Blogs from Porto, Northern, Portugal, Europe - page 2

Here is the secret to eating in Portugal: Portugal’s cuisine has long resisted the encroachments of fusion or molecular gastronomy. Hearty to a fault, family-run restaurants churn out satisfying variants of bacalhau (salted cod), piri-piri chicken, and ultra-sweet cakes. Another reason, Portugal is relatively cheap, and we are told by travel experts and foodies to forget about counting calories here. Local wines are fairly priced, and very underrated. A word to the wise when dressing up for dinner: do not wear heels. Why? the hilly streets are steep, cobblestoned, and are known as "heel eaters" for lack of a better term. And dinner does not usuall... read more

From Taylor Fladgate: So what is Port wine? Port is a fortified wine. Fortified wines are made by adding a proportion of grape spirit, or brandy, to the wine at some point during the production process. Port is arguably the greatest of all fortified wines and its paramount expression, Vintage Port, ranks alongside the finest produce of Bordeaux or Burgundy as one of the great iconic wines of the world. In the case of Port, the addition of the brandy takes place before the wine has finished fermenting. This means that the wine retains some of the natural sweetness of the grape, making it rich, round and smooth on the palate. One of the fascinating aspects of Port wine is its variety of different styles, each with its own characteristic flavours, from the intense berry fruit ... read more

I spent less than two days in Porto so I got no more than the barest flavour of the city. After almost two weeks cycling on quiet roads and tracks through open country, sleepy villages and laid back towns, Porto was a full on people experience everywhere from the moment I exited São Bento station. The city is full of tourists. I pushed the bike through the crowds and arrived in a street with a lot of cafes. As I passed Mercantor a couple vacated their table just inside the open front of the cafe. I claimed it and there was just room by a brightly coloured, larger than life figure of superman (belonging to the shop nextdoor) for the bike. Over a coffee I hooked into the WiFi and looked at accommodation options. It discovered ... read more

Close to Porto and getting closer. Overnight at Pinchoa, I think the spelling is correct but it doesn’t matter because Portuguese pronunciation is full of hard sounds, eow, tricks and traps. As long as I have my 2 words and then expresso and nata (those delicious Portuguese custard tarts) I will be OK. Again the Burcher muesli was absent at breakfast so I had to make do with orange juice and sparkling wine. Well after 2 of those I was over it but evidently someone with more influence than me must have asked for some because muesli suddenly appeared. So after 2 sparkling, some muesli, a pancake, 2 small croissants and coffee it was time to make Lee her take-away breakfast. I thought she may like a sparkling start to her day as well and because ... read more

Déjà vu, instant replay or here we go again. I’m up had brekkie, it’s brekkie if I make it and it’s muesli, banana and yogurt with some coffee. It’s breakfast if someone else makes anything! Made a cup of tea for Lee, she doesn’t call that brekkie or breakfast as it’s really only a precursor to starting to wake up. Then it’s off to another walking tour. Different company, different itinerary but same sort of deal. This one concentrated significantly more on the old town and the river quarter which is fine as the details and information content is what I thrive on. Run by Porto Walking Tours this one was conducted by a native ‘tripe eater’ unlike yesterday’s tour which was lead by an Irishman! The tours usually touch on food, language, culture and history ... read more