yes, those crispy sticks in a bag. We thought our cooking teacher was just ‘playing with tourists’. In fact, it was delicious. Particularly when paired with a nice Douro wine. Once we knew what to look for, we found it in several local restaurants, tucked away from the tourists spots that line the waterfront. However, with all due respect to the revered cod, Porto has a better culinary offering.
It was first described to us as a ‘heart-attack in a sandwich’. The Francesinha (No, I don’t know how to pronounce it). We ventured off the tourist trail to sample this ominous creature at the epicenter of ‘those in the know’. Cafe Santiago. A photo in the window shows how the sandwich is constructed. Perhaps it is required by law to protect the owners from potential litigation. We were warned, “share one”. We did. Bread, sausage, steak, mortadella, cheese, a beer-based sauce, french fries, and an egg. We polished that one off with a couple of beers. Later in the trip, I sampled a more upscale version at another establishment. Let’s also toss some Foie on top of that monster … because we can. I did not share this time. They didn’t know who they were dealing with. The sandwich is quite delicious. However, I recommend choosing your accommodations downhill from the restaurant so that a slow gentle tumble gets you back home for a mid afternoon nap. That worked until we forgot about the four flights of stairs up to the apartment.
Of course, in Porto there is Port. Actually, that is a lie. The Port producers are not in Porto. Instead, the purveyors of Port (sorry. I had to get one more in) are located across the river in Gaia. It was just a 12 minute walk from our apartment across the river to Gaia. And no hills !! Ah, a paradise of Port (Now I can’t stop. I think I need some sort of intervention). Wonderful sunny weather, a view across the Douro river to the hills of Porto, several glasses of Port, and a tasting of chocolate. Perfect.
Damn. I forgot about those stairs back at the apartment.
