That flying first impression was tested though, as we climbed off the airport bus at it’s last stop near the river, and went in search of our accommodation, the guesthouse “Ribeira Tejo”. As we followed the emailed directions, we were looking around us and realised we were in a somewhat downmarket part of town, with quite a few run down or abandoned buildings. Hmmmm, we thought, and then, at the back of a large warehouse type produce market we found it. Nothing from the street, not even a sign, but inside – completely renovated and imaginatively furnished. Our host and part owner Luis met us, showed us our room, and as it was by then around 6 pm we asked him for an eatery recommendation.
The result was a “Fado” restaurant, a short cab ride away. Fado is a kind of Portuguese folk/soul singing, in this case accompanied by a Portuguese guitar, and a regular guitar. Every half hour or so the lights would dim, and our two guitarists and a vocalist walked to the centre of the restaurant. Each time, the vocalist was different, and they would do about 4 numbers before retiring to much applause, and a half hour later it would all happen again. All had great voices, especially the last of 4 singers, both men and women, who was apparently a local celeb and finished his bracket to the most enthusiastic applause of the evening, us included.
The food was nothing to write home about, but the entertainment made up for it.
Next day we fronted up for a walking tour of the city. Our guide Paolo treated us to 4 hrs of Lisboa history and sights, including the devastating earthquake of 1755, how the city was rebuilt, the old buildings still standing after the quake, the meaning of the various patterns in the black and white cobblestones, the wide avenues of the “new” city and the narrow winding alleyways of the old.
We enjoyed the tour so much that we signed up for the 4 hour “food” tour starting at 1600 next day, including Luisa and Rory, who were arriving that evening to spend the next week or so with us. We ate that night at a jumping place called “Chapito”, high up on the hill near the old city’s Castelo, with great views of the city and river. Lots of locals, not many tourists, lots of noise, and a great night.
The following morning, as we were now old hands, Susie and I showed Lu and Rory around. Only problem was, by the time we fronted for the foodie tour, we had already been on our feet for the best part of 5 hrs, and after another 4 hours our feet were killing us. That said, even on fresh legs we all agreed we would still have been disappointed with the evening tour. Too much useless talk, not enough food tasting, and then a sit down “bulk” tasting in a fairly crummy place to finish. Ah, well, we thought, if that’s the first dud we’ve scored in nearly 4 months of travel, we’re doing okay.
We treated ourselves to a cab ride home.
Sunday 22nd was Peugeot Pick Up Day. This was the Lease car we will have until 21 July – a lovely little diesel 207. Only problem was, we intended to cram 4 full sized people and all our gear into this brand new car in front of the agent handing it over. I was just a little nervous about this, plus a nagging doubt that we could actually fit everything in, but I need not have worried. In fact the young agent said, “Ah, no problem, I’ve seen people cram more than that in these things. Here, I’ll give you a hand.”
So in just a few minutes we had Lu and Rory squeezed into the 60% part of the 60/40-split fold back seat, while the 40 and the rest of the boot were crammed to the roof with gear. Rory still had a backpack on his lap, but we managed okay, and set off for our first destination, about 90 clicks away – Sintra.
Sintra is a beautiful town set in mountainous country about 15 kms inland from the coast, a little north of Lisbon. It’s claim to fame is the Catedral in the centre of town, a couple of beautifully restored 17th century Castelos, a 6th century Moorish castle, and stunning scenery surrounding it all. We had fun finding our accommodation – the 17th century ex monastery, now guesthouse called La Quinta da San Thao. It was down at the end of a long, one car wide, winding and rutted lane, and was delightful in a “Fawlty Towers” kind of way. The house was all stone and wonderfully cool, with beautiful gardens in the middle of which sat a large and very inviting pool, but it was our rooms which had us grinning. Susie and I had twin singles, watched over by a large crucifix on the wall above, with a couple of cherubs on either side, and darkly religious paintings on the other walls. Pure thoughts only in this room, thank you! There was also a slightly nutty Grandmother who would pop out of doorways in front of you and offer to play the piano for you, only to have our hostess Theresa push her back into the room with a harried “not now mother”.
After a bit of lazing around and a swim, we piled into the car and headed for Cabo da Roca, the most westerly point on the European mainland – very scenic – and then went in search of dinner, which we found at a place called simply “Bistro”. Beautiful food, in very rich sauces.
Driving the roads around Sintra was quite exciting as they were very bendy and very narrow, with the occasional tourist bus or truck coming the other way. There were many occasions I feared for the flanks of our pretty new Pug, but so far, touch wood, we remain unscathed.
Next day, Monday 23, Lu had a work assignment to complete and Rory wanted to rest his snowboard injured knee, so Susie and I set off into Sintra on our own. We walked around the old town a bit, checked out the shops and gardens, then headed up to the old Moorish Castle, high on the top of a hill overlooking Sintra and the surrounding country. A great place from which to observe bad guys approaching, which was exactly why it was built. All the stone walls, parapets, and lookout towers are still remarkably intact considering it’s age…6th century, and we had a wonderful time climbing around them snapping away like crazy.
Late in the afternoon we drove back to Fawlty Towers, picked up Lu and Rory, and headed down to the coast where for not many Euros we had a fabulous seafood meal at a restaurant overlooking the surf, complete with barnacles, yes BARNACLES, very salty and not bad in small doses, as appetiser.
In the morning we again crammed the four of us and all our gear into the Pug and headed for Porto. A beautiful drive through green, hilly wine and farming country got us to the city in a few hours. After some fun finding our apartment, we then worked out the Metro and got a train into the old town, walked down to the river, had a late lunch while checking out the passing parade, went for a walk and port tasting at Taylors and then back to our pad.
Now it’s May 25, three days before Susie’s 60th Birthday, and she’s getting just a little excited because she already has her oldest, Luisa, and fiancé Rory with us, and that afternoon Thomas (aka Buddha) and girlfriend Sophia would be arriving from Barca to help celebrate. We spent the morning doing a bit of birthday shopping in Rua da Santa Caterina – “the” shopping street in Porto, then hopped on the Metro and headed for the airport to meet Thomas and Sophia. We whisked them straight to the river for another late lunch, a port tasting at the Offley cellars (last of the day and spoken entirely in French, but we didn’t care!), a one hour river tour, and then back to the apartment where Thomas and Luisa cooked us up a late feast of local seafood.
You may have noticed a consistent theme in my ramblings. Yep – Food, washed down by vino, beautiful food. We’re loving it and I’m eating lots of it. One day I may even put on some weight, if I haven’t done so a little already!
Okay, so now there are six of us and that definitely doesn’t fit into a small Pug, so Thomas and Sophia got the train up the Douro Valley and we four drove to our Birthday Festival Destination – Quinta da Santo Antonio, a beautiful guesthouse in a small working winery in the Douro Valley overlooking the river. A truly stunning location, and the scene of the next 3 days of Birthday Fun.
On arrival we were greeted by our hosts Carlos and his wife Madelene, shown around his pride and joy, had a light lunch by the pool, swam, and lazed about waiting for Thomas and Sophia. We heard, and then saw their train as it snaked its way along the bottom of the steep sided valley beside the river. Carlos kindly offered to drive me down to the station in his car to pick them up, and off we went down the long narrow entrance road, and then 5km along beside the river to the station at the picturesque little town of Pinhao.
Once Thomas and Sophia were settled in and we were all cooled off again around the pool, oohing and aahing at the stunning view, Carlos and Madelene walked out with an ice cold bottle of the best Portuguese champagne with a card from Susie’s girlfriends in Sydney. What a great way to start our 3 days at Quinta Santo Antonio!
A few lazy hours later we all sat down at the dining table, again overlooking the stunning valley, and were treated to a delicious 3 course meal which included, gratis, Carlos’ own white and red wines, followed up by his own 20 yr old tawny. Oh, golly gosh, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. After dinner we slipped downstairs to the pool table for a few games, accompanied of course by a few more bottles of Carlos’ lovely red.
Next day, Sat May 28, was Susie’s actual Birthday. After opening a few pressies, and a partly successful skype call to Evan and Jade and the kids (they were in a car in Forster trying to find internet access), we sat down to breakfast and whaddayaknow, out walks Carlos with a bottle of Moet courtesy of Luisa and Rory.
Then into Pinhao for a river cruise, followed by lunch at a local. Back to Carlos’ for a walk among the vines, and more swimming and lounging around by the pool before dinner, which was an hour early because, well, there was a football game on that night, ie the final of the European Cup between Manchester United and our favourite team, Barcelona FC. So after dessert we all trooped down to the poolroom, glasses in hand to settle down for the game. A bloody good game it was, too. At half time Carlos and Madelene again appeared with another 2 bottles of Portugal’s finest bubbles, a bunch of beautiful roses, and a big chocolate Birthday Cake, this time from Susie’s siblings and her Mum back in Sydney. Thankfully there were other guests we could share all this with! Barca ultimately won 3 – 1, and then it was time for more pool. By the time we all shuffled off to bed it was, um, quite late.
After brekkie and 3 more Skype calls, Carlos showed us around his boutique winery. He makes his own red and white the old fashioned way, inviting a bunch of friends and rellies around to stomp the grapes, and just using the wines in his dining room and selling to people who stay with them. The bulk of his harvest goes to a large local winery where it becomes Port – Carlos keeping enough to keep his guests and himself happy. He has a number of barrels in his winery filled with port of varying ages from 5 to about 30 years.
A bit later we all 6 of us squeezed into the little Pug and drove to Sandeman Winery for a tour and tasting of their delicious port. Susie and I initially opted for the basic tasting, a white and a red port, but the kids upgraded us to the “Premium” tasting, which included 5 ports up to their 10 and 20 yr old tawnys. Omigod they were good. I had to go easy ‘cos I was driving, but the others had no such restriction and enjoyed themselves thoroughly!
Then we motored into Regua, another river town about 20kms away. Susie and I checked out the wine museum, which didn’t tell us anything we hadn’t already learned from Carlos and Sandeman, but then we found the entertainment of the afternoon – a bunch of locals running a fundraiser for their Cancer Fund. They were a fun and happy bunch of people who were enjoying themselves thoroughly while making a bit of money for their charity. We ate, threw darts (didn’t matter what the score, you still won a prize), bought stuff, danced, talked, and had a damn good time. After dinner at a restaurant owned by one of our new-found friends, we headed back to Carlos’ for more pool before bed.
Next day it was time to leave. Susie and I drove Thomas and Sophia down to the train at Pinhao, only to learn that there was a train strike and they would have to wait about 5 hours for a bus, so we turned around and drove about 40kms the other direction to Villa Real so they could pick up a bus there. Then back to Quinta da San Antonio to pick up Lu and Rory and our bags.
By this time it was after 1300 and Carlos insisted on feeding us lunch before we started out towards Santiago de Compostela. After a beautiful lunch we again squeezed into our little car and were just moving off after saying our goodbyes when Carlos banged on the window. With a grin he handed in a bottle of his lovely red, saying “For your dinner tonight!”
We had all had a wonderful time with wonderful hosts, and Susie could not have asked for a better 60th birthday celebration.
