Portugal | Porto & Lisbon
We have heard people talk about how amazing Portugal is for years. The food, the wine, the culture! “You will love Portugal” they say! “You have to go to Portugal” they say. What they don’t tell you about are the hills. Hills, hills and more hills. Then there are stairs. Get ready to get your steps in for the day and be sure to pack comfortable shoes!
Saint Lawrence Church, Porto
The two cities we visited, Porto and Lisbon, are beautiful cities and offer so much to those who visit. Portugal is known for its amazing weather. From what we heard, Portugal offers around 300 days of sunshine each year. Well, we were there during one of the few weeks of consistent rain they encounter. Bummer for sure. All that being said, we still had a fabulous time in Portugal.
Our Portugal Itinerary:
Day 1: Fly to Porto and get settled
“Half Rabbit” by artist Bordallo II made from recycled materials and trash collected by the city of Porto, as a commentary of society’s wastefulness.
View from Porto looking back at the Gaia side of the river (where we stayed).
Rooftops of Porto, Portugal
Traditional Rabelo boats in Porto, which is what were used for transporting Port wine from the Duoro Valley where the grapes are grown to Porto to be bottled/barreled and shipped overseas. These are now just for show and are only used for a race between the Port Houses during a festival each year.
Luis I Bridge - Porto, Portugal
Day 2: Port Tasting at Ramos Pinot, explored Porto via the sky buckets, walked the The Dom Luís I Bridge and explored the Porto side of the Douro Valley.
Valerie and Jeremy in looking over the Luis I Bridge in Porto, Portugal
Day 3: Port tasting at Sandeman, Fonseca and Taylor’s
While Jeremy made appointments at these three port wine houses, what turned out to be the most interesting aspect of it was that each tasting gave us a different look at the breadth and depth of Port Wine. The list of what we tasted is below. As you can see, the first tasting allowed us taste across most of the different traditional styles of port (bianco, ruby, tawny), while the second tasting allowed us to try a vertical of vintage ports, which allowed us to see how port from one year can evolve over time. The last tasting exposed us to the art of Tawny Port, tasting different ages from 10-50 year Tawny.
Quick Wine Nerdiness — Tawny ports are a blend of port wines from many different vintages, and in order to call it a 50 year or 30 year Tawny, they must contain a certain percentage of a wine that is at least that old. The rest of it can be younger, which are used to give the flavor profile the winemaker is looking for. It does not mean that everything in that bottle is 50 years old.
Tasting Menu at Sandeman
Porto White Aptiv Reserve
Porto Ruby Founder’s Reserve
Porto Tawny Imperial Reserve
Porto Tawny 10 Year Old
Tasting Menu at Fonseca
1997
2000
2003
2009
2017
Tasting Menu at Taylor’s
All Tawny : 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 year
Barrel room in Sandeman
Tawny Port tasting at Taylor’s
Fonseca Vintage Port Tasting
Fonseca Winery
Day 4: Rest Day!
Day 5: Train to Lisbon Explored local food market
Day 6: Jeremy of course found a craft beer bar near the hotel. We have to give a shout out to Musa da Bica, which was also our desk for the day. We then had dinner at Belcanto (2 Michelin Star Restaurant)
First course at Belconto Restaurant in Lisbon
Description card of the first course at Belcanto
Day 7: Explore Lisbon via HOHO Bus (Hop On Hop Off)
The Ponte 25 de Abril with the Santuario de Cristo Rei in the distance Lisbon, Portugal
Pink Street in Lisbon, Portugal
Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon, Portugal
Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries) in Lisbon, Portugal
Day 8: Explore Lisbon and Dinner at Solar dos Presuntos
The beautiful streets of Lisbon, Portugal
Tiles, tiles and more tiles!
Love the tiles!
Day 9: Fly from Lisbon, Portugal to Marrakesh, Morocco
Highlights
Food — Portuguese love their food. It’s a lot of fish, so we had a few challenges finding places with options for Valerie. That said, there are A LOT of options. It borders on overwhelming trying to choose where to go. We found that asking locals in bars and restaurants was the best way to go. They would be happy to give you their suggestions, and we found a few good places this way.
Picturesque City — We have heard about the beauty of Portugal, and even in the rain it did not disappoint. Porto in particular is really stunning. We recommend staying on the Gaia side of the river looking at Porto itself.
Non-San Francisco/San Francisco — Lisbon made us a bit nostalgic for our time living in San Francisco. Yes, they have their version of the Golden Gate Bridge (25 April Bridge - designed and built by the same company that built the Golden Gate), but they also have trolly cars running all over the city. The hills, the architecture, the food and the wine feels a bit like San Francisco, California.
Tiles! — Tiles in Portugal are a lifestyle. If we had a home to take them to, you better believe our next bathroom renovation would feature Portuguese tiles.
Things We Learned
As we mentioned, Portugal has beautiful weather most of the year, but we happen to be there in middle of 3 weeks of rain. We had a few moments of sunshine, but be thoughtful being here in fall if you are looking for all the sunshine.
Public transport will be important, unless you like getting your hiking steps up the hills. In Lisbon, there are trolleys all over that are a little more fun, but the buses and subway were efficient as well.
Don’t try to taste at 3 Port Wine houses in one day. The booze is one thing, but palate fatigue is real!
Other than port, we tried to weave our way through Portuguese wines when we could, but just didn’t find anything that fit our preference. At least not enough to purchase. We had a few nice things at Belcanto, but even those were food wines.
Valerie and Jeremy in Lisbon, Portugal
That is a snapshot of our time in Porto and Lisbon, Portugal. Cheers to a wonderful experience in the region.
Now…Where To Next?
