After a good night sleep in some comfy beds, we were ready to explore Porto. We texted our buddy Rui, our taxi driver from the train station yesterday. Thanks to my friend Carlos, I learned how to say “this is Lesa from Rua do Argo. Are you available?” Well apparently I sounded so much like a local in my text, he responded in Portuguese! Thank goodness for Google Translate...one of a traveler’s best tools.
We had Rui take us to São Bento train station to see their famed tiles. The tiles tell the history of Portugal in some of the most beautiful azulejos (decorative, hand painted tiles).
After a quick stop at the Tourist Information office to pick up a map and tickets for the hop-on/hop-off bus (one of our traditions as it always gives us a good overview of a city so we can decide what we want to do as we rarely make many plans when we travel), we stopped in to Cremosi for a little gelato...I mean it was right next to the TI so it was like fate meant for us to go in before heading to the Cathedral.
The Cathedral towers over the city of Porto and while from down below it looked very large, it was in fact a rather small church. It is currently undergoing renovations so most of it was behind guard fence, however, we were able to still access the cloister and the Sacristy.
In our attempt to continue downhill, we walked down many many steps to get to Igreja dos Grilos (Church of the Crickets). The church was renamed because when Discalced (barefoot or wearing sandals) Friars from the Order of Satin Augustine came to Portugal from Spain, they landed in the area of the crickets and earned the name from the villagers of Brother Crickets. It really is quite beautiful inside and has unique floor panels. It appears the panels can be pulled up so we decided they were hiding the graves of people affiliated with the church (there was no guide or booklet available so we had to come up with our conclusions).
Tonight we had an Eatwith dinner planned so we headed back to our apartment to freshen up. We texted Rui and once again he arrived to take us home. After the taxi ride of death our first night after dinner, we decided we would text Rui anytime we needed a ride as he was nice AND more importantly he knew where we lived. We asked him to come back to take us to dinner but he was not working so he said he would send his nephew (Ricardo) to pick us up...its a family affair in Porto.
Eatwith continues to be a great experience for us as dinner tonight with Dixa (dee-sha) and family was wonderful. It all started when Julie and I were pulling up the instructions for entering her building when what turned out to be her son (Bernardo) and his girlfriend (Ana) asked if we were going to a dinner and told us their connection to Dixa. What a terrific evening we had with Dixa, Jose (her husband), Ana and Bernardo. Dixa is a retired French teacher and terrific host...she was so welcoming and gracious...and just super sweet.
Our evening started with a Port Tonic cocktail (1 part white port, 2 parts tonic, slice of lemon and ice), cod salad (raw cod, garlic and olive oil), olives (to my surprise I liked these olives as normally I do not) and sardines (yes, canned sardines...canned fish is very popular in Portugal). Dinner was a traditional Portuguese meal...salad and duck rice and of course wine. For dessert, we had creme brûlée Portuguese style...and of course Port wine. This style is a much lighter and creamy custard than French creme brûlée. Another thing different about the Portuguese style is that rather than using a torch to brown the sugar, they have what resembles an electric stop burner on a wand and place it top of the dish. This method gave the sugar a different texture and flavor...we agreed we much preferred the Portuguese style.
Before we knew it, it was 11:00pm and we needed to head home as we have an early tour of the Douro Valley for some wine tasting. Ricardo was on the other side of town so we took our chances with Uber. Bernardo and Ana walked us out and made sure the driver knew exactly where to take us and we arrived home safely. Now for bed so we will be ready for more wine tomorrow.
Boa noite!
Our next stop was to be the Cathdral (Se de Porto) but it was closed from 12:30p-2:30p so we did a little exploring and found O Rapido. In hopes the name reflected quick service, we popped in for lunch. Fortunately we got the only table that was not reserved (we later discovered it was a popular spot for th locals and everyone makes ressies for lunch) and the place did not disappoint. Not only was it fast, it was made from scratch and so tasty. I had the guisado de bacalhau (cod fish stew) and Julie had the Hake with octopus rice.
After a quick stop at the Tourist Information office to pick up a map and tickets for the hop-on/hop-off bus (one of our traditions as it always gives us a good overview of a city so we can decide what we want to do as we rarely make many plans when we travel), we stopped in to Cremosi for a little gelato...I mean it was right next to the TI so it was like fate meant for us to go in before heading to the Cathedral.
The Cathedral towers over the city of Porto and while from down below it looked very large, it was in fact a rather small church. It is currently undergoing renovations so most of it was behind guard fence, however, we were able to still access the cloister and the Sacristy.
In our attempt to continue downhill, we walked down many many steps to get to Igreja dos Grilos (Church of the Crickets). The church was renamed because when Discalced (barefoot or wearing sandals) Friars from the Order of Satin Augustine came to Portugal from Spain, they landed in the area of the crickets and earned the name from the villagers of Brother Crickets. It really is quite beautiful inside and has unique floor panels. It appears the panels can be pulled up so we decided they were hiding the graves of people affiliated with the church (there was no guide or booklet available so we had to come up with our conclusions).
Tonight we had an Eatwith dinner planned so we headed back to our apartment to freshen up. We texted Rui and once again he arrived to take us home. After the taxi ride of death our first night after dinner, we decided we would text Rui anytime we needed a ride as he was nice AND more importantly he knew where we lived. We asked him to come back to take us to dinner but he was not working so he said he would send his nephew (Ricardo) to pick us up...its a family affair in Porto.
Eatwith continues to be a great experience for us as dinner tonight with Dixa (dee-sha) and family was wonderful. It all started when Julie and I were pulling up the instructions for entering her building when what turned out to be her son (Bernardo) and his girlfriend (Ana) asked if we were going to a dinner and told us their connection to Dixa. What a terrific evening we had with Dixa, Jose (her husband), Ana and Bernardo. Dixa is a retired French teacher and terrific host...she was so welcoming and gracious...and just super sweet.
Our evening started with a Port Tonic cocktail (1 part white port, 2 parts tonic, slice of lemon and ice), cod salad (raw cod, garlic and olive oil), olives (to my surprise I liked these olives as normally I do not) and sardines (yes, canned sardines...canned fish is very popular in Portugal). Dinner was a traditional Portuguese meal...salad and duck rice and of course wine. For dessert, we had creme brûlée Portuguese style...and of course Port wine. This style is a much lighter and creamy custard than French creme brûlée. Another thing different about the Portuguese style is that rather than using a torch to brown the sugar, they have what resembles an electric stop burner on a wand and place it top of the dish. This method gave the sugar a different texture and flavor...we agreed we much preferred the Portuguese style.
Before we knew it, it was 11:00pm and we needed to head home as we have an early tour of the Douro Valley for some wine tasting. Ricardo was on the other side of town so we took our chances with Uber. Bernardo and Ana walked us out and made sure the driver knew exactly where to take us and we arrived home safely. Now for bed so we will be ready for more wine tomorrow.
Boa noite!
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