Funny how you lose track of the day of the week and the date while you are on the road. I am relatively sure that it is Friday, but as to the date, well, I am not positive about that.
It is a gorgeous morning in Porto. Clear, warm but not hot, breezy. We decided to take a train at 12:45 and travel during the warmer afternoon rather than leave in the morning like we usually do. Our train trip, providing everything goes well, will take us in two hours to Valenca do Minho, a small walled city on the Northern Portuguese border with Spain. We had to make reservations for accommodations by phoning a small pensio, as all of the hotels on the website were booked up.
We have enjoyed Porto. Our friend, Jeff said it was his favorite city in Portugal and it is easy to see why. Perched on the edge of a river, the old town is colorful shades of red and gold instead of the whitewashed white of other towns. The old houses are all tall and narrow, reminiscent of a street in Amsterdam. One side of the river specializes in the port wine tasting offices of the major port wine companies. We visited Calem yesterday, and as Mike is not much for any wines, I was the happy recipient of both of our tastings. We sat with two young men from Germany on holiday, the same ages as our sons, who told us about themselves. They have another year of university in Berlin, and are spending their internships working in consulting at jobs the same as I did.
Our guidebook had recommended a restaurant which coincidentally resides on the pedestrian only street that further up, houses our hotel. We strolled down to this beautiful Art Deco decorated restaurant a few times. Mike loved their spaghetti bolognese, a dish he has optimistically ordered a few places during our travels only to be disappointed with a plate of spaghetti covered in "ground cow". The tomato sauce based bolognese at the Majestic was much better. I tried the special of the day night before last, a shellfish stew with rice. It was spectacular, and after taking off the shrimp heads (I hate food that looks at you) it was wonderful.
The Portuguese do not mind knowing where their food comes from. As we walked to the Internet cafe a few minutes ago, we saw a dead, skinned bunny hanging in a butchers window beside a dead naked chicken. Both were fully headed, just without the fur and feathers. If I lived here I might become vegetarian except that as both of us have observed, vegetables are scarce on menus. We have seen them at the open air markets but they don´t appear on menus or as sides to the meat dishes. Last night we tried a Chinese restaurant expecting to be able to eat some stir fried vegetables, and even that was different. Although the food, cooked and served by a Portuguese and English speaking Chinese-born family was delicious, it was largely meat based, with little bits of carrot, onion and mushroom thrown it. Nevertheless, it was a welcome change from the ham and cheese sandwiches that are the mainstay of lunches here, and the meat and fish dinners.
Have we mentioned the hard beds? Some very sadistic mattress salesmen must have made the rounds of every hotel on the lists we have visited. As Mike says, some mornings you wake up feeling bruised from just laying on the bed. One of the reviews of the hotel where we have been for the past three days described the pillows as bags of foam rubber chunks- as apt as a description as I could come up with. Oh well, we aren´t staying at the Ritz, so we have some concessions to make.
Speaking of salesmen that have made the rounds, the Nestle ice cream guy also has been here. Every where you go, there is a freezer with the big, bold, blue Nestle log on the side serving the same frozen ice cream treats. We haven´t tried them, but already we are tired of them. Can you imagine ending a meal at a Chinese restaurant and being offered the Nestle ice cream treat menu for dessert? Whatever happened to fortune cookies?
Well, time to wrap up and hit the road. Will write back as soon as we get to the net Internet cafe and can write. Still experimenting with trying to set my proxy server.....~so I can use the Internet from my own machine.
Love, Deanne
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
Hi Deanne.
I'm loving your blog! I look forward to checking in and escaping this world for a few moments. You photos are wondeful. Sounds like you're haveing a real adventure.
We had a farewell to Ann Capgemini dinner this week. John Z, Katerina, Judy were there. Even Wendy dropped in to buy a bottle of wine. Those were the days.
Keep up the postings they are fun!
Ann Evers
Hi Deanne and Mike,
Not being a techie, I wrote two long letters only to have them disappear when I tried to send them. It seems one must sign in first, then write!
I will summarize what I wrote by saying how well you both write, and what a great adventure you are having. I know this is going to be a book, and all of the details will really count. I also suggested that you include your arguments - what two human beings can travel together as long as you, without having some good arguments. With Gerry and me, it was when we were driving in our rented car. I was the "navigator", who can barely read a map, so we did get into some scrapes and angry moments.
It's good you are feeling the heat of the country! That is what I remember about traveling in Andalucia as a student. The heat, the third class train, sharing food, looking for shade, anywhere to be cool.
I look forwrd to "more". Means you have a real page turner here!
PS. As an ex travel agent,I have to ask, have you thought of hunkering down in one place for a week, renting a car, and taking day trips? If interested, I could check out Auto Europe rates for you. Most times its cheaper booked from the U.S.
Keep on trekking! (Gerry is super impressed with your blog)
Lots of love, Auntie Donna
Ann- thanks for checking in. It is wonderful to hear from you. Where are you going now that your reign at Capgemini is at a close?
Auntie Donna,
Thanks for the offers of help and the advice. We should have tlked to you before we left. Now that we have hit Spain we are finding the trains much easier. They are clean, air conditioned and frequent. Had we known that the Portuguese train system ha such poor coverage of the country and such wierd schedules we would not hve purchased a train pass for that period of time. Mike definately feels the urge to drive sometimes and the day we rented a car was wonderful, so we may do it again some time soon. For now, we are exporing the beautiful city of Santiago de Compostela. Thanks for the check in. It i nice to hear from you and Uncle Gerry. My love to you both.
Deanne
Post a Comment