Romancing the Portugal
A travelogue to Portugal
We were a group of four, with two of our friends who also live in our community. We had traveled together to Italy the prior year, and chosen a trip to Portugal as our next adventure. Portugal was an intriguing country. I was a novice and ready to explore anywhere or somewhere old with history, yet new to me. This was my second trip to Europe, I was excited to explore a country I knew little about, but excited to experience and learn.
Did I know I would fall in love with Portugal? Amazing, it did happen. I live at the New Jersey shore 6 miles from the Atlantic Ocean; arriving there only to learn that Portugal also faces the Atlantic Ocean from the other side of the pond. I believe, I was intrigued by Portugal, a country dependent on the sun, the sea, and the fun in both. Growing up around boats in Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay, a child of the summer, I walked around with ocean and salt water in my veins. This trip called me as an intrinsic pull to experience Portugal.
Portugal is the Fourth oldest city in Europe. We arrived In Lisbon, an exciting and bustling city with crowds of people, a place of antiquity and a modern life. Lisbon is a maritime city and an architectural wonder. I breathe in the smells and listen to the sounds around me. Excitement was in that air, as I was standing steps away from the equestrian statues, high arches, and ancient viaducts that measure the strength of the city. Fountains and statuary with water flowing, time standing still, steeped in history of centuries old my eyes were wide with amazement.
Charmed by this magical city, I wandered the cobblestone streets along the river visiting a whimsical cafe for lunch. Food in Portugal is delicious, however, basic with offerings of fish, beef and vegetables. Fish is most often grilled, fresh caught cod, bacalhau – dried and salted cod, and grilled sardines are frequently on the menu. In land offers usual fare of more pork and meat dishes, but for now, we were at the waters edge, standing among fishing boats. Fishes were set out with cods drying in the glow of the sunshine were common sight. There are a variety of desserts available locally, with most notable being the Pasteis de Belem, which is an egg custard pastry cup or tart, is a prize of Portugal. I had it with coffee daily.
In the evening, we enjoyed a wonderful ride on board a riverboat for an evening sunset River Cruise on the Douro River, viewing the Dom Luis I Bridge. It’s an intricate work, double decked of metal and steel designed by Theopile Seyrig and Leopold Valentin, they were apprentice to Gustave Eiffel of the Tower fame. The evening was warm and the sky was clear, as we watched the sun slowly slide down into the darkness of the river water. The sky opened its arms to welcome a beautiful low moon, and a star filled night accompanied with a lovely dinner and a perfect mood on the River Cruise boat.
Our group was scheduled for a tour of wine making, and tasting of delicious Port wine. We were in the Douro region. We walked on cobblestone streets to the Winery. On admission, we were directed underground to the wine cellars and felt the temperature change. Our tour guide directed us through rows and rows of wine filled enormous sized round wooden casks. We attentively listened to the wine makers sharing the process of creating Port wine. These wine cellars are generally four centuries old, provided us deep, dark, cool and quiet to contemplate the history of the place as we wandered around. We ended our tour with tastings of several types and the ages of local wine offered to us. I learned that Portugal has a history of planting vineyards for more than 4,000 years, and ranks as the 11th highest wine producer in the world.
The following day, we toured the maritime museum and did a walking tour through cobblestone streets to the Belem Tower and the Monument of Discoverers. With a my camera in hand, I captured many different photos. We had a group evening dinner at a Taverna, entertained by a wonderful singer Yolanda Dinis, and her family members. I purchased her CD on Fado music for home. Fado music is an interesting style particular to Portugal. The next day, we visited the famous Rossio Railway Station, remarkable for 16th century architectural style, with exquisite tile designs. This was followed by a tour of the Livraria Lello bookstore founded in 1632. We were among wall-to-wall rows tourists moving silently through the largest bookstore with the most stunning architectural design I have ever seen.
The next day, the tour moved on to Alcobaca for a visit to the Church of Santa Maria Monastery and then to Nazare. This fishing harbor is a breathtaking beauty with steep cliffs, rocky drops plunging into the sea, with brilliant blue waves breaking on the shoreline. The colors were a delicious feast for my senses. The small coves hold a cluster of houses, offering only a few small towns and villages in this area. Nature’s beauty!
We stopped at the fishing harbor of Nazare for a lunch of grilled fish and tomato salad. Fresh fish is a highlight and a coastal favorite. With the immensity of the ocean, I saw a variety of migratory birds visiting. We heard the waves pounding the rocks all around us. There only, a famous happening or past time of European tourist spots struck our group as well. A member of our bus-group had his pocket picked and his wallet lifted. He unfortunately had put his wallet in his pant’s back pocket, and someone got close enough to grab it and run. This obviously, put everyone on alert as we walked through various crowded locations from then on. It was an unexpected event but an adventure at the seaside, anyway.
We had a fabulous visit to Fatima, hallowed National Shrine (Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary). I observed white doves in the trees. People kneeled in prayer in the courtyard as they approached the Church before entry. I was able to purchase a Rosary for a friend at home who was ill. The Priest was gracious to bless the rosary for my friend.
The city of Tomar was next on our itinerary a part of antiquity, yet with modern stores and houses interspersed with many churches along tiled and cobblestone streets. There is an interesting Roman aqueduct there. There are hilltop views of the Convent of Christ and further North were the Roman ruins which provided further historical context to the Roman influence of this area. The footprint of Tomar is presented by the four stations of the Cross, which are centuries old. There are four Convents in this town, as well. The architecture, the castle and cathedrals are well preserved and breathtaking. The town is brightly lit in the early morning sunlight, but withdraws into a shade as the day progresses.
Our tour continued to city of Coimbra, called the students city, as it has one of the oldest (700 year old) universities in Europe. Coimbra overlooking the Mondego River holds Se Velha, the Old Cathedral, built in true romanesque style back to the time of the Moors. Portugal is steeped in centuries old history yet suddenly a touch of modernity appears as well. For example, Portugal’s second largest city, Porto/Oporto is a city steeped in ancient history and culture surrounded by Gothic architecture, yet lovely flowered gardens abound. There are boats and fishermen working along the Douro River. We observed houses stacked one upon the other. Populations appear to have limited physical space. Most of the men work the river as fishermen for their livelihood. Tours via riverboat are staple source of income.
As our tour continues, we visited the Museu Judaic De Belmonte, which is a Jewish history museum with artifacts and many pieces of interesting art work of that time. I viewed a book written in French, from 1667 about Jewish history. I learned that Portuguese people during WWII, saved hundreds of thousands of Jewish people fleeing from the tyranny of Hitler by providing them safe haven. Portugal allowed entry to fleeing Jewish people even without appropriate paperwork or visas.
Coming from art to the music of this country. The Casa de Musica is in Porto. We visited this spectacular 12 floor concert hall with a top floor restaurant. As the tour continues, we found this to be a brand new music hall with modern and spectacular sound and performance center. It is acoustically superior to any other performance center, and designed by Rem Koolhaus. It must be a thrill for any performance to be in this Musica.
One of the extraordinary aspects of the architecture in Portugal is the tile work and picturesque designs on so many buildings, cathedrals, as well as on everyday houses. The intricacies of the tile work are a unique talent and particular to Portugal. This is a style of artistry that goes back to the 1600s to Azulejos, where the artists painted their designs directly on the tile prior to firing. Many were traditionally blue and white in color and are seen on the facades of Churches, Castles and at the picturesque scenes at the famous train station we visited.
Portugal is also known for its beautiful leather. Our son requested a pair of Portuguese leather shoes. It was difficult to find a store or market to accomplish this task. We had a taxi take us, round trip, to a store several miles away. I texted pictures of the shoes to my son, as the choices for sizes and colors were limited. He thus was involved in the selection. That’s probably were the most expensive shoes we purchased. But it turned out that when we reached back home, he wasn’t particularly excited about the style of shoes. We advised him that he would have to use them in his house, even as bookends, if he could not wear them.
Our tour continued to Oporto, to Guimaraes, and Vila Real-Viseu, all part of the medieval center. We sampled delicious Tapas and Madeira wine, along with a sweet sponge cake and rice pudding. We visited a vineyard and a winery again. In Viseu, a special dinner was arranged including the local specialties. We had a choice of meat or fish and always wine, and wonderful desserts. The dinner included a choice of Roasted Leg of Lamb (Leitao a Bairrada) or Grilled Mackerel, Sea Bass, Octopus, and Cod along with local salads and vegetables. Viseu specializes in wine production, lace, embroidery and copper. Wine is an essential industry there with wide variety of both red and white wines are produced. We ordered wide variety of wines to bring back home, and I continue to bring a bottle of Portuguese wine to my close friends I visit back in USA.
Some times, life provides an unusual and unexpected comic experience. It happened in our next hotel as we were provided our rooms next door to our friends. Soon after checking in the room, we heard commotion and loud voices next door, yelling, “No, this will not do!” As I went next door, I saw my friends hurriedly heading to the front desk to request another room. What became apparent was a problem with the bathroom with an open large glass window wall into the room with no privacy for the person taking the bath. After all this hue and cry, apparently our friends did not realized, there was a fabric shade affixed to the top of the glass that could be drawn down for the privacy. The operation of the fabric shade curtain was demonstrated to our friends, and we all had a good laugh about it.
We toured open markets and discovered cork. Portugal is a leading producer of cork in the world. Cork is used for making wine corks, insulation, flooring, wallets, handbags, and other decorative and useful handicrafts around the house. Cork comes from a Cork Oak tree. In an incredible process, a layer of cork tree bark is carefully harvested every 9 years, then left to sit on a concrete platform for 6 months to dry, then used in manufacturing. The trees do not begin to grow cork until they are 25 years old; there are multiple areas of these Oak tree plantations. Cork is a major contributor to the economy of Portugal.
As the piece’ de re’sistance, Our tour took us to the Algarve. The Algarve is at the southern most region of the Europe mainland. My eyes widened feasting on the sights that took my breath away. The whitest houses, and the lush flowering gardens and orchards appear all over. The bluest water and the sun sparkling over appears like diamonds dancing in the air. Cliffs, with sparkling colors of orange and gold with majestic rock formations amazes our senses. There are wooden walkways and steps too numerous to count that takes us to the sandy beach. The scene is breathtaking. And for me, Algarve offered an enchantment, which I have yet to experience anywhere else in the world.
Finally, our hotel in Algarve had a roof deck that they illuminated every evening for drinks and small Charcuterie or Tapas plates. That was our escape for finding a quiet place up on the roof, making a wonderful wish on the evening stars, and realizing just how lucky we were. Perhaps in one of those moments, among the beauty and history in Portugal with all it’s splendor, I wrote my own thank you for the place I visited.
The Algarve, the glistening of the ocean
The azure tides in motion
The lyrical sounds of the sea
The voices of the waves speak to me
The cliff sides beckon for return,
A call to a time in paradise, I yearn
Once again, to see this magnificent place
Awakening to this glorious space!