This week’s small pleasures 495

Thistles and Kiwis,

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

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Published by Thistles and Kiwis

Loves summer, sunshine and cats. Beginner gardener, likes eating, cooking and reading about food

42 Comments

  4. Tiles makes everything look like art! I once rented a house belonging to an artist in Northern California for a year, and she had been doing art work of tiles all around her house. I am so mad at myself for not taking photos of them. They were in every room and I admired them daily. Your post made me think about that house.

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  8. thanks, Barbara, Reading your post has just reminded me of the wonderful river cruise we had on the Douro and in Porto . It is an amazing city. I particularly liked the terraces of vines carved into the hillsides aand the port tasting. We liked Callam the best

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  11. Unhappily for me, mostly have eyes just for the one photo – those of the tins of fish 🙂 ! Altho’ I am not being fair to global warming or the Australian economy, just love the Spanish and Portuguese ones compared to what is available in our supermarkets ! Yes, there is a wonderful local shop with sky-high prices !!! Oh, have loved the walk also and the kitty murals especially . . . 🙂 !

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  17. Pingback: swirl – Touring My Backyard

  18. Woohoo! The joys of being on vacation, without the distractions of work to interfere with your enjoyment!

    I love the tiles and the murals about town. Thank you for the glimpses into this charming town! I love the last kitty kat mural – it looks mighty pleased.

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  19. Your post brought back memories of Porto. I greatly enjoyed your photos of the tiles, the food and the cat murals. Thank you for your weekend coffee share.

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  23. Portugal looks delightful Barbara. I love the pattern with the bird on that ?placemat. And I’m sure I’d enjoy all the tiles too.

    WordPress can be frustrating sometimes.

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