Back to Lisbon

On the last night, we went to a Fado performance. We hadn't been able to go in Lisbon but  I'm sure this performance would rival any there. The venue was very small but since we arrived first, they gave us the VIP treatment; we got to sit on a sofa with a coffee table. Everyone else sat on chairs. They served port and told us we were lucky because they ran out of cheap port and had to give us premium.

One guide compared Fado to the blues because much of the subject matter is similar. But there are happy songs too. At this performance, they said it is the music of the working class. It's been banned more than once for protest music. It concentrates on emotions more than lyrics. It may also be compared to bluegrass but it's definitely a unique style.

The instruments usually played are one classical guitar and one 12 string Portuguese guitar. There are two styles, the Coimbra and Lisboa. Coimbra is a university city we visited on the drive back to Lisbon. They have distinct timbres but either can be used for Fado.

There was a time when only men sang Fado but now females are also allowed and the singer we heard was a woman from the Duoro Valley.  She gave a phenomenal performance.  They explained to us that the musicians have to be able to play the traditional songs in 12 keys. The singer will come on stage, tell the guitarists the song and the key they want and the guitarists must immediately begin playing when the singer gives a signal. They must also read the face of the singer to know when they are about to stop singing to create a smooth ending to the song.

                                                             The singer

The guitarists were father and son. They were excellent. 

We began the last day by getting covid tests at 9. The test cost 15 euros and we had the results--all negative--before we were picked up at 10.

On the way to the airport, we stopped at Portugal's 3rd largest city, Coimbra.  The city is divided into two parts--the upper part and lower part. The university is on the upper part. The university was founded in 1290, one of the oldest and most prestigious in Europe. The main square has a beautiful view of the city and the Mondego River. There is a mix of buildings around the square--some of the oldest, most beautiful across from block buildings built under the fascist regimes. 

                                                                Clerigos Tower

There are two buildings you have to schedule and pay for to tour. One is the beautiful Baroque chapel, Saint Michael's. It's very small but there are still services held there and it's where many students choose to get married. It dates back to the 16th century.

The Ceiling of St. Michael's'

The other building is the Joanina library. . Downstairs there's a few rooms where students were held when they committed a "crime," which was usually minor, such as playing a prank or damaging a borrowed book. The practice of sending students to jail ceased in the 19th century.

The Library still houses 70,000 books from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries which researchers and students are allowed to access with permission. One of the oldest is a Latin Bible from 1462.  No picture taking is allowed on the upper floors of the library. The tables and bookcases are made of oakwood which is dense and has a scent that repels insects. There is also a small colony of bats that are essential to the preservation of the library because they eat the insects that could damage the books. However, bats are messy so the tops of the wood are coated so they can be easily cleaned. At night, an attendant covers all exposed wood with leather towels. 

                                                            Joanina Library

The main salon is built similar to a chapel with a picture of  King John V who ordered the library built in the 1700s.  We weren't allowed to take pictures but someone on the internet was so I took theirs. 

The last place we visited was the abandoned Monastery Santa Clara.  It was built in the 17th and 18th centuries. Frequent flooding has caused the buildings to be abandoned but renovation is currently taking place. Saint Elizabeth who was also a queen of Portugal. When her husband, King Denis died, she lived in this monastery until her death. 

From the site of the monastery, there's a great view of the Mondego River and the city of Coimbra.

We spent the last night in an airport hotel, and after a grueling day of travel, arrived home on May 5.

Museum and Aveiro

On Sunday we went to the Servales Museum of Contemporary Art which is set in a gigantic garden. There was an excellent exhibit by the California artist Mark Bradford. The other exhibit was not so good but we didn't see the permanent collection because it was closed. The museum foundation sponsors many events and educational programs and it's one of the most visited art museums in the world. 

Mark Bradford. Two of his paintings were as big as the walls they were hung on

The gardens and park are beautiful. The landscape was designed by one man on the 18 hectares of land. There's a huge rose garden with beautiful sculptures, fountains and even a farm. We ate lunch at a Tea House on the property.

The Rose Garden 

The fountain in the garden

Walkway going into the garden

Joyce under wisteria. 

Located on the grounds is a pink Art Deco mansion  built in the 1930s. I think the art works might vary but currently it has many works by Joan Miro. All the hardware is unique. No two doorknobs match, for example. 

On Monday we went to the city of Aveiro, called the Venice of Portugal because it has canals and gondola-type boats called barcos moliceiros. The gondolas are traditional flatbottom boats originally used for collecting seaweed. The city is on a lagoon 8 kilometers from the ocean. There is a lock connecting the canals with the ocean. The city still has a salt processing business as well as a seaweed industry. 

We went to Aveiro by train and were surprised it was packed both ways. It takes about an hour and a half for the trip. There are stops along the way where a few people got off but most people were traveling to and from Aveiro. There were a lot of students coming back to Porto who may be attending the university of Aveiro.

Tile on church near the train station in Porto

The main thing to do in Aveiro is take a gondola tour. The tours are 45 minutes and travels most of the length of the city on 4 of its 8 canals. There is a guide on the boat who explains the sights. It passes by traditional fishermen houses and a former ceramics factory which has been transformed into a civic and cultural center.

Each boat is painted differently with a unique picture at the helm

There are blue tiles everywhere. This

building is by the train station in Aveiro

There are bridges over the canals, all with tourists looking down

Instead of heavy locks on some bridges in Europe, Aveiro allows "love ribbons."

There is a famous candy that originated in a monastery in Aveiro called Ovos Moules. When we saw it at a Gelato store the young man who waited in us said "it's egg with a covering like the host in church." They're really not sweet and not very good. I can see why their popularity has not spread across the country.

Duoro Valley Tour

Duoro Valley, about a two hour drive from Porto is where all Port is produced. Wine has been produced here for 2000 years. Besides wine tastings, the reason people go there is for the beautiful scenery. 

We had a private tour led by a young man named Bruno and the experience was definitely a highlight of this trip. He chose two great wineries for the tastings and the restaurant he took us to for lunch was wonderful.

There is a lot of driving on narrow roads with no railing in the mountains. Bruno said that most of the roads were dirt until 2020 when they were paved using EU money Portugal received when they joined. It was a coincidence that the work was scheduled during a covid year but the lack of traffic made the job easier and also kept people working. 

The first stop was at one of the larger wineries owned by 7 siblings. The sister in charge of running it pushed herself into the business at a time when only men ran wineries and she helped pave the way for other women. In fact, her father got so tired of her asking to stomp grapes, he finally let her...after the men left for the day. 

The two wineries we visited still stomp the grapes because artificial feet machines do not have the same effect. There is a university in the valley that has a degree in wine production. Bruno said they have a very modern, liberal approach and are constantly conducting research on methodology as well as the product. The area is extremely hot in the summer which lasts longer than it used to because of climate change. Every day for 3 or more months, the temperature is 100 degrees or more. Because of their research, they hope they can continue the business despite the changes in weather patterns. 

At the first winery, we tasted 4 types of port--one ruby, one white and two types of tawny. We also tasted their red and white wines and olive oil.  Olive trees are often grown between grape vines to shelter the vines. The price of port increases the more aged it is but of course you can buy a bottle and keep it for 20 years before opening. The Valley has over 250 varieties of grapes and wine is made from a combination of different varieties. 

View of the vineyards at the first Quinta we visited 

Tasting at Quinta de Santa Eufemia

6 glasses per person 

It was tempting to buy one of everything but the bottles are heavy and would be hard to pack. We did find out the distributors of the wines in the US and the different name used for the white wine. This is one of the few family-owned wineries left in the Valley. A corporation has bought up many of them. This winery had bottles to buy, of course, but also a nice sampler of 4 small bottles aged 10, 20, 30, and 40 years. It will be interesting to see how much the taste improves from 10 years aged to 40.

The old-fashioned way to plant vines in terraces has mostly been replaced by planting in vertical lines but both ways are seen in the Valley since the terraced ones are ancient. After a bug wiped out most of Europe's grape vines in the 1870s, 

the vertical method following the natural shape of the mountains became popular.  Replacement vines have American vine roots since they were immune from the bug. European vines are grafted on top. The vertical planting method produces more grapes because vines are not shading other vines and more vines can be planted because they're not bordered by the terraces. However, planting and harvesting is more difficult for the workers who have to walk up and down the mountains carrying up to 150 pounds of grapes on their backs. Bruno said he did that job when he was 14 and would never do it again.

 Unfortunately, there are very few people who will work in the vineyards because it's strenuous work for low wages. Before many of the Eastern European countries were in the EU, young people would come in, work

 for 5 years to get Portuguese citizenship so they could get EU passports and leave. Once the countries joined the EU, young people could bypass that step.

We ate lunch at a large, very nice restaurant named Torrao that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere but had plenty of customers. Bruno recommended dishes and did not steer us wrong. They serve a traditional cod dish that we haven't seen on other menus. It sounds terrible but it was delicious--cod covered in a layer of mayonnaise which is closer to what we call alioli and a big layer of mashed potatoes.

View of Duoro River from the balcony of the restaurant 

After lunch, we traveled the road that's been called the most beautiful in the world. It didn't disappoint. We stopped at the overlook to see what the BBC calls the best view in the world. It is stunning.

The second winery, Quinto do Jollato, we visited is small but they have a beautiful view of the Valley. We sampled their fresh almonds but they don't have enough to sell. They do sell Honey. We tasted their Port cocktail made of port, tonic and mint. Perfect for the summer.

Quinto do Jalloto has three overlooks of the Valley. These seats were  "wagons" pulled by horses to transport the ladies, we were told.

 One of the three overlooks. 

Picture of stomping the grapes. 14 men on each side. This winery has a vat big enough for 7 people on each side. They stomp for 3 hours one day, 2 hours the next, 1 hour the third day. Then their legs are stained for 2 weeks. 

Tour of Porto

I'm pretending we took a high class tour of Porto the second day we were here but it was actually the HopOn-HopOff bus. We lucked out and got the last seats on the bus downstairs. The sun was blazing; upstairs looked too hot anyway.

Much of the tour goes along the river Duoro and you can see where it meets the Atlantic Ocean. We got off to have lunch where we could see the ocean. The two stops that have restaurants on the beach were packed. We found a place with open tables and the wait staff set up tables for 7 in the sun. Other people got sun umbrellas but apparently they thought the  Americans would enjoy the sun. It was the hottest day we've had in Portugal. 

Besides sailboats, we saw a someone surfing a wave that was around 2 feet high. Training for that 100 footer.

After the tour we went to the train station to see its famous tiles. While there are tiles everywhere, this station has huge pictures made of azulejos. The panels depict several historic events and some domestic scenes. The first one was installed in 1905. One tile maker designed the 20,000 tiles and the installation was completed in 1915.

We had been wondering why the city is so crowded. We saw a lot of students in black robes and cloaks and decided it was graduation day. We later found out that the black robes are uniforms for the public university. Underneath the robes, all the students wear white shirts and black ties. The students get the robes sophomore year. At some point they have a "baptism " ritual where they lay the cloaks on the ground and pour alcohol on them. They're never supposed to wash them--just put them in the sun to dry and get rid of the smell.  Each university has a fountain where the students are initiated with a ceremony and water "baptism."

The ceremonies are specific to each university. I'm guessing they learn their team song and secret handshake.

In Porto we've had two dinners that went on for hours, not because that's traditional but because of bad service. Part of the problem is lack of workers like all countries post-covid. I don't know what the other part is. One night when we were eating outside,  the street we had just walked on was blocked by two trucks so workers could remove a tall street sign. After they constructed more road blocks, a crane came down the street, turned around, almost hitting Joyce in the process, and got in position by a building. Somehow it worked with a crane on the other side of the building to remove some large blue boxlike contraptions off the roof. The entertainment went on for a long time. It must have been important because they started the project after dark and continued until after 11 when I think we actually got our entrees.

Lisbon to Porto

On Thursday we had a tour of several cities on our trip from Lisbon to Porto. There were tense moments Wednesday because our original driver had to cancel. But the tour company found someone at the last minute.

The first stop was Obidos, one of the best preserved walled cities in Portugal. Few people live in the city and its main industry is tourism. On the way to the town, Daniel, our guide asked if we had had ginjinha, a cherry liqueur that is popular in many areas of Portugal but it was developed in Lisbon where in many local bars, people (formerly only men) meet for a shot before dinner. We had planned to go but never got it together. Finally, we had some but it was terrible.  We told Daniel and his summary says it best, "Let me get this straight. You came to Portugal, went to an Italian restaurant and asked for ginjinha and expected it to be good?" In our defense,  the Italian restaurant was the only place that wasn't packed that night. Plus the waiter said the ginjinha was genuine.

Daniel took us on a brief tour of the town and then took us to a ginjinha shop that has vintage cherry press. We were served the liqueur in small chocolate cups. You drink the liqueur and then eat the cup. It's delicious. The sour cherries used to make it are grown in this area.

The Pillory

The next stop was Nazaré which is a small fishing town. The biggest waves in Portugal occur hete although the ocean is perfectly calm now. In fact, in 2022 a surfer, Mason Barnes from North Carolina, broke the world record by surfing a wave about 126 feet high. Previously, a Portuguese surfer rode a wave 100 feet high. The reason this area has the biggest waves is there's a deep canyon and the difference in height between it and the continental shelf splits the waves in two. 

Besides seeing where that occurred, we only had time to eat lunch on a patio overlooking the ocean. The seafood dishes were superb. 

Restaurant in Nazaré 

We had only short time in Fatima because we needed to check in at the condo building before the office closed. The original Chapel has been expanded since it was built shortly after the Marian apparitions witnessed by three cousins in 1917.

Millions of pilgrims visit the site every year. There is also a new church which seats 8000 people which is modern and minimalistic. 

The expanded original church

The new church

View of old church. The complex is huge. 

The condos in Porto are very cheap but in a great location. They're not as nice as the Lisbon apartments but they're OK. No washing machines. Not even a dishwasher.  But not much else was available when we booked. The old town is small and the condo personnel said Porto is packed. It's difficult to get a dinner reservation.  The building is on a steep incline. It seems every building is on a steep incline. It's not easy to stroll in this city.

Museum Day

Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian was born and spent his childhood in Istanbul. He traveled extensively and lived in London and Paris later in life. The museum named for him consists of over 1000 artworks from his private collection. He began collecting ancient coins when he was very young and continued collecting art throughout his life. He came from a wealthy family of merchants and learned the art of negotiation which he used to set up the first oil industry in Iraq. He was once the richest man in the world. The last years of his life were spent in Lisbon.  In his will he gave the art collection to Lisbon with the stipulation all the pieces had to be under one roof. A foundation was created and the collection became the museum in 1969.

The collection of art in extraordinary. Ancient coins in pristine shape, ancient whole pottery pieces, not the shards you often see. The art is beautifully displayed from various cultures and time periods. The museum is small enough so it's not overwhelming.  Some of the Egyptian pieces were collected by Howard Carter. 

We didn't take too many pictures in the museum because each item was worth photographing. The museum also hosts special projects, art classes and other activities. 

There are lots of great museums in Lisbon. Since our time was short, we decided the last museum we'd go to was the tile museum. Azulejo tile is popular throughout Portugal. The colors are mainly blue and white. The tiles were popular in Spain and The Netherlands and gained popularity in Portugal in the 16th and 17th centuries. Simple designs became more ornate and included more colors as the art developed. We have been seeing the tiles since  arrived, decorating walls, in buildings and sometimes covering entire houses.

The tile museum is closed from 1 until 2. We bought tickets and asked for a restaurant recommendation. We were able to eat outside at a restaurant/bar where locals eat. The waiter had limited English but he worked hard to make sure we got everything we wanted. He carefully marked the available dishes but after he took our order into the restaurant, some of the dishes were not available but we happy with what we got. 

Parts of the tile museum were added on to a convent from the 15th century. The tiles are displayed in a chronological order. There are entire walls displayed. I was disappointed that the origin of the displays were not listed since there were entire walls that had to be taken from somewhere. 

a contemporary sculpture in the modern section

the Chapel from the convent

Besides sightseeing and eating, we spent some time trying to figure out the washer/dryer combo. Several loads washed but didn't dry. When I decided to do a load that would do both or just dry, we read the instructions that were left for us. I even got the manual online. What we learned was a picture of the sun must appear to indicate drying. We pressed all the buttons which turned out to be a big mistake. This is not the first time I have failed at European laundry, even breaking the machine sometimes. On the way out, we asked a worker to fix it while we were gone. He kept saying it would work if we didn't press start and just shut the door. Wrong. When we came back, the load we left was damp so something was accomplished. We tried another load but nothing happened so we asked the young man to come and fix it. He had to call someone to figure it out. It turned out by pushing every button we had activated a permanent child lock. He had to flip the breaker to reset it. He set a program and I put in a load. 4 hours, 38 minutes later, the load was washed and dried. Joyce also did a load on the same setting.  It took over 6 hours. Yes, I realize I wrote more about the laundry than 2 museums.

We ate on Commerce Square for our last dinner in Lisbon. Then we went back to pack.

Bye to Porto