Portumatecca dia dois

So, we wake up the next morning and had another couple of bolos for breakfast when Tracy starts laughing. Sure enough, there are gigantic sperm lights hanging from the ceiling. We liked the hotel.


We headed south to Coimbra, but decided to stop along the way at Ovar. I was only there for the last month of my mission. So… I don’t have a ton of memories from it, but after we started driving around, everything started coming back to me. It was cool to just drive through the small town and see a lot of the stupid little stuff like a brick wall or tall apartment building that brought on tons of unique memories. Even the tiny little cube rocks they used for most of the sidewalks and walkways were cool to walk on again. Oh how I hated them at the time.

Ovar was near the beach, so we drove out there first to check it out. The waves were still crazy, just not beating up on stuff in their path.

This is the walkway down to the beach. Pretty typical view. Apartment buildings all the way down and little shops on the ground floor.

You get pretty used to all of the churches around since they are everywhere. This was the central church in Ovar. We walked by it way to many times to get anywhere in the city.

Right near the church are fairgrounds where they hold flea markets every week. I have purchased some shoes, slippers, belt, lunch, or any other number of things there. It gets so crowded with everyone just shoving through to get where they want. Like Black Friday, but all day.

This is the tallest building in the city square where we used to live. It was the one next to the end on the fifth floor. We used to hang our clothes out there to dry as well.

So we headed on down to Coimbra and the drive was pretty sweet. The weather was just perfect. The clouds were quite surreal as they hung up, almost fake. The picture doesn’t do it justice, but the lighting and shape of each one was very detailed and dramatic. We hit 120 mph at one point (without Tracy’s approval). We averaged around 100 and still had a lot of people pass us pretty regularly.

We got to Coimbra and went straight to the house of one of my favorite people in the world, Sandra with her husband Edmundo, and son Jose Pedro because they were insistent we ate lunch with them.

They took us up to the church of the Coimbra 2^nd ward, which has a great view of the city. This sight is typical for almost every city you go to, with large predios (apartment buildings) all over with the orange tile on every roof.

We are cute.

This is the front of the church. It was an old mansion that was converted forever ago into a chapel. It is pretty big and 3 stories tall. The bottom floor is where the sacrament room is, with a couple of other salas (rooms). We walked into one that has azulejo (tile) everywhere. It is where we held all of our district meetings when I first arrived in the country. One of my most memorable experiences is singing “Brilha Meiga Luz” (Lead Kindly Light) in there with the other 5 elders with the echo ringing throughout. The song still gives me chills, as did the room.

From there, we headed over to the University which overlooks the city. The architecture is very European with a classic Portuguese style.

It is old and has the second oldest library in the world, next to one in Rome.



You can’t really see the view of the city from here, but again, the clouds looked so fake, it felt like I could reach up and touch a painting in the sky, it was amazing.

The students would often wear these traditional robes around campus and around the city. Not all the time, so I am pretty sure it was only during special events, but still cool.

We walked around a bit to just check out the city. This was one of my favorite walks. We followed the Roman Aqueducts for a distance to get to district meetings each week. We didn’t look as good as my wife does there though.

There is a jardim (garden) that is always well trimmed.

Then there are the Stairs from Hell, officially titled by the missionaries. We had to climb up each week to get to the meetings, and climb back down to get back, which wasn’t any easier. The stairs go on forever, and each step is twice as steep as a regular stair. Oh, how I hate them.

This is one of my favorite views of Santa Clara. We are on the Coimbra side of the river looking at the area where I actually served. You can see that the river is the low point and everything climbs quickly on either side. There were way too many hills in this place. This city owes me at least one pair of shoes.

At the bottom of the hill at the entrance of the bridge, we hung out in an area called “the baixa” (the low-down). It is a cool street with a lot of shops and cafes.

Of course we had to stop to get a couple more bolos, which were even more amazing than the others.

After hanging out there for a while, we got in the car to drive through Santa Clara. It was so great to drive up the road that I walked every day. Because it was so hilly, it was pretty exhausting. We had a bolo shop about halfway up that we would stop at regularly. I stopped in to get another couple of bolos. I recognized the owner and we talked for a little bit. It hadn’t changed a bit.

My first house was a little off the beaten path. We would take a bus up and down through Santa Clara, then get off on the last stop, then walk through these houses and a small footpath to get to our house. These houses are the essence of how I saw Portugal. Small homes made out of brick and plaster all built next to each other with a small cobblestone street. I love it.

We visited the house I stayed at, which is actually behind a much larger house. The owner saw us wander back there and came out to greet us. He let us in and we talked for a while. He misses having the missionaries there. He showed us around his house to show Tracy what a traditional Portuguese home looks like. He was a really sweet guy.

In the other direction, we used to walk down this long dirt road that had bushes and shrubs on either side. In the fall, there were millions of fireflies buzzing around everywhere. We would walk a ways down and pass through an Aquaduct that had been torn down at one point to stop water from arriving to the enemy. You could actually climb up the hill and get into the aquaduct passageway. Well, here’s a nice shot of our nice quaint walk. I guess it is good to see growth.

We drove around again for a while just finding members houses and where the church used to be. Since the branches combined to form a ward, they didn’t need the old church in Santa Clara. It took me a few turns around the block, but I eventually remembered where it was. It is the base floor of a large predio (apartment building), and on the other side were the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

It was getting late, so we started to head to the hotel. This is a view of the Coimbra side from Santa Clara. That group of large buildings is the University towering over everything

Here are a couple of night views from our hotel. That bridge is new since I left. It is really pretty.

Palm Tree.

We decided to drive over that bridge to Continente to check out where we used to go shopping. It is a lot like a Walmart, but it was like an American Mecca to me when I first arrived. It was hard to do the shopping in the neighborhood mom’n’pop stores, so we would come here. It is sad to see these big shops taking over the small economy, but at the same time, I love em.

Tracy was hungry, so we went to the Continente pizza place and Tracy got the chicken banana slice. It was a regular menu item, not a special order. I love this place.

Right behind the Continente is the other Coimbra chapel. It was specifically built by the church and has a gate all the way around cuz it is a “busy” neighborhood. It is a big church that has a small outdoor futbol court that we used regularly. Most of the baptisms were held in the font in this chapel.

Sandra invited us over again for a bacalhau dish that night that was amazing. I am going to try and get Tracy to try out the recipe. They are such an incredible family. It was so great to spend so much time with them. We had such a mix of speaking English and Portuguese that I am not sure how much Tracy really picked up. We were good for a while, but after a while, I just started thinking in Portuguese.

That night, we decided to push the beds together.

Portugalia dia um

So...... It's been 10 years, but I finally made it back to Portugal. I cannot express how much I love this place. The history is incredible, the people are amazing, and the bolos are delicious. We had a short 3 days so I wasn't sure exactly where to start. So, in the end, I made no plans whatsoever. I called a couple people I wanted to see, but basically made it up as we went along. I think it worked out well...

So, we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express which was really nice and newish. Apparently there is a qualifying game going on between Portugal and Denmark, so hotels everywhere were booked, so we were a little outside Porto, but no biggie. I was glad we at least got 2 twin beds.


First thing in the morning, we got up for breakfast and they had a bunch of bolos for the taking. That's really all I ate. Portuguese know how to make their pastries. I may be saying this a little early, but I think they could put the French to shame.


So, I decided to upgrade the vehicle...
I LOVE this thing. It was small, fast, comfortable, and radio was decent if there would have been anything good on. I haven't driven a manual in a while but I am now considering converting. It is definitely a possibility when I get back to the States. There are also a lot of cobblestone roads. They are a little bumpy, but not bad to ride on.


We were right near the ocean, so of course we had to stop by there first thing. Have I mentioned Tracy loves the beach? The beach is very pretty with a lot of jagged rocks to make a distinguished coastline.


There was a lot of movement in the water. The waves were gigantic which created a lot of churn in the water. We walked out on this rock wall out near a lighthouse. The waves were about 20 feet high and were going over the retainer wall.


As they crashed into the rocks, it would shoot water everywhere. It was pretty amazing.


You can see that the area we were walking on was completely soaked and we were over 25 feet above the water.


Tracy looked better


Sometimes it would cover the rock completely and make it disappear for a few seconds.


My favorite area of Porto, the Ribeira (Riverside). On the North is the city of Porto, while the bridge crosses over the River Douro (people can cross on top and bottom) to the other side, Vila Nova de Gaia. We were standing on the Gaia side with all the Wineries. We didn't have time for a tour, but has an amazing view of Porto with all of its character.


Those boats are the style they used to use to transport the barrels of wine up and down the river. No longer used, but very indicative of the style of Portugal.

Along the river, those colorful rows of buildings are many little Cafes, restaurants and shops. Walking around with no particular purpose still creates such an amazing energy there. Unless you have to go to the bathroom, then it is less fun.


There are actually 2 levels. There are shops and restaurants on each level. It is normally very busy, but we were there while it was raining early in the morning, so many of the restaurants hadn't opened yet.


So, we decided to head up to the area where I lived and walked around all day, Avenida de Fernao Magalhaes. I walked up and down that street all day everyday. It seemed like forever to get down to the Ribeira. Driving, it took about 10 minutes, and we got lost a couple times. Here is the Praca de Velasquez. We had to pass through this U shaped row of buildings all the time to get to the Mission Office, Presidents house and the church.


So naturally I became quite familiar with Cafe Bom Dia (Good Morning Cafe). They had so many great bolos. There is a good variety there. So naturally we had to stop and try some.


I can't remember many of their names, but I haven't met one I didn't like.


I was recreating a picture I took in the same spot when I was on my mission here 10 years ago. It is one of Tracy's favorites. I was scaring a group of pigeons back then. Now it just seemed odd. There were a group of guys in the cafe in the background getting a good laugh.


This is the Mission President's house. He was gone that day so we didn't bother stopping. Very nice place in a very nice neighborhood. That is where I spent my first night here in Portugal.


We drove the streets trying to find places I remembered. All of these fuzzy details came back to me and it felt like I never left. We wandered down random streets that all looked so familiar to me, but couldn't quite remember how. As we stopped down one street, we ran into an old friend that was entering his studio. Abilio is a great guy. On one of our P-Days, he took us out to go fishing in the Atlantic. He loved to talk to us about anything. We spent a lot of time discussing the church, God, soccer, life, etc. It was great sitting down and talking to him for a while. We laughed about old stories and life over the last 10 years. In the middle of talking, he interupted himself multiple times to say "mas, es mais gordo" to basically say "hey, you've put on some weight." This would be a recurring theme throughout the trip.


This is O Torre (the Tower) of Porto. It is from the 1700s, but is right in the heart of the city. You can see it from many points in the city, and on a good day, you can climb up and see for a ways off. It was rainy and cold, so we took this from the car as we drove by to get back down to the Ribeira for lunch.


This is the main Praca down by the Ribeira. I love the style and the character that each building and color provides. Since it was wet, we ate at a little cafe just left of this picture.


I have tried to convince my wife of how good Portuguese food is. I love it. I had a chicken and rice dish, which was incredible. They have about 50 different types of dishes that are all done with chicken and rice and I never got sick of em.


Afterwords, we walked up to the "Terceiros de Sao Francisco". It is a very old church with catacombs in the basement. The interior was extremely gaudy. Incredibly detailed woodwork from the baroque period lined every corner. It was amazing to see. We couldn't take pictures, so google it.


Afterwords, we went down to the basement to check out the catacombs. Tracy perked up. Many infamous or church-related individuals are buried here. Most of them either have the name Joao, Jose, or Maria.


This is a shot of the floor. Underneath the grate is a relatively large room full of bones and other remains.


This is a typical street in downtown Porto. Narrow with overbearing buildings on either side. Many times with cobble stones and without sidewalks. We navigated quite a few of these to walk from the Ribeira up to the City Centre. We got drenched, but it was a lot of fun.


By the time we got to the City Centre, we were drenched, cold, and tired. We stood there long enough to get this shot of City Hall and a statue of a naked women. That was good enough for us.


We got home and changed so we could meet up with another old friend. They were about our age and got married not too long before we met them. They live close to our old house when we lived in Ermesinde. We always dropped by to talk to them. We could talk about everything. It was great to see them again. When we first met up with Ana, I said "I know, I know, I have put on some weight since last time," and we just kinda joked how we'd both changed. Later, when Tiago met up with us, the first thing he said was "wow, you're a bit fatter." We all had a pretty good laugh. We went to this cafe in Leca de Palmeira near the port. We had a Francesinha. It was amazing. They are very Portugues, specifically Porto. It is a type of sandwich with all sorts of meat and cheese, fried, and covered in this special sauce. Amazing. Ana ad Tiago are pretty awesome. It was great to see them again.


The Francesinha. We had a seafood one. Not the same, but still pretty awesome.