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SEurope – Days 11-18 – Gaia/Porto, Portugal

Posted on 2025-06-182025-06-16 by us bluelime

Day 11 – to Porto

Jun 7 – New City Day

  • He ran out for morning Cokes so we could have that with our banana breakfast. While we were eating, we also bought our train tickets before they sold out. We got the last two first class seats, which were only 10€ more (total for us both) than second class. Now I know why Americans cannot handle more public transportation: there is no one around to hold your hand and make sure you get on the right train, bus, etc.. It’s not difficult, but it’s also not easy. It would be nice if more Americans had to think a little more.
  • Our train made it up to 220kmh/135mph, so we were in Porto in just a couple of hours.
  • We drew the hotel luck again. Our hotel is only a few months old and we got a room on the top floor with a really comfy bed and four nice king pillows. We were also next door to El Corte Inglés.
  • Between recovery and the travel day, I was spent, so he went to KFC. Sadly, they don’t sell mashed potatoes, so he brought me salad and fries for dinner and then later went out for more bananas.

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Day 12 – Portugal didn’t lose

Jun 8

  • We slept in a little and then went for brunch at El Corte Inglés, a 10-story building with a restaurant, a food court, a grocery story, a “Target” type store, a few floors of a “Macy’s” type department store, a wine shop, a pastry shop, a cigar shop….and I’m sure I’m leaving out more. It was built in 1995, but looks new. They are taking very good care of it.
  • As we rode the elevator, someone noticed and commented on his Banff shirt and then said, “We love Canada!” as they were exiting. It was cute.
  • After so much “excitement” during recovery, I needed to rest some more. Meanwhile, he ran a couple of errands and explored a little. Later, he got us pasta for dinner.
  • At about 11pm, we heard crazy honking and yelling in celebration of something. I wasn’t quite asleep yet, so I quickly looked to see if there was a game. Yes, there was. Surely, Portugal must have won, right? Nope! Portugal and Spain TIED. Never in my life have I heard so much celebrating over a TIE. It was like a whole parade of “we didn’t lose!” that went until about 12:30am.

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Day 13 – old friends and new food (for him) day

Jun 9

  • We were awake a little early (for us), so we checked out breakfast at our hotel. It was really nice; he especially liked their donuts.
  • Later in the afternoon, we met with T & MA for lunch in the food court of El Corte Inglés. I wasn’t ready for more food, so I had a berry tea sorbet “float” from Häagen Dazs. He used to work with T when we first moved to Austin. In fact, she was his Work Wife. When he left to work for UT, she threw him a boob-themed going away party complete with a decree of divorcement. (And if I can find those pics, they will resurrect!)
  • They also had a couple of errands, so we all wandered down/over to the “Target” and grocery areas.
  • When it was time for real food again, I wanted chicken soup, so we walked to Ramen Dihm for dinner. He had “training wheels” for his chopsticks. It was nice to want real food—even just soup–after so many days of only bread, bananas, and beverages. I was still mostly channeling Romy:
    • I also have a story here. For years, I couldn’t get him to try cheesecake despite vanilla being his favorite flavor. I told him the name is off putting, but to try it. He always declined. One day, he got a “is this a vanilla pie?” dessert off a buffet of several options. He loved it. I just grinned and told him, “That’s cheesecake.” It’s still one of his favorite desserts. Well, I have the same story but with Ramen. We had to go all the way to Portugal for him to try a restaurant version, but he loved it.

Day 14 – Portugal Day

Jun 10

  • The holiday today was Portugal Day. Plenty of things were closed for the holiday, but a lot was open, too. We saw no celebrations; apparently, they raised a flag and may have had a small parade.
  • Online, I found a close-by place for breakfast, but we ended up at a different one with a similar name. Turns out, there are three “Savor” restaurants within a couple of blocks of our hotel. Gran Savor Latino was good.
  • We made the must-do visit to the Cais da Ribeira de Gaia to see the famous bridge. Down below, there is a bridge for cars; up above, there is a bridge for pedestrians and metro trains. They go over the Douro River. Down the way, there is another (currently unused) bridge designed by the same man who designed the Eiffel tower.
  • Buying water today, the clerk asked where we’re from. He was even curious which state.
    Then he said, “I love States, but I hate T.rump.”
    Us too, buddy. Us, too.
  • We also visited Batalha Square and walked through a few shops, but when some clouds rolled in, we headed back to the hotel. Later, we wanted Ramen again, but it was closed, so we “settled” for good Italian.
  • Side note: with rare exceptions, the music here is great. It’s a ton of very mainstream 80s hits. Nothing is “too far” to any extreme. Thankfully, there has been no country crap.
  • On our way to and from lunch, we noticed a gaming space. I noticed it mostly because the logo is quite similar as that of some content creators I follow. He noticed that it was a gaming place.
    • Turns out, we would both be quite surprised. SAW (Stay A Warrior) isn’t just a gaming cafe, it’s a whole team of professionals in gaming and has some pretty posh digs. They allow open play in their main storefront. The place is amazingly decked out with really nice ergonomic gaming chairs, good lighting, and more. Because it was a holiday, things were slow and only a couple of guys were playing. He said it’s normally full with people waiting, but he had time to give us a tour! The trophy case is filled with accolades the team has won. The facility also boats a few private gaming suites for teams of five plus two more stations for their coach and analyst. There is also a gaming arena that seats a hundred spectators facing two teams of five gamers each. So that all spectators can see all the action, each player station has a camera pointed at them, which is broadcast to a monitor below them. Above each player is a monitor of their screen during game play. All of this is controlled by a “sound booth” above/behind the audience. Down the hall is a whole restaurant. They serve a lot of game-friendly handhelds snacks, but they also serve walk in customers. We liked the place so much that he bought a tshirt. (He would have bought a jersey, but they were clearing those out for the new design and didn’t have his size.)
  • I spent part of the afternoon in the hotel lobby trying to catch up on this blog. I was still feeling pretty weak, getting too warm, fighting vision problems, and couldn’t look up without getting light headed. It was okay; it was just dehydration. While in the lobby, I got to see a massive tour group check in. There were maybe three men in the group and probably 50 women. Lucky men, I guess. Despite it being later in the afternoon, they attacked the coffee machine like they hadn’t had any caffeine all day. Clearly, they are European. Their chaos left almost as quickly as it arrived once their leader gave them all their room keys/assignments. This is a pattern that would repeat a few times with various large tour groups.
  • Later, he joined me down there to people watch. Some guys asked us where to get beer. We pointed them to El Corte and said the grocery was a level down. They bounded off. And then we realized El Corte was closed (early for the holiday, it seems.) Oops.

baby seagulls (exaggerated effects to see them)

We stayed (and spent most of our time in) Gaia, rather than Porto proper.

I’ve had French Tacos on my to-cook list for years!

It’s not like Colorado, but it’s around.

It’s always funny to see US brands overseas.

left: Stay A Warrior gaming; right: Ambition Srikes YouTube and coffee

new construction is required to leave the old façade

the gaming arena; 10 players and 100 spectators

the front gaming area

Day 15 – new food day again

Jun 11

  • This time, we went to the intended Savor restaurant for breakfast. Their English was as bad as our Portuguese, but the food was good.
  • We took a rideshare down-down-down to the river front and watched river cruise boats load up provisions and arrive into port for passengers to debark on excursions. There, we found a tiny pie cafe (chocolate!) for refreshments and then walked through various vendors along river front.
  • After a trip back to the hotel for naps, he woke up hungry so we found Café Lagoa Azul. We had sheep’s milk cheese (a new one for us both), Eru Queru spreadable cheese, and a buttery spread with our bread and then steaks for our entrees.
    • Another funny was when I realized and said aloud that it was sheep’s milk cheese. He said “oh yeah, goat’s milk cheese.” “Or [you know]… sheep.”
  • When we got back, I returned to the lobby to finish catching up (so close to there!). This is where Portuguese Teddy (nicknamed after Australian Teddy), aka TedDEY, had giant screaming fits throughout his dinner. We don’t actually know the kids name; they never discipline him. They also have an infant, which is probably the source of his antics.
    Why do people with tiny babies and very young children think it’s a good idea to travel? The kids get nothing out of it other than stress, and the rest of us are simply subjected to the very loud chaos. I’ve asked this question a lot. The reasons (not desires, reasons) for an infant or toddler to travel (as opposed to their family traveling to them) boil down to extremes like needing the best pediatric specialist for something specific.
  • Later, he found surprise treats: ice cream for him and another sorbet float for me. I was still bing Romy-ish, so that was enough food for me for one day. Later, he went for more ramen, but this time got it with hot chili oil.

yet another yellow building

...and a very cool teal one

tiny pies come in a ton of flavors

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one of the river cruise ships - they sleep about a hundred guests

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his order is "without sprouts or onions", of course

Day 16 – rainy day, but lovely night

Jun 12 (Thu)

  • After breakfast, we made our next travel plans, bought train tickets, and made hotel reservations. Our next stop would be a shorter one. We were only in Porto for this long because we thought we’d hang out a little more with T&MA.
  • The day was dreary and rainy day, so we just made it a lazy rest/blogging day. When I was done with one post, we couldn’t get it to preview correctly for him. After some sleuthing, we found a missing ] that threw the whole thing out of whack.
  • Between showers, we went across to El Corte Ingles building to have lunch at their upsairs restaurant, Las Nubes Cafetaria. We ended up near a super-rude woman (one of the first we have encountered) and saw an $8,000 sage green Baby Dior baby stroller.
  • Later, down in the lobby, I got more “TedDEY time” while trying to edit/blog. He was up in our room, blissfully unaware, and gaming.
  • For dinner, we went to Porto proper. At Puro 4050, a restaurant and mozzarella bar, I regret we didn’t get the mozzarella flight. But I had the very best pasta mushroom cream truffle dish—”Penne salteado com cogumelos porccinni”—in the world.
  • Walking around Porto at night was a wholly different experience. The day is full only of tourists, but the night is a better mix. Dinner starts late here, never before 7pm and lingers for 1.5-2 hours (or more for a large group). The cooler night temps made the evening a lot of fun. The Douro River, divides Porto from Gaia, but the views from either side are spectacular. As our evening was winding down, we wanted to have a night cap. “Barkers” at the front of the restaurants want you to look at the menu and get a table. At one, when I said “2 for drinks” he turned me away. He said, “this is a restaurant.” I just looked at the 20+ empty tables, looked at him, and then we moved on. Two places down, we got a table and a couple of drinks and had lovely service and views. On the way back by past the first place, the guy said “2 for drinks?” to us. We just ignored him. He’s only doing what he’s told.

decadance in açúcar

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the central house - do you see her?

how about now?

there she is!

seeing through the wall

an old wall

we had drinks under one of those little arches

drinks below

every time you look, it’s different

Day 17 – circle tour

Jun 13 – Friday the 13th

  • After a nice little breakfast across the street from our hotel (at Cafe Angola), we decided to take a Hop-On-Hop-Off tour. They drove us through Old Porto, to the coast, along the Ribeara, and through Gaia. We skipped the narration and just enjoyed the views. Driving through, we learned that the western part of Porto is the LA of Portugal. Big/fancy houses, expensive cars, and cold temps from the ocean breezes.
  • As we drove along the coast, we saw rough seas and started to feel cold rain, which forced everyone on the upper deck to the down below.
  • Wanting to avoid the weather, we went to Bombay Grill for lunch. It was in a mostly deserted old shopping mall. Our food–chicken vindaloo for him and a chicken kebab for me—was good, but it was a weird place. We were the only regular customers. A large group of guys all came in, ate in a big hurry, and left again. They seemed to all know each other, so we surmised it’s a deal to provide lunch for some workers nearby. In the open part of the mall, there was a resident kitty who seemed to be in labor.
  • While we waited for our next bus, we popped into a large artisanal tile shop for a postcard.
  • Back at our hotel, I was doing my thing in the lobby when TedDEY and his family came down for an early dinner.
  • We had a lovely dinner at T&C. He even ate the sautéed red peppers with his steak. My sea bass was amazing, and my wine was even better. For dessert, I had some Maderia (a fortified wine, but not from Porto). It gave a nice butterscotch taste that went well with my Creme Brulee. We traded bites so we could both taste both, but he couldn’t finish his chocolate mouse so I got a couple more bites of that, too. We visited Angel’s Share for another drink and the views. Our drive home was hosted by a very fun, happy Uber driver. It was a great date night.

the view of El Corte from our hotel

double decker driving

these trees filled the whole neighborhood with a floral scent

establishing himself as the king?

more yellow!

….and teal

yellow and blue tile

laboring kitty

rough surf

view 1 from our dinner table

view 2 from our dinner table

view 3 from our dinner table

the ceiling and structure are quite grand

the views at night

WOW: World of Wine

parabéns ao casal feliz

Day 18 – drinking Port in Porto Portugal

Jun 14

  • We intentionally slept in and then headed back to Cafe Angola. This time, we knew how to order the bacon egg toasty we wanted the day before.
  • On our way back into the hotel, I got my hot chocolate fix for the day. (Well, the first one.) And he found his first nap of the day.
  • For lunch, we headed back to Ramen Dihm. He has declared it the best ramen in the world.
  • We then headed to El Corte for some breakfast foods because we’d be leaving too early on the next morning to have breakfast.
  • Back to the lobby for (more hot chocolate and) blogging while he naps….TedDEY’s family wa there with the newborn, but without TedDEY. It was bizarre. They also gathered up and left in an excited hurry. He suggested that maybe they threw TedDEY out a window in order to gain their sanity back.
  • For dinner, we headed to the Porto side of the river and found the last table at Taberna Dona Antonia. I had their steak with Port from Porto Portugal; he had their roasted chicken. All was delicious. We stopped at the Wine Box for a to-go bottle and headed back to tuck in early.

they love fish in Porto

our bill came in this cute box and guests had signed it

every single corner is interesting

gorgeous blue tile

more blue tile

the line in the tunnel to get into the area; perfect timing for us to get out

Porto was lovely. If you are going to visit Portugal, it’s a must-do city.

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