Without further ado, this was the four star hotel breakfast.
There were lots of different pastries and hot scrambled eggs and bacon on toast. Hm... Today's breakfast is cold bread with thin slices of ham and cheese.
I am still very grateful though, as there are still many people in Somalia who do not even have food to eat. The trouble is even if the world wishes to help them, there are still many obstacles in the way. Please send them your prayers.
Back to recalling my second day in Porto.
It was a Sunday, therefore we headed out to the Cathedral for Sunday Mass. Mass was in Portuguese, I am so glad I purchased the Missal app before departing from HK, at least we know the readings for the Mass!
After Mass we had to find the bus station for which we will depart for Fatima, turns out the Station we got to Porto is not the same station as the one to get to Fatima.
It is one of those things you learn and get used to when traveling for a long period, now we always think 2-3 days ahead to plan our transportation and travel routes.
After everything was sorted, we aimed our path towards what makes Porto so famous. Port Wine!
We took the bus back to Gaia to the wine cellars, our aim is not the tours, which we are sure is not very different to the ones in NZ, but to the tasting rooms.
First a photo with the boats moored on the riverbank, it was a beautiful sunny day.
Our first stop, the Calem Winery.
This is the tasting room. Here tasting is charges by the glass.
Our aim was the vintage ports, which should be ready to drink. We tried their vintage 1999.
It was amazing! Lovely rich bold texture and flavor. Smooth and irresistible.
At the price of 38 euros a bottle I was very tempted to take one home, but.. The weight of an extra kilo is just too much, I asked and they do have distributors in the States, maybe I can consider buying one on our way home.
Martin and Dominique, both with the shorter journey jumped in to purchase the vintage 2003, a good year that promises even better flavors after spending longer in a cellar. I am a little envious, but my back this morning told me I had made the right choice.
We also visited other places, but I think Calem is a must go as they do make a very good presentation of Port wine. No wonder they are so famous globally.
We were told yesterday by a taxi driver that the best food is found in Gaia, therefore, we walked along the river bank in search for lunch.
Not having had enough, we decided to get a bottle of Croft Tawny to have with our meal.
Yes, we know it's better with dessert, but there is just something magical about having Port Wine in it's very home.
I had the sardine over charcoal grill, it was absolutely amazing. Fresh fish grilled with a little sea salt and olive oil to finish!
This is the owner of the restaurant, he didn't speak a word of English, but managed to communicate with us and make jokes. He was the star of the show, couldn't resist inviting him to have some Port and photos. The owner quickly went inside for a glass, but the son caught up just before we poured to tell us the old man is not allowed too much to drink! I could see the disappointment in the old owner's eyes. This is life, we only get one chance to be young and carefree!
Turns out wine tasting and lunch took a long time, by the time we stepped out of the restaurant it was already 4pm!
We crossed back over the river to the bustling Ribeira markets that sell a lot of hand crafts and local produce. Mostly it is hand crafted jewellery which did not really tempt me into a purchase.
We took the tour bus again, this time on a slightly different route into the neighborhood of Gaia. Perhaps it was the wine, whilst we were passing bits of Porto which we have already visited, all three of us fell asleep on the bus. I forgot to mention Martin had left us to go back to the Hotel to get some work done.
More scenic photos.
These are the wall tile murals in the main train station.
That night we headed back to the Ribeira for dinner.
We met a coin cutter from Northern England. Andrew travels all over the world cutting these beautiful coin pendants to pay for his travel. His work is amazingly detailed and his craftsmanship is excellent.
He does his work by hand.
At 20 euros a piece it is not a high price for the craftwork. We chatted for a while, he is even planning a trip to Australia in the winter!
Andrew let's us know there are not many people who does this work as it is tedious and takes a long time. The coin with the ship took him 2 hours to complete.
He was really friendly, he even gave us some pointers for Lisbon on what to see and where to eat.
An amazing man, he knew his work's worth, I did not buy one in the end as I cannot imagine wearing the delicate work as a pendant, nor contemplate only having it sit in the bottom of my cupboard at home.
Perhaps one day we will meet again when his wander takes him to NZ.
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Location:Hotel Coracao De Fatima
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