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.