4 - This Week

I was starting to feel normal on Monday, Family Day for us Ontarians. We slowly strolled (pole pole) toward the Quake Museum, which is a new interactive museum about the massive earthquake in 1755 that destroyed most of Lisbon.  But, first stop was Breakfast Love.

I had a cup of porridge with fruit and side of peanut butter. Bill had the octopus eggs Benedict on a croissant. He ordered a vino verde and they brought a green juice instead (hint hint).

My stomach is not rebelling, so we walked for the next hour or so toward the museum only to discover that it is timed entries and we didn’t want to wait 2 hours so we headed to the Museu de Marinha.

It is located in the Jeronimos Montastery, so the building itself is beautiful. We were greeted by massive statues of the early conquering explorers and a cool massive map of the routes sailed.

We were interested in learning about the exploration period and did learn some of the history but the majority of the museum was dedicated to more modern ships and accomplishments.

The display of royal ships was pretty neat and a first for us. Bill really enjoyed some of the old timey seaplanes that were on display as well

The museum shop had a really great selection of souvenirs so we may need to go back and pick up a few things.

We finally made it to Belem Tower, which was once an island until the big earthquake. It is also known as the tower of St Vincent and had been a fortification in the 16th century. But is best known as the last thing sailers saw of home before they went off on their journeys

We headed back to our place so I could have a rest and then we headed to Praça Carmo and had dinner at Maira do Carmo. I had veal steak and Bill had a steak. Finally able to stomach a glass of wine again! Praise Be!

Tuesday morning we explored Carmo Convent which was partially destroyed during the earthquake and fire of 1755. It is now an archaeological museum. I enjoyed the open roof, surviving tomb markers and stonework on the walls, including the crest of Portugal (a ship) and other family crests.

Inside the archeological museum there was a room of tombs that were elaborately carved, several tiles that formed beautiful works of arts, and we watched a boring video that Bill had a nap in the middle of.

The gift shop features the famous cat (that we actually saw before we entered), it is quite charming!

We had lunch up the street at Restaurante Faca & Garfo. I had octopus and Bill had chicken.

We worked all day, then had dinner for the first time in Alfama district so we could have a long walk. We ate at Alfama Cellar. I was only able to eat one dish, it was like a paella with mushrooms and Bill had lamb stew. Both came in our individual cast iron stew pots. Great idea to keep the dishes warm during the meal.

On the way back we are seeing lots of great restaurants and Fado spots. Does not seem overly touristy here too, so we will have to come back.

On Wednesday Bill decided to hunker down and work, so I went shopping. I ended up buying a dress and belt from a store that sold clothing and souvenirs (I may have bought some unicorn rings for a few little girls) and a blouse and dress from Zara. Now I can have something warmer and more appropriate to wear to our Michelin restaurants!

Lunch was nothing special but dinner was very special - Alma!! The chef, Henrique Sa Pessoa, won chef of the year in 2022. Our meal was beautiful and fabulous. The staff was great and we had a lot of fun.

Thursday we did our 10k step walk. We finally did the length of Rue Avenida - perfect for a morning stroll except for the chilly wind (in my opinion). The Marques de Pombal monument is very impressive and although Parque Eduardo VII is fairly boring, the view from the end of it was great. We were able to see all the way to the River Tagus.

The walk downhill and out of the wind to the riverfront was more pleasant.  We had light  lunch at Dear Breakfast. I had an açai bowl with fruit and Bill had salmon eggs Benedict and the only bad glass of wine to date.

After a long day working we headed back to Alfama and found a quaint family run Fado restaurant. We were escorted in by a charming elderly man who did not seem to speak any English. “On stage” was an elderly woman who was just fantastic. After we sat down, the gentlemen was an our entertainment (excellent too) and when the set was done, the elderly  female singer was our waitress.

We had our first Portuguese sangria (pretty good) and a local fish grilled plus meat skewers.

During the evening we had 4 separate vocalists who were all really good. The cozy space was brought to life with some excellent music, singers, and crowd participation - la, la, la, la is “English” for every Portuguese folk song.

Friday was Humphrey Time. We need to leave at 8:15 to go to the train station! I was ready. Someone else was finishing work and dashing around the apartment in a panic, so much so, that he forgot his raincoat and it is supposed to rain on Saturday in Porto.

We did make it to the station with plenty of time to spare and were settled in well before we departed.

It was a super cool fast train and we clocked over 230 kmph at one point. I took a gravol because looking out the window at that speed made me feel a bit queasy.

We arrived in Porto just after noon and a very dapper Uber driver delivered us to our swanky boutique hotel, Torel. We checked in and left our bags with the staff and headed to the pedestrian area for a bite to eat. We had to stop at a few places before we found a table but were happy with our meal at Impar (meaning prime number). I had the pork and Bill had duck with a delicious wine sauce (which also paired great with the pork).

Bill the Spill wore some of our delicious wine so he had to change shirts when we went back to the hotel to check into our room and for him to do some work. Our room was not 100% ready, so we had some sparkling wine with the delicious Ecuador  chocolate and Port that we had purchased.

We headed back to the pedestrian area and found a shop that had architectural drawings with gold leaf in the window to make it catch the light. We bought a small reproduction and a scarf and had a nice chat with the shopkeeper who informed us that there is a wine festival this weekend, just up the street!!

We entered the Church of the Clerics and Bill walked down two of the three stairs in the entrance. He landed on his back at the bottom of the staircase with a twisted ankle and knee. In all fairness, I ruined last weekend….

We briefed toured the pretty church and skipped the climb up the tower for obvious reasons.

We did explore the Igreja do Carmo. The church was small and ornate, then there was a lot of other added bonuses - a sneak peak behind one of the side chapels into the church, a great collection of St Theresa and St Anthony relics, a view from the roof, and a great hall with beautiful tile panels.

Bill had another work call, so I chilled out in the library on the floor above our room. It is a great space with lots of reading materials.

I should mention that our room is very posh and cozy. I’m loving our long weekend getaway so far!

We walked down the the river to explore Porto a bit more. It is such a pretty city! Bill is hobbling quite a bit, so we took a break at Pregar and had a snack and drink. The staff were super friendly and were singing along to some classic 80’s pop tunes.

Back in the room Bill iced his ankle and I had a short nap.

We had a 9:30 reservation at an Eater recommendation, Almeja. I had the goatling and Bill had the pork. Bill’s was excellent. The complimentary falafel starter was pretty good. We also really enjoyed the wine, Luis Duarte.

Post dinner drinks - yes we are that young and hip (please ignore the earlier reference to the nap and cankle) at The Royal Cocktail Club. I had Candle Light and Bill had Blossom.