I think we can all agree that trips organized around the planned consumption of alcohol are the best ever, so when Amy and Ben invited us to join them for wine and port tasting in Portugal, we jumped at the chance. We arrived on Sunday, picked up the car, and drove to Porto. A quick lunch stop in Coimbra, home of the University of Coimbra, founded in 1290 and one of the oldest universities in the world:
On to Porto, where we dumped our bags at the hotel and promptly headed across the river to Vila Nova de Gaia, the town across from Porto where most of the wineries that make port are located. We headed to Grahams, maker of the 20-year tawny that I tried for the first time in Foreign Cinema in San Francisco, which got me hooked on this whole port drinking thing. On Monday we walked around Porto for long enough to seem respectable, before heading back to the river for more port tasting. Nice architecture in the city center of Porto:
This kind of stuff suggests to me that Portugal is still mourning the loss of her empire:
The Douro river in Porto. On Monday we had dinner at the Taverna dos Bebobos on this quai - DANGER DANGER DANGER! I think the sardines they fed me were poisoned.
Tuesday we left Porto and drove upstream to the part of the Douro river valley where the grapes that are made into port are grown. Traditionally the grapes were pressed, then the wine was shipped downstream about 100 km to Vila Nova de Gaia in flat-bottomed boats of the type in the above photo. At the Ramos Pinto winery we saw some footage of one of these boats headed downriver through some pretty impressive rapids. The river was dammed in the 1960s and the wine is now shipped by truck (not nearly as romantic). The cultivated hills of the Douro river valley:
I was sick all day with food poisoning, so I spent the day that was pretty much the highlight of our trip hanging my head out the car window like a dog, trying not to throw up on the back of Ben's head while he was driving, and most regrettably, NOT tasting port. We stayed Tuesday night in Ourem. Wednesday we headed to Batalha to see the monastery built to thank the Virgin Mary for Portugal's victory over the Castilians in 1385. My food poisoning seemed to have worked itself out by Wednesday morning. Giving the all-clear sign in front of the monastery:
The tombs of King John I and his queen, Philippa of Lancaster, whose marriage cemented an Anglo-Portuguese alliance that continues to this day. So cute, the hand-holding statues:
King Duarte I, John and Philippa's son, started work on a separate chapel, intended as a mausoleum for his family. Duarte I died young and later kings lost interest in the Batalha monastery in favor of the Jeronimos monastery in Belem, so the chapel was never finished. Still, the Unfinished Chapels are the prettiest part of the Batalha monastery, as illustrated by Noam shown here demonstrating his love for Manueline architecture:
From Batalha we headed to Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in mainland Europe, where we grabbed lunch, then to Cascais, a delightfully low-key seaside town:
Wednesday night we stayed in Setubal, south of Lisbon, on the Sado river estuary:
The last two days of our trip we spent in Lisbon. Below is the church of Sao Domingos, which was damaged in the 1755 earthquake and a later fire. You can see where large sections of stone fell away during the earthquake, leaving the columns looking rough, it was cool:
At the park at the top of the Elevador da Gloria (a funicular):
On to Porto, where we dumped our bags at the hotel and promptly headed across the river to Vila Nova de Gaia, the town across from Porto where most of the wineries that make port are located. We headed to Grahams, maker of the 20-year tawny that I tried for the first time in Foreign Cinema in San Francisco, which got me hooked on this whole port drinking thing. On Monday we walked around Porto for long enough to seem respectable, before heading back to the river for more port tasting. Nice architecture in the city center of Porto:
This kind of stuff suggests to me that Portugal is still mourning the loss of her empire:
The Douro river in Porto. On Monday we had dinner at the Taverna dos Bebobos on this quai - DANGER DANGER DANGER! I think the sardines they fed me were poisoned.
Tuesday we left Porto and drove upstream to the part of the Douro river valley where the grapes that are made into port are grown. Traditionally the grapes were pressed, then the wine was shipped downstream about 100 km to Vila Nova de Gaia in flat-bottomed boats of the type in the above photo. At the Ramos Pinto winery we saw some footage of one of these boats headed downriver through some pretty impressive rapids. The river was dammed in the 1960s and the wine is now shipped by truck (not nearly as romantic). The cultivated hills of the Douro river valley:
I was sick all day with food poisoning, so I spent the day that was pretty much the highlight of our trip hanging my head out the car window like a dog, trying not to throw up on the back of Ben's head while he was driving, and most regrettably, NOT tasting port. We stayed Tuesday night in Ourem. Wednesday we headed to Batalha to see the monastery built to thank the Virgin Mary for Portugal's victory over the Castilians in 1385. My food poisoning seemed to have worked itself out by Wednesday morning. Giving the all-clear sign in front of the monastery:
The tombs of King John I and his queen, Philippa of Lancaster, whose marriage cemented an Anglo-Portuguese alliance that continues to this day. So cute, the hand-holding statues:
King Duarte I, John and Philippa's son, started work on a separate chapel, intended as a mausoleum for his family. Duarte I died young and later kings lost interest in the Batalha monastery in favor of the Jeronimos monastery in Belem, so the chapel was never finished. Still, the Unfinished Chapels are the prettiest part of the Batalha monastery, as illustrated by Noam shown here demonstrating his love for Manueline architecture:
From Batalha we headed to Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in mainland Europe, where we grabbed lunch, then to Cascais, a delightfully low-key seaside town:
Wednesday night we stayed in Setubal, south of Lisbon, on the Sado river estuary:
The last two days of our trip we spent in Lisbon. Below is the church of Sao Domingos, which was damaged in the 1755 earthquake and a later fire. You can see where large sections of stone fell away during the earthquake, leaving the columns looking rough, it was cool:
At the park at the top of the Elevador da Gloria (a funicular):
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