From Peterborough (Ontario) to Quinta da Boa Viagem (very near Viana do Castelo) in 13 hours. The place here is very lovely. José Queiroz (the owner) is a descendant of the man who first established the estate in 1512. On Senhor Queiroz’s recommendation, we had lunch in town at O Pescador where we shared a whole robalho do mar grelhado with a bottle of vinho verde branco da casa. The meal was absolutely delicious – a great start to our visit.
The airplane that will take us to Portugal. Porto’s airport. We landed here after a pleasant, direct and uneventful flight on SATA. We are staying here for four nights. The grounds are lovely. Owner’s house and office (early 16th century). We are staying in a suite just to the left of the left-most arch. The extensive gardens include these two lions, modelled after those found in China during the “Discoveries” by the current owner’s ancestor. A very peaceful place. Part of the local ornamentation. Capela da Boa Viagem. On the road to Santiago de Compostela.
Monday, 6 October 2008
We drove along the Rio Lima from Viana do Castelo to Ponte da Barca on the south shore (following N203) and returned on the north shore (on N202). It is a beautiful, scenic drive – highly recommended! Not to mention a superb lunch at O Matadouro, just outside the town of Arcos de Valdevez. After sharing excellent pataniscas de bacalhau, Steve had arroz do tamboril and Susan had espetada de lulas com gambas. Everything was accompanied by a perfectly acceptable vinho verde branco da casa.
Vines · kale · maize. This is everywhere here. Again, the colours are stunning – the photograph does not even come close to doing them justice. Typical scene along the Rio Lima (kale and vines). Orphaned. Kale and vines. Left behind.
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
The day (and previous night) started out badly, with heavy rain and wind. News reports headlined the mau tempo in the northwest. But, by 10am, the rain had stopped, so we drove up to Monção, on the Rio Minho (almost as far north as you can go in Portugal). By the time we reached there, the sun was shining. Back to Vila Nova de Cerveira for a nice lunch at O Cantinho dos Amigos (more grilled fish and vinho verde – darn!). Since the weather had turned (in the morning we thought the day was a write-off!), we set off cross-country (which is our preferred way to travel) to Ponte de Lima, where we had stopped briefly the previous day. Ponte de Lima is the oldest town in Portugal. And, it is lovely. We spent the rest of the afternoon there, enjoying the gardens.
Part of the ponte at Ponte de Lima. This portion is part of the medieval section, finished in 1370. The Roman portion (see later photographs) was built in the 1st century, CE. Garden city. Teresa, Countess of Portugal, after signing the town’s charter (the oldest in Portugal) on 4 March 1125. Ponte documentation. Part of the original Roman bridge, about 2000 years old. Capela do Anjo da Guarda. Capela do Anjo da Guarda, probably built in the late 13th century CE. Jardim Romano. Steve studies some documentation in the Jardim Romano. Art shot. In one of the many lovely gardens in Ponte de Lima. This is a wonderful, peaceful place on the grounds of Quinta de Boa Viagem. We enjoyed the ocean view and the sunset before dinner. Grisca and Susan.
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
We spent the day in and around Viana do Castelo (we are staying just north of there). It is an interesting town, located where the Rio Lima empties into the Atlantic Ocean.
Igreja das Almas in Viana do Castelo. Templo de Santa Luzia. Two bridges span the Lima. A great view from he Templo de Santa Luzia (looking southeast). The small city of Viana do Castelo is shown in part. Lima meets the Atlantic. Hazy, but worth remembering. A great view from he Templo de Santa Luzia (looking southwest). The small city of Viana do Castelo is shown in part. At the Templo de Santa Luzia. Somehow appropriate 🙂
Thursday, 9 October 2008
A travel day, as we move from Viana do Castelo to the Douro (south of Penafiel).
Very interesting place that we stumbled upon as we travelled south. Near Santo Tirso. We are staying here for two nights.
Friday, 10 October 2008
We didn’t do much except enjoy this beautiful day. Abôl de Baixa is a lovely, quiet spot with some great views. And, there are no other guests here (until Saturday, when we are leaving), so we have the entire place to ourselves. We did go out for lunch at Restaurante Dorna Velha (in Oldrões), which was disappointing. It wasn’t bad (we’ve only ever had one bad meal in Portugal that we can remember), but we’ve had better.
Abôl de Baixo. This building has three apartments, a huge common room, breakfast room, kitchen, patio, deck. Beautifully updated (the original building is 200 years old), with excellent WiFi. And, we have it all to ourselves! N224 across the Douro. Just south of Penafiel. Beautiful spot, just down the road from where we are staying (Abôl de Baixo). Yes, those are grape vines in the foreground.
Saturday, 11 October 2008
Another transition day, as we move from the Douro to the Tejo (perhaps the two greatest rivers in Portugal). Our initial drive went through some spectacular country, along the south side of the Douro to Cinfães and then southeast to Castro Daire (where we stopped and had lunch. After that, we picked up the autostrada and went east·south·west around the formidable Serra da Estrela to Quinta de Coalhos, where we have stayed several times.
Typical scene in this part of Portugal. Very nice carro – a Fiat Ibiza (diesel). It’s not all sunshine in Portugal! Vinho verde needs to be served chilled, even on a picnic!
Our trip to Lisboa from Toronto was completed on this aircraft.
Friday, 4 January 2008
Our somewhat stunned “mug shots” (that we took in Peterborough) that allowed us to get the wonderful Cartão Lisboa Viva. With the Viva card, we are able to travel in all of the urban area of Lisboa, plus a little extra for 32€ (for a month). This includes the Metro and extensive Carris network. It’s a great deal. Plus, we now have Portuguese photo ID! We applied for the cards the day we arrived (Thursday, 3 January) and were able to pick them up the next day. Great service.
Cartão Lisboa Viva.
Thursday, 10 January 2008
We begin our second week in Lisboa today. And, it was a lovely day – the best we’ve seen so far.
Beautiful aloe in Jardim da Estrela.
Saturday, 12 January 2008
A beautiful day in Lisboa found us engaged in one of our favourite activities – a picnic in Jardim da Estrela (plus, a walk to Amoreiras). We’ve only had a couple of really nice days since we’ve been here and this was one of them! While waiting for our favourite autocarro (number 74), the reflections you see in a couple of the photographs caught the eye.
Saturday, in the park … Why is she taking my photograph? Lunch is winding down … Just hanging around. Gaudi in Lisboa?
Monday, 14 January 2008
Another beautiful January day in Lisboa.
Stop do Bairro. This has quickly become one of our favourite restaurants in this area. Carris 74 – coming and going. On Rua Sampaio Bruno, just south of the intersection with Rua Almeida e Sousa. The autocarro on the right is stopped at Escola Manuel Maia, while the one on the left just happened along and will turn right (a direita) in about 30 metres, leading to its stop just around the corner – see next photograph. This is Carris Route 74 making its first stop on Rua Almeida e Sousa, just east of Rua Sampaio Bruno as it leaves its western terminus at Prazeres (Campo Ourique). This a great little autocarro, which seats twelve (although we have been in one that had an additional 18 standing!) and runs every nine minutes on week-days (dias úteis). One view from our apartment (looking east).
Thursday, 17 January 2008
Today we visited the wonderful Museu Nacional do Azulejo. There are some incredible pieces there, including some more modern ones.
Museu Nacional do Azulejo.
Cat and mouse game.
Grande panorama de Lisboa. Part of the Vista Panorâmica de Lisboa. Part of the Vista Panorâmica de Lisboa.
Friday, 18 January 2008
A beautiful day in Lisboa. It was so nice that we decided to take a ferry across the Tejo and back. But, as you can see from the photographs, the weather on the river was not the same as it was in Campo de Ourique! So, we have postponed our ferry ride. The four photographs in this set were taken at 10:18am · 12:43pm · 3:02pm · 5:46pm.
The mid-morning sun was striking the No Parking sign just right to create an interesting reflection. The parked car is fairly typical 🙂 The main room in our apartment. Ponte 25 de Abril where the sun was not shining this afternoon. Early twilight in Campo de Ourique where it is still a beautiful day.
Saturday, 19 January 2008
A famosa Susana, the KOSMUS canine. Susana é um cão especial e estava um prazer em conhecê-se com todo sua família a KOSMUS. Nosso apartamento. We are on the 2° piso, which includes the four windows (including the balcony, which faces southeast) you see across the top. We are on the 2° piso.
Sunday, 20 January 2008
Another beautiful day in Lisboa – que bom dia! A lazy Sunday found us having a late morning bica pingada (together with some wonderful sonhos) at Az de Comer before doing a little shopping and then “taking the sun” in the Jardim da Estrela. Then, we enjoyed our traditional Sunday lunch at Stop do Bairro (and had another wonderful meal) before heading out to Belém for no particular reason. It seemed that many Lisboans had the same idea!
Another lovely flower (iris) found and photographed in Jardim da Estrela. Yet another lovely flower (bergenia) found and photographed in Jardim da Estrela. Mob scene in Belém. We have tried the wonderful pasteis de Belém before and they are wonderful. However, the line-up seen here made us re-evaluate our desire for more (which we rejected!).
Monday, 21 January 2008
An absolutely gorgeous day here – about 20° and that lovely blue Portuguese sky (no clouds that we could see). These conditions lend themselves to “taking the sun” in one of the very many well-appointed parks in Lisboa, which is basically all we did today.
Yet another beautiful flower found in Jardim da Estrela. This example (Dombeya) was found in abundance on a rather large tree.
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
Approaching Lisboa on the barco (ferry) from Barreiro. Approaching Lisboa on the barco (ferry) from Barreiro. The large building in the middle (at the top/back of the photograph) is the Mosteiro de São Vicente de Fora. Approaching Lisboa on the barco (ferry) from Barreiro. We had almoço (lunch) at the table on the left (in the Jardim da Estrela). We finally had to move to a shadier spot, because we got too warm! Os senhores da sueca. It was a sunny day.
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Câmara Municipal and that beautiful sky! Câmara Municipal. What a treat! Susan studies our planned ascent to the Castelo dos Mouros. The café and wonderful Queijada da Sapa helped to provide inspiration for the arduous trek ahead. Blue flowers (agapanthus in this case) always seem difficult to photograph ;-[
Friday, 25 January 2008
Saturday, 26 January 2008
These photographs were all taken at O Jaime, a small tasca in Graça. We first stopped in here two years ago, just looking for a late lunch. We did not know about the fado until later. We now endeavour to stop in whenever we are in Lisboa and catch at least one set. The quality of these photographs is not great, because the lighting was very difficult (low and mixed!).
As you can see, O Jaime is not very big. This shot was taken from the street, through the door. The players perform at the back, just behind (barely!) where Susan is sitting. The eponymous owner, Jaime, serves drinks between sets. Jaime and his wife, Laura, are very nice. Jaime also sings fado. Between sets. With the new tobacco laws in Portugal (as of 1 January 2008), there is a lot of sidewalk smoking! The three on the right are musicians: viola player; Paulo Silva(guitarra); one of the singers (from right to left). They are taking a break after the second set at O Jaime. If you look at this photograph in larger sizes, you will see Laura (Jaime’s wife) through the window. She is wearing the purple/black striped top.
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Today is our anniversary, and we couldn’t really have had a better one. First, we are in our favourite city. Second, we didn’t really do too much!
Actually, our anniversary celebration began the night before, as we had a night out with our friends Helena and João (originally scheduled for tonight). Drinks at Foxtrot, followed by a very nice dinner at Verde Gaio. The evening seemed to go very quickly and unfortunately we both forgot about photography!
Today we continued our anniversary celebration with a nice picnic in one of our absolutely favourite spots – the Jardim da Estrela. It was a beautiful day here in Lisboa.
Later, we had drinks at Procópio, a very interesting bar quite close to the Praça das Amoreiras. The accompanying photographs were all taken at Procópio (the quality is not great because of extremely low light).
We then caught the Carris #74 autocarro back to our apartment and had a light supper (shrimp-pea pods-mushroom pasta) accompanied by a very nice vinho verde that Helena and João had given us last night. And, we finished off with a nice 10-year tawny port along with some excellent dark chocolate – the house brand from Pingo Doce, which is surprisingly good.
Bar Procópio. Tucked away on Alto de São Francisco, just off the Praça das Amoreiras. If you look closely, the bright light on the upper left spells out the name of the club in neon. We enjoy our Cardhu, while Susan peruses a history of Procópio, in a book published in December 2007. A toast to 22 wonderful years. Saúde!
Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Our last full day in Lisboa, which is sad. However, we had a wonderful lunch at our favourite restaurant in this great city. It was a fitting farewell.
Verde Gaio – nosso restaurante preferido em Lisboa. The staff – Jorge, Joana, Ísabel, Pedro, the chefe, Jose – all make dining there memorable. This is not to mention the rest of the kitchen staff who we have only glimpsed from time to time (and we have dined there on many occasions).
Our last travel day, which found us slowly wending our way through the Alentejo from Terena to Lisboa. It was a lovely drive, starting with café e queijada in Alandroal, lunch along the road and a mid-afternoon café in Barrosinha. We arrived in Lisboa shortly after 4pm, got the apartment sorted out and did a little basic shopping (mainly for breakfast tomorrow).
Lunch: We had a picnic at a lovely little spot not too far from Torrão.
Dinner:Frango assado at O Lavrador, which is only 50 metres from our apartment door. A simple, but tasty, meal.
Weather: Because there were a couple of clouds late in the day, we will only give today a 3.0- rating. Great pastelaria in Alandroal. Our first sighting, Just outside of Torrão on N5. Our view at lunch, very near the Barragem Vale do Gaio.
Sunday, 14 October 2007
We were not overly ambitious on our first full day in Lisboa. But, we usually aren’t! Our main task was to return the rental car, after which we took the Metro down to Chiado, looking for some electronic bit that we wanted at fnac (we love fnac!).
The nice mercado in Campo de Ourique was closed (Sunday), so we did a little shopping at Pingo Doce.
Lunch: A very nice simple lunch at o meu café in Campo de Ourique. Steve had filetes com arroz e salada and Susan had bife atum. We will probably come back here at some point.
Dinner: So-so cabrito assado at Nova Aurora (also in Campo de Ourique). The food service here was pretty fast considering it’s not a fast food joint!
Weather: Another lovely day, but only 2.5 because of a few clouds. In Campo de Ourique. View from our balcony on Calçada da Estrela.
Monday, 15 October 2007
Lunch: We set off to an area of Lisboa that we haven’t seen before – Campo Pequeno – to visit a language school that we are thinking of using on our next trip. The lunch that we ate on our way there was probably the worst we’ve ever had in Portugal. We left much of it uneaten and found a café very shortly after that where we shared a savoury pastry with queijo e fiambre (which was very good) with some good café.
Dinner: We were fortunate to spend this evening with our friend Helena and her husband João, who we met for the first time. After sampling an off-dry porto branco with some presunto at the Instituto do Vinho do Porto, we were treated to a wonderful meal at Espaço Lisboa. This restaurant is in a very impressive old building and has quite an atmosphere; also, excellent service. All four of us had the same thing – salada a queijo de cabra to start (amazing – Susan has written down the ingredients in the hope of recreating it at some point!) and very tasty cabrito to follow. We don’t usually have sobremesa, but decided to share the pudim arroz which was excellent. Our hosts had encarchada. Afterwards, João kindly took us on a night time tour of Belém which we enjoyed very much.
Weather: Only a very nice 2.5, due to some cloud cover off and on today. Fernão de Magalhães in the Praça do Chile. Also known as Ferdinand Magellan.
Tuesday, 16 October 2007
We managed to get some laundry done (there is a machine in our apartment – after washing it becomes part of the Lisboan scenery, hanging from our balcony) before going out about 11am for our regular café e pastel. Recently, we have been going to the Beira Tejo in Campo de Ourique. Then, down to the mercado for some essentials for lunch.
After lunch, we hopped on the E28 (electrico) – which stops in front of our door – and rode it all the way to Graça. We had some photographs (prints) that we had taken at O Jaime in April at one of their regular fado nights. Laura (Jaime’s wife) was there, along with one of the fado singers who was performing the night we took the photographs. Luckily, one of the photos was of her! Both of them liked the photographs very much (Jaime was not there).
Lunch: We packed a lunch and walked 200 metres to the beautiful Jardim da Estrela, found a nice secluded, sun-dappled table and enjoyed the early afternoon.
Dinner: Tonight, we discovered a new restaurant right across the street from the Mercado de Campo Ourique. It is called Verde Gaio and appears to be extremely popular with local residents. The atmosphere was great, the service was very pleasant and the food was good enough to go back for. Steve had peixe espada grelhado and Susan had carapaus de escabeche com batatas cozidas. Add some pretty decent vinho tinto de casa and we were happy.
Weather: A perfect 3.0 today – just lovely. Birds of paradise. Tin-lined copper fondue pot. There is quite a long story (too long for this description) behind this photograph.
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
Today we took the train to Cascais; a one-way ticket is €1,60 … not bad for a 30 minute trip! The route is along the water much of the way and we caught glimpses of some lovely little beaches along the way. Cascais was an interesting spot to visit – there are many lovely buildings and the bay and beaches are very nice.
Lunch: At the Coffee&Pot in Cascais. The bread, wine and salad were ok, but we’ve had better omeletas. However, we weren’t expecting much, either!
Dinner: Back to Verde Gaio tonight where we had another good meal. Good enough to make reservations for tomorrow night (our last in Portugal this trip).
Weather: Another gorgeous day – another 3.0. Praia da Rainha. In the Baía de Cascais. Uma gaivota. Interesting lines. Parque Marechal Carmona. An inquisitive peacock in Parque Marechal Carmona. Perfect for urban policing. Our apartment is in the middle of a construction zone. The three windows on the 1st floor (partly obscured by the excavating machine) are the back of our apartment. The main work (tearing down the surrounding building) has been done, so noise actually isn’t an issue. But, it looks pretty dramatic from the rear! The absence of the other building actually is a plus, since we now get a lot more light.
Thursday, 18 October 2007
Our last full day in Lisboa and Portugal (we leave at midday on Friday). Our main task was to go to fnac and try to buy a copy of Guia Tascas de Portugal. Unfortunately, they were currently out of stock. However, since we were out, we went to our favourite garrafeira and bought a little port wine for the trip home.
Lunch: Another nice picnic in the Jardim da Estrela.
Dinner: Three nights in a row at Verde Gaio.
Weather: It was fitting that our last full day in Portugal rated a perfect 3.0 – we have had excellent weather for the last nearly three weeks. Imperador, et al at the nice mercado in Campo de Ourique. Currently, our favourite restaurant in Campo de Ourique. The Paris Theatre has seen better days. Canadian cultural sighting by Susan.
Friday, 19 October 2007
Today is our last day in Lisboa (and, Portugal), as we have a mid-day flight back to Toronto.
Weather: We are getting used to this superb weather – another 3.0 to see us away. Where we start every day (first café). Waiting for our departure at the Aeroporto da Portela in Lisboa. Somewhere high above eastern Canada on our flight home from Lisboa.
