First up, this week’s post is coming via iPad so 1) no pingbacks to some of my favourite posts of the week and 2) you will probably hear the cursing from wherever you are as I fail to get the WordPress app to do what I want and revert to Chrome. Anyway, this has been a week of small pleasures, arriving in Portugal as I wrote about in my last post seeing my nephew and family and enjoying being on holiday with no work commitments.
On Thursday morning, we took the train up to Porto (I won’t go into details of getting on the wrong train to start with but still ending up on the correct train in our booked seats for train number 2…) for a few days. After checking into our hotel, we went for a walk and much needed cold beer, and happened upon this fabulous tinned fish shop. Oh if only I could take some back!
Walking in Porto
We set off after our hotel breakfast on Friday with no particular goals in mind other than to explore the city.
Narrow streets, signs of domestic life, colours and tiles are everywhere. Porto is very hilly, so be prepared if you visit for walking up and down and up again.
We found ourselves at a place with a view over the city and lots of building work going on. It is always interesting to see the old, abandoned buildings, the graffiti and wondering what will come in that place.
Almost everywhere you look there are buildings covered with tiles…the round tower, the red, the yellow and the blue.
We ended up down by the river, where after a seat and long, cold drink, we strolled along a bit and spotted a row of buildings, most repaired and modernised except one in the middle. So interesting to see, and wonder if the shell will soon be a home again.
Sunday
We had planned on a museum about Porto on Sunday morning, but it was only partly open, with one room on mosaics and one on coins. We had a look of course (some amazing tiles) and then headed for another museum which was under renovation and where we could see an old chemistry lab and some rocks. The construction work was interesting though.
So we went for a long lunch at The Door where we feasted on oysters, a big salad, beef carpaccio, empanadas (one garlic prawn, one beef), and a chorizo dish along with bread and spreads. The carpaccio was one of the best I have ever had, and I loved the way the softened the confit of garlic, then rolled the meat up so nothing got missed. A cold beer washed it all down.
(Other) Eating
On Thursday, we were both hungry early, and found this great bar (Catraio) with a good selection of beer serving first class burgers. There was also live jazz, internet (see last last post as to why this was important) and a friendly cat (pictured below).
For lunch on Friday, we found a place where we could and watch the world go by while eating. Karl had a steak with mushroom sauce and crisps/chips and I had a rice and squid pot, with the most perfectly cooked squid. I liked the plate I was given too.
For dinner, we found a nice place nearby where I enjoyed some excellent tortelloni filled with spinach and served with a mushroom sauce, while Karl had the tagliatelle bolognaise.
And we found out the Hamburg based Fritz cola is available here too.
Simple things
- Enjoying sunshine.
- Taking a trip on Saturday to the Douro Valley – more of that on Wednesday.
- Eating a lot of good food.
- Being on holiday
- Relaxing in Portugal
- Meeting another cat..and seeing another one…two…
Thistles and Kiwis is a Wellington, New Zealand based blog written by Barbara, who likes cats, summer and good food. Thistles and Kiwis can be found on Facebook and Instagram @thistlesandkiwis
Thistles and Kiwis 