The day began with a foggy start. A fine mist covered the
city briefly. The first order of the day was to get some breakfast and Britt
navigated us past the Igreja do Carmo an amazing baroque church, the almost completely covered on the outside with
religious scenes sketched out on the traditional blue and white tiles. I would
have loved to see inside as well, but a notice made it clear that entry was
reserved to the praying congregation and tourists and their cameras could go
elsewhere. T
We walked on to Fabrica, a specialist roaster and coffee
shop. We had proper coffee and big breakfast. I had poached eggs with avocado
and roasted pumpkin seeds. Johnny has his granola with yoghurt and berries.
Britt had a stack of pancakes with mascarpone and berries. The cool breakfast
set the tone of the day. Meandering back to the apartment, we came across LOT
(Labels of Tomorrow shop) and Britt bought some very nice smelly stuff for the
Adega. Johnny started to form a dangerous attachment to some very expensive
shoes, but gratefully we left the shop before the bond became too much to
resist. There were some honesty beautiful things in there but the prices were
stratospheric.
From there we walked down to the Mercado Bolhao market. What
a fabulous place this was. Two gigantic stone gods were perched above the
gateway, looking down on us poor human beings in seeming bemusement. Every
stall had only one focus and everything was so artfully presented. We bought
some “gorgeous little things” as Patsy and Edina would say, including some very
special cherry and ginger liqueur. This is the only market that I have ever
seen that came close to the feast for all the senses in the way that the
Boqueria in Barcelona was. The building had been newly renovated and honestly
it was a fabulous experience shopping in there.
Even though breakfast had been huge, it was impossible to
resist the fare of Mantegeira, the specialist Portuguese tart maker that Britt
recommended, opposite the market. You eat them warm from the oven with one of
those micro cups of coffee that this city loves. I will not be at all surprised
If I find at the end of this holiday, that I have put on weight.
The walk down the mall took us past The Porto railway
station, Sao Bento with its beautiful blue tiled decoration to a lot of swish shops. Britt led
us to Pedemeia, a specialist sock store. Half an hour later (or so it seemed),
Britt and Johnny emerged with their purchases. Surprisingly, I can buy socks in
Melbourne in only a couple of minutes, but I do have to admit that they don’t
have the same lovely designs as these. This was also an opportunity for Britt
to get some rather nice pieces of clothing she had been searching for, for some
time.
From here we back-tracked to the market street to
Confeitaria do Bolhao where Johnny bought filled rolls for us to take down to
the riverfront for lunch. Loaded up with shopping bags, we thought it best to
swing by the apartment and drop them off before venturing down to the
riverfront for the boat trip we had planned.
The front was again pulsing with people. The day was
wonderfully sunny and the front full of entertainment. We bought the boat
tickets and as we waited for the return of our boat to shore, had a picnic
lunch on the steps near the water.
We were very close to the front of the line when the
gangplank opened and we were allowed on board. We took a seat near the very
front of the boat. The one-hour cruise took us under six bridges and the audio
pointed out the sights and explained the history of the area. By the end of the
cruise, the tiredness, the heat and the brightness of the sun overwhelmed me a
bit and I was so glad that the plan was to go back to the apartment for a rest.
I popped a couple of pills and pulled the doona over me, only getting up a
couple of hours later and only then because Britt had asked that a sliding door
in the apartment needed attention and a maintenance man arrived to deal with it.
During the morning whilst down in the mall, we had walked
past an interesting restaurant called the Cantina. While I was asleep, Britt
had tried calling them to book a table, but to no avail. We decided to go past
and take a chance as walk ins. We were so lucky as we scored the last seats at
a sharing table. While we waited to be seated, the next walk-ins were turned away.
We had a range of entrees including a cod rice, fried bell peppers and a duck
and berry pate. The main meals were a massive octopus (the size of a dinner
plate) with vegetables and a very tasty steak and coleslaw. Dessert was orange
slices with pomegranate and a dusting of nutmeg. It was a terrific meal, but it
was also an opportunity to find out a lot more about Britt’s work. We are both
so proud of our first born child.
The character of the mall totally changed as evening set in.
The shoppers left and the diners took over the footpaths all the way along the
street. There was a nip in the air so most places had outdoor heaters flaming. Music
from the buskers created a wonderful mood. As we walked down the mall, a stream
of joggers poured down the street, stopping to dance around a brilliant young
man who with only a saxophone and some audio equipment was setting the night on
fire with his renditions of Bob Marley tunes.
Another wonderful day had come to a
