After much anticipation and an 8 hour bus ride from Seville, we arrived in the beautiful city of Lisbon. The bus trip itself was uneventful, however  should you ever decide to make this trek by bus, be aware that there are no toilets on the bus.  To be fair, the bus was cheap, about $40, so you gets what you pay for.  Needless to say, we ate and drank sparingly for fear of having to use facilities that were non-existent. Luckily, our driver scheduled a few much needed bathroom breaks along the way. The scenery along the drive was quite beautiful  consisting of terraced hills, sheep, and some of the most exotic looking trees I’ve seen.

The bus dropped us off at the Oriente metro station in Lisbon, another beautiful structure designed by Santiago Calatrava. From there it was an easy and quick trip to our accommodations in Lisbon. Our GORGEOUS apartment was located in the central Intendente neighbourhood.  We had booked the place through airbnb and it was STUNNING!  Andrew, Emma’s boyfriend, was joining us in Lisbon and for the rest of our trip so we needed a comfortable and spacious place and this apartment delivered. We had two bedrooms and two bathrooms, a kitchen, and living/dining room.  The place was beautifully decorated with no detail missed. I loved this place and I knew immediately that it would be difficult to leave at the end of our stay.

That evening, after Andrew arrived after almost 24 hours of traveling, we caught up over some wine while planning our activities for the following day.

Next morning, our first order of business was booking a walking tour of the city. We chose the Sandeman New Europe tour which was meant to be 3 hours.  This tour, which did not include the famed Alfama neighbourhood, started in the Barrio Alto neighbourhood and wound its way through many of the cities cobblestone streets as our tour guide shared stories of the city’s heroes, history, food and monuments. Our guide was wonderful at telling stories and we certainly learned a lot, however the tour ran quite late at almost 4 hours!  By the end of it we were exhausted and starving.   Don’t get me wrong, we enjoyed the tour, but it could have easily been shortened and would have still been quite useful and informative. We could not help but feel as though our guide really enjoyed listening to the sound of his own voice and his seemingly endless remarks about needing tips to cover his rent along and his requests for us to book additional paid tours during our break instead of online following the tour (he gets a commission for the tours you book that day) got a bit old.  All that being said, the tour was quite good.

Following the tour, we were thirsty and what better way to quench your thirst then to enjoy some sangria on a patio.  We found a nice little resto on a side street and settled in for our first official sangria pitcher in Portugal.

Dinner was actually not too bad, considering we ended up at a small, family run, restaurant where they served both Portuguese and Indian fare.  A little weird, but we were so hungry we didn’t care.   We ordered lamb and fish dishes which were surprisingly delicious given that this place was a bit of a hole in the wall, the desserts however, were the stars of the show.  We had creme brule, a flan and, a traditional Portuguese cake that consisted of layers of cookies interspersed with a coffee flavoured cream that was so tasty I’m still thinking about it.  After polishing off our desserts, our server offered us a complimentary ‘whiskey’.  I should point out that this ‘whiskey’ was home made and clear in colour.  Honestly, it smelled like pure alcohol and tasted like gasoline.  I barely chocked it down.  Andrew loved it and actually complimented the server on it.  His reward?  He was happily given a second shot of this Portuguese fire water to gulp down.  Why anyone would voluntarily submit themselves to that kind of punishment is beyond me.  That stuff was disgusting.

The next morning we signed up for a tour of Alfama which started at 3pm later that day. We spent the morning walking through Lisbon taking in the sights then made our way to the meeting spot for our 3 pm tour.   The tour was short and sweet and our guide, who was clearly new at this, was engaging and informative.  We walked through Alfama’s winding streets while being regaled with stories of life in Alfama, it’s traditions and people.  We were even treated to a shot of homemade Gingha (a delicious cherry flavoured liqueur) served from the window of a lovely lady’s home as we walked by on our tour.  I couldn’t help but notice that several enterprising locals were selling shots of Gingha from their windows and stoops to the very thirsty tourists exploring their neighbourhood.

 

If you visit Lisbon you must treat yourselves to a Fado performance.  Fado is a traditional form of music the origins of which can be traced to the 1820s and it’s cultural importance is as significant to Portugal as Flamenco is to Spain.  There are no words that can accurately describe Fado music, suffice it to say that it is both beautiful and mournful.  We were lucky enough to enjoy an evening of Fado while enjoying a delicious traditional Portuguese meal in the historical Alfama neighbourhood later that evening following our tour.

The following day was pretty busy as we made our way out to Belem to visit the Torre de Belem, enjoyed a delicious lunch of grilled chicken, explored the park after a nice self-catered picnic – made friends with some ducklings and a few peacocks – ate our weight in Pasteis de Belem‘s WORLD FAMOUS Portuguese custard tarts and finally making our way back to our neighbourhood in time to see the sunset from the Miradouro da Senhora do Monte.

Let me tell you, climbing that hill to see the sunset was a killer.  However, once we arrived at the top of the hill we were lucky enough to witness one of the most beautiful city sunsets ever.  There was something truly magical about this place.  We arrived at the top of the hill, sweating, out of breath, cursing every bloody stair we had to climb to make it there, yet somehow all of that didn’t matter.  It also didn’t seem to matter to the other thirty or so other people who had also made the ascent.  As the sunset over Lisbon, the crowd snapped pictures while toasting  each other with wine and beer (which we in our haste forgot to bring.  At some point a small band began serenading the crowd with some old standards and as the sunlight faded and the sky began to shift from orange, to pink, and finally red, the jazz trumpet played the sun out of the sky, I couldn’t help but smile.  It was a perfect end to a wonderful day.

In total, we were in Lisbon for 6 days and we could have easily stayed longer and not run out of things to do or see.   We loved the city, its people and its food and I cannot wait to return some day.

After the busy and frenetic pace of Lisbon, we were happy to arrive in Porto.  I couldn’t help but notice almost immediately that Porto  seemed to be much more quieter and laid back then Lisbon.  We arrived by train after a relatively short trip, about 3 hours.  Our apartment, again an airbnb rental, was centrally located, about a 10 minute walk from the Sao Bento train station.  Fun Fact: the train station was named after a 16th century Benectine monastery which was at one time located on the site, but was destroyed by fire in the late 18th century.  It was rebuilt but fell into a state of disrepair.  In the early 1900s King Carlos I decided to expand the Portuguese train system and engaged a famous architect, Jose Marques de Silva to redesign the defunct monastery for it to be used as the main train station in Porto

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Currently, the train station acts as a main hub for Porto’s suburban train lines.  The architecture is stunning, however, the real star attraction of the station are the two azulejo painted tile panels by Jorge Colaco – who was considered to be the most important azulejo painter at the time.  The two panels depict landscapes and historical events and are located in the main vestibule of the station.

We arrived at our apartment which was located in a circa 1960’s three story walk-up.  Let me tell you that walking into that apartment was like taking a step back in time.  The apartment, which used to be owned by an architect, had been magnificently restored to its original design, complete with wood paneled walls, post modern lighting and the most amazing divider wall come bookcase I have ever seen.  However, the decor itself paled in comparison to the current owner’s extensive collection of jazz and fado CDs!  I was over the moon at discovering these magnificent musical gems and the best part?  The owner also left us a delicious bottle of Porto for us to sip on while we enjoyed her sensational jazz collection.

The following morning we set off to explore the city.  Sadly Porto’s only walking tour was not being offered during the days we would be in the city, so we did a bit of research online and made a list of some attractions to seek out while walking around Lisbon.  One of the first places we checked out was Porto’s historical Majestic Cafe.  There was a bitof a line up but we didn’t mind, since we knew that something delicious was waiting for us inside.  We each ordered a dessert and port pairing from their recommended pairings menu, and no surprise, the pairings were perfect.

Luckily for us, we just happened to arrive in Porto while a number of great outdoor events and festivals were taking place, including the one day Em D’Bandada music festival.  This music festival is unlike most music festivals in that the bands perform in some very interesting locations such as a streetcar, or in a grocery store, or marching down the sidewalk.  Em D’Bandada begins early morning and continues well into the pre-dawn hours.  We were fortunate enough to see some great performances as we walked through the city that day.   Unfortunately, I got sick that evening but Emma and Andrew were able to check out some of the performances, including a street party featuring a DJ spinning from inside the basket of a cherry picker 5 meters above the street until 4am.

On our first morning walk through the city, we happened upon an outdoor market selling everything from homemade cookies, compotes and macaroons…just to name a few.  I, of course, took full advantage and picked up a small bag of cookies along with a delicious port, apricot and raspberry jam.  All were made by small local producers who were all very enthusiastic about their products and rightfully so.  All that traveling had made me quite hungry.

Porto is also home to a very large outdoor book fair as well as a festival that pays homage to Porto’s official dish, the Francesinha.  This dish can best be described as a franken-sandwich stuffed with cured ham, sausage, and beef wrapped in melted cheese then drowned in a beer and tomato sauce.  It’s sometimes topped with an egg and served with french fries.  It’s not an attractive looking dish, but I was assured by both Emma and Andrew that it was delicious.  I wasn’t feeling well, and upon seeing this monstrosity of a sandwich, I was grateful for not being able to stomach food, because there was no way I was putting any of it in my mouth, as I assure you it looked disgusting.

The forecast for the next few days was not very promising with nothing but torrential downpours in the forecast.  We decided that the best way to beat the weather was to visit one of the many port lodges across the Douro and hole up there for an afternoon of porto tasting. I mean, what choice did we have?

We attended a really nice tasting at the Taylor’s port lodge.  Our tasting included a guided tour and three glasses of port.  The tour and tasted lasted about an hour and a half in total and we paired our ports with a very nice artisanal cheese and some handcrafted chocolate truffles.  It was pure bliss and by far the best way to combat the dismal weather outside.

 

Later that evening, we enjoyed a lovely dinner at Grade A, a family run restaurant near the waterfront.  The food was simply prepared and absolutely delicious.  We were offered a delicious and delicate octopus salad and a plate of lightly battered and deep fried sardines drizzled in oil as appetizers which we devoured almost immediately.  I then ordered the prawns in lemon butter and paprika served with lemon wedges, while Emma ordered the pan seared lamb and Andrew had the oven roasted kid.  Dessert was a dream, we each ordered something different and shared, as you do!  I had a slice of key lime pie – divine!  Andrew ordered another version of the layered mocha cream cake he’d had in Lisbon and Emma ordered an oven roasted apple with cinnamon – YUM!

 

We managed to sign up for the Taste Porto Food tour, which quite frankly I cannot recommend enough.  The tour lasted about 3 1/2 hours and was pretty amazing.   Our guide Andre, was very knowledgeable and he offered us an experience that took us off the beaten path.  The beauty of this tour is that Andre and his team will not take you to the typical touristy food places, his food tour gives you the opportunity to taste the Porto that the locals enjoy.  He works closely with local vendors and suppliers to curate a truly authentic Porto food experience.  During this tour we visited 6 stops including the Mercado Bolhao, Flor dos Congregados (the oldest restaurant in Porto, a third generation family run resto that has been operating for 152 years – and counting), an incredible bakery famous for its eclairs, another bakery specializing in an incredibly flaky pastry stuffed with both savoury and sweet fillings, an historic coffee house and a taberno specializing in curating the best wines, cheeses and sausages from small local producers.  This tour was an absolute highlight and Andre was an absolute wealth of information on the food scene in Porto offering us suggestions on where to eat and which wine bars to visit.  Just incredible.  One of the best things about this particular tour were the other foodies who also signed up.  We met some pretty amazing people including including a journalist from the U.K. who was living in Poland with his wife (we met up with them later that day for pint at a local craft beer pub) another couple from Australia who were living in London, another couple from just outside Toronto who were last minute additions to the tour,  and a fantastic woman named Nanna, from Reykjavik, who also happened to be a well known cook book author.

 

I discovered so much while visiting this amazing city and I’m not just talking about the food and the port.  We visited many wonderful spots including the Livraria Lello, an incredible library dating back to 1869 which served as J.K. Rowling’s inspiration for Hogwarts while writing Harry Potter.

On another day, we wandered into the incredible HATS & C.A.T.S. where I had the pleasure of trying on some of the most beautiful hats I’ve laid eyes upon.  These hats were not just hats, they were pure artistry.

Finally, on our last day in Porto we took the historic Tram 1 to Passeio Alegre and walked along the sea wall to watch the waves crashed against the light house as the sun set on the horizon, a scene so wondrously beautiful it made my heart sing.  I just couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be there to witness something so amazing.