Portugal Travels – Adventure 6

Once Matt rescued us from the alley, we got settled into the AirBnb. Here the complimentary breakfasts and happy hours came to an end. But Megan made scrambled eggs with veggies every morning with the vegetables she had bought at Praca da Fruta, and we made sure we had port on hand for our own happy hours and nightcaps on the porch.

And, oh, what a view from that porch.

Our AirBnb was actually located in Vila Nova De Gaia which is across the Douro River from Porto. We would walk across this bridge (either top or bottom – whichever we thought was easiest – no conclusion reached) to get to Porto. If you zoom in, you can see there were quite a few pedestrians.

As can be inferred from his guest post, Matt had taken on the role of mother duck. The stress of that role kicked into high gear over the next couple of days as he led us across this bridge, up and down the challenging hills of Porto, and through the sea of tourists. He had to make sure all his ducklings were in a row and keeping up. Of course, there were a few times I think he would have accepted the loss of one or two ducklings as part of life.

Porto Pre Adventure #6

Since we arrived late in the afternoon, Matt did not have an adventure outlined for that day. Simply exploring. We had dinner at a hidden away hole-in-the-wall (Intrigo). I can’t get to their website to see their menu to jog my memory as to what we had. All I remember is we had a bunch of tapas, and they were all excellent.

Porto Adventure #6

Adventure 6 was basically more exploring. There is so much to walk around and see in Porto. We climbed up to Miradouro do Chrissy (a scenic spot, but what spot wasn’t scenic?) where we wished Chris (sister, not son-in-law) a happy birthday, we walked by and sometimes popped into a church or two (depending on line), we walked by Livraria Lello (rumored to be the Harry Potter bookstore) but did not go in because of line, we saw the cat (a “MUST for MATT” according to his itinerary), and we had lunch where Dave, as usual, engaged the authentically nice waitress in banter that she might not have quite understood. We finished with a Pastel da Nata and bought some chocolate on Rua das Flores.

Porto Post Adventure #6

After heading back to the AirBnb and recovering a bit, we made our way to Graham’s where Matt went first class once again and booked “an extraordinary visit to the Graham’s 1890 Lodge with a guided tour and port wine tasting before taking in the spectacular views from the Vinum Restaurant terrace with a Port & Tonic. A bespoke four-course dinner will follow, specially prepared by Vinum’s chefs and paired with some of the Symington family’s finest wines.“

The above description from the Graham’s website is accurate including “extraordinary” and “spectacular”. I forget the specific courses that were served, but I know octopus was in there at some point.

There were three things that Americans did in this venue that give Americans a bad name.

1. Mid-dinner, a large group of Americans showed up. They were VERY loud. Much louder than a large group of Chaffees/Gosselins have ever been. I think.
2. Dave raised the topic of bidets. He kept asking questions like “Are they just for women?” and “Has anyone used one?” He wouldn’t let the topic go. He even brought Chris (son-in-law, not sister) into the conversation over text. I was worried Carolyn didn’t appreciate the conversation, but a couple days after we returned, she sent an Instagram reel to Dave, via Megan, of a man using a bidet. So I guess she was okay with it.
3. I may have stolen a bottle of port.

I think I may have just two more Portugal posts to go! Hang in there!