Leaving us alone

So mad I can’t load in photos!!!!!

For some reason we can’t wake up until past 8.  Then off to a delicious hotel breakfast with the most amazing butter.  I need to find some. American butter sucks.  Kirk was saying all of his inflammation has subsided and currently I don’t have the lingering morning cough I’ve had for a while (which could be allergies).  You know we eat quite well at home but it feels different here. And it is.  

And moving on. We headed over to Vila Nova da Gaia today.  Luckily lol we didn’t have to go down the 300 steps (not 100 like I thought b/c I counted 276  today not including the landing areas) to cross the Ponte Luis bridge since it’s on the level of our wonderful hotel (Lenscape Coterie). Headed to Serra do Pilar Monastery but it’s under construction so we just milled around there looking back to Porto proper and meandered down thru a park and along the Douro River and to our Port tasting at Espaco Porto Cruz.

Really was not what I expected.  We had a white, rose, tawny and ruby which was light to heavy, young to older, paired with quite delicious chocolates.  Our ‘host’ barely explained our tasting and only answered what we thought were quite obvious question when interrupted. We felt we had to interrupt him b/c he really didn’t seem to care more than his normal script.  But once we got some answers it helped us understand, compared to wine.  White and rose were both done in stainless while tawny and ruby were done in french oak, all used.  Tawny in smaller barrels and ruby in very large barrels, larger than wine barrels. They are not syrupy or thick but quite thin and delicious.  Here they have white and rose before dinner but not sure about the tawny and ruby.  We both unexpectedly enjoyed them.  We are trying to get used to the servers ignoring us.  But in this case we could have used some more information. 

Had lunch at the Port house upstairs overlooking the Douro and Porto. It was delicious - we had a dry white which wasn’t my favorite, artichoke and goat cheese salad, bacahalu and I had a shrimp safffron risotto. So good.  Then back over the bridge and stopped at a hilltop bar for some beers b/c the rain outlook was 100%.  Kirk said “this is their Cronies” which is a sad statement b/c it’s a beautiful view of the hill and the river and not a parking lot full of racists.  🙄. The beers, location and company were good.  Kirk was laughing at some younger men taking photos of bald spots and it turned out they were Aussies and all ‘on the pills’ for hair growth!  They were quite forthcoming about it!  Said there are very little side effects and “we’d know in the first few weeks if our dicks fell off”. Dying!!!!

After a few beers and lots of rain we headed to Guindais Garden Bar and Restaurant but since it was raining we could not be outside.  Shame b/c it is a spectacular view with nice grass and seating.  So inside we went to sit at the bar for some wine.  Kirk ordered a Pinot and I ordered a Touriga nacional.  His was very much like a Santa Ynez Pinot which to me had sweet tart characteristics and mine was similar to a Cab Franc - dry with later fruit.  We talked to the bartender who told us about Douro but had never been.  He said it’s beautiful and has great wine.  It’s about 1.5 hours from Porto.  Interestingly we have heard this many times that the locals haven’t been to place just a few hours away. Our guide in Lisbon to Sintra said many people who live in the eastern part of part of the country, closer to Spain , have not been to the ‘big cities”.  I guess we take travel for granted. 

Back at the hotel for a quick nap (Kirk) and the we decided to stay here for dinner b/c of the rain.  Sitting here on the bed with the slider open, nice breeze and soft rain.  

A bit more. Dinner was AMAZING here at the hotel.  We had a caprese salad with fresh basil we watched the chef pull off the growing bunch next to him, with a handmade pizza and mushroom pasta TO DIE FOR with a fabulous bottle of Chianti and then a bodini with cake for dessert.  OMG.  Just lying down in bed and Kirk said “I could live like this,”. 😂. Go eat downstairs, no dishes to clean and then hanging out in bed with the rain outside. I do love the rain.  We went outside after dinner just to listen to it.  Cali people for sure.  lol.