What is really sad is I just spent 1/2 hr on a post that got lost as I was choosing a picture. sigh... Take 2...
My hotel host showed me on the map the night before places that I should go visit.
So after laundry in the sink, a good nights sleep and my shirt almost dry, socks - well I do not need them today. Breakfast and out the door.
Look left...
Nope, not crossing the street. Walking to the left, to the busy street just 1/2 block away for my first church tour of the day. It is overcast, grey and light raining... But it's warm!
It was 17 C when we landed last night. Today the Tilley hat comes out.. But yes off inside the church.
And the view from the top of the stairs...
That's my corner on the left, a shoe store. I should be shopping for shoes- shops everywhere in my neighbourhood.
.... It's a skinny church..
Headed inside and up the tower. This time I was not climbing with my big backpack! The pictures here do not do the views justice. Yes there were clouds, but it was also pretty amazing. Really cool rooftops, streets and buildings.
Can you see the BIG Cathedral where I will get my Caminho credencial? Here let me zoom in for you....
More views... Talk about row housing..
And never mind stucco vs siding... How about tile..
Oh I am sorry did you say that you wanted new construction...?
As I got close to the Cathedral there was a fella playing a classical tune that I have heard before on his trumpet. I could not name it, but it sounded really cool.
And finally I am ready, for I now have my credencial.
Here is the before picture with my hotel and the Cathedral sello ...
I am not walking for religious reasons, but I will certainly visit a great deal of churches on my way. Being inside this one was pretty cool. It was very peaceful, and awe inspiring...
Okay same goes like clouds and the views... Pictures just can't capture it all...
And there were oodles of robes and other items used in services ...a long time ago.
Now time to head out the door and down to the river...
And the rain has stopped, the jacket is put away..
Here is some wisdom if not grammar.
Maybe it means there is no point in playing hide and seek..
Onward down..
This area is so so so old. Turning 50 not so old after all. Finally waters edge.
And across the bridge I forgot to take a picture of...to the other side .. and looking back.
And why the other side of the Rio Douro you may ask. Port.
Not that kind of port. This kind...
I have always said - at least to myself that some day I would have a glass of port in Porto, Portugal. Today would be that day. I did not mean just one glass...
Now I probably have a bottle of Sandeman in my cupboard back home. But I usually buy Taylor's or Graham's.
So up the hill to Taylor's for a tour and tasting.
Darth Vader .. I mean Sandeman was everywhere though...
And finally...
Okay these next ones are a little dark.. Because the flash did not really work so well.
Somehow I took a bunch of HDR pictures, not sure how, and not exactly sure ...high definition resolution I would guess because there are clearer. Google another day... Pictures ...dark.
I tried a white port from white grapes before the tour and a ruby and a tawny afterwards.
So the ruby is aged in a big wooden vat, not much touches the wood so it keeps the red colour. The tawny is aged in the smaller barrels- the other pictures. So more comes in contact with the wood and thus the more brown colour and a nuttier, less sweet taste.
Then there are blends which will always taste the same. And LBV... Late Bottled Vintage and special vintage years ... It's all getting fussy....
Down I walked for lunch....
Have the Francesinhas my hotelier told me. So I ordered it with some wine. I forgot she had said this dish is best with beer, or coke or some fizzy drink- light, rather than wine. And I did not mean to order so much wine either. ... It's a little bottle, but still too big.
The 'front boys' were playing games with their menus to keep busy. Now the bread was hot and so was the cheese. Very good. I even tried the black olives. It's true I still don't like olives. Then the meal came...
It's beef, ham, little spicy sausages, on bread topped with .. covered with melted cheese with a sauce fit to be soup.... And they bring you french fries in case that is not enough. It was too much. I was stuffed, I did not finish and I should not have had so much wine.
And so I walked back up the hill...
Well my plan was that it was a much longer walk and uphill which would certainly sober me up. Ha!
I bought two bottles of water and sat - almost passed out in the leather chair as I waited for the next English tour to start.
It was a private tour. Started with a movie then a look at the grape growing region.
This map shows the grape growing region which is about 100 km inland from the ocean on the banks of Rio Douro.
Then we walked around. This was much bigger than Taylor's.
Okay these pictures even worse than the last ... You are noticing there two barrels still have 1952 vintage in them. Guess they will be pricey. Hey here is a good vintage.....
No close ups on this one ... Might show up on a full size screen... Check out some of the years on these bottles ...
And of course more tasting.
...because I am in Porto!!
It took a long time to finish these...
As I got to the third another group came in who spoke English ... a couple from Toronto and a couple from somewhere in Wyoming.
Then I wandered back down the hill, across the bridge, took a train up the big hill and walked back toward my hotel, bought a chicken/ potato thing and a Portuguese custard tart for take away, got back to the hotel, climbed the four flights, took off my boots, emptied my pockets and rested for about an hour.!
Shower, change, wash clothes, eat dinner. My hotelier volunteered to dry my clothes so I can pack them away tomorrow.
Notes....
- I did not know that all of Taylor's port, and one type (only) of Grahams port is still squished by feet as like days of old. Really ... People pick the buddles of grapes by hand, then later in the evening they walk / march around on the grapes and dance on the grapes to squish them without breaking the grape seed - which would make it bitter.
- I did not know that the grapes are basically grown in fields/ terraces of slate and stone.
- there was a third thing ... But it's almost midnight and almost my birthday and my memory ... What were we talking about?
No comments:
Post a Comment