O'Porto! Lindo Sao Micael!

 Porto

About a year and a half ago, I was all set to go on a solo trip to Portugal. Despite all my travels, and all the times I traveled to events on my own, I had never truly traveled solo. Because it is my intent to travel as much as I can, I came to realize that I would probably have to travel solo sometimes and I better get on with getting used to it. Then came COVID, which completely scuttled all plans, even if I naively held out hope until almost the last minute for being able to go. 

One day, talking to my niece Kara (who has been my travel buddy on other adventures), I mentioned that it was time to go somewhere together, and she agreed! We began to watch for deals, and pretty soon a deal to Portugal came along. Perfect! We booked our tickets. Kara wondered if her daughter, Marina, would like to come as well. Being an extremely conscientious college student, Marina eventually decided that she shouldn't miss the additional time from class. By the time she decided that, the deal was gone anyway. In a bit of serendipity, Marina was later talking to friends, who couldn't believe she turned down a free trip to Europe. So she decided she wanted to go after all. I thought, the deal's gone, who knows if or when it will come around again? Lo and behold, there was an even slightly better deal for Marina, one which would put her on our same international flight. It would be the Three Amigas! 

Flying from Salt Lake City (Las Vegas for Marina) via San Francisco to the beautiful city of Porto was a long and tiring trip. Although I had never, up to that point, even been tested for COVID, I would end up being tested a total of four times prior and during the trip, including one brain-scraping version that had to be done unexpectedly. All negative, thankfully. My first international trip in the COVID era wasn't too bad, but I sure did get tired of wearing a mask! I know, first world problems. 

I had talked Kara and Marina into a meet-and-greet airport transfer. I guess I remain a bit spoiled by my former event planning life, but I think it is always SO much nicer to arrive in an unknown destination with someone holding a card (or in this case, a tablet) with your name on it. In the case of Porto, it was only a few more dollars than a taxi, and it's a better first intro to a new place. 

Our Airbnb was in a fantastic location, even if more than a bit tricky to get to. Our driver drove us right to the front door, which was really above and beyond considering the only way out of the very narrow "road" was to back up a hill, with cars parked on one side of what was essentially one and a half lanes. But that was the last doorstep service we got! Every adventure from that point on involved trudging up a pretty decent sized hill to the main road. 

But the view was to die for! This view is from the back of our place, looking over the Dom Luis bridge. 

Porto is like many European cities, full of history, museums and churches. It is also quite hilly, so we got some exercise in! Our place was relatively close to everything, so it wasn't too bad. And, like most European cities, there's enough to keep you busy. 

On the first day, in non-chronilogical order, we saw: 

Church of San Francisco

Cliergos Church (but did not climb the tower)

Porto Cathedral

Church of Santa Clara

Livraria Lello - a library, though really it was an amazing bookstore

Plus probably a ton of other stuff that we passed and I didn't make a particular note. We walked - a lot! We ended up on a lovely pedestrian street, Rua Del Flores, where we had probably the best meal of our trip - especially the dessert! 

On Sunday, we went on a small group tour of Peneda Geres National Park, led by guide-extrordinaire,

Diogo. In addition to the three of us, there were also two tour interns and Deb. It turns out that Deb is an attorney taking a break from regular life to do a three-month cooking school in Spain. Because Marina wants to be an attorney, the two of them spent a lot of time talking about that, which was awesome for Marina.

The scenery was absolutely incredible. We stopped at a few different villages - one for a coffe, one for lunch, and one for a little shopping (I bought a beach hat that I kept forgetting to take to the beach!), and a gelato. 

Despite the hiking that kicked my butt (I can walk for hours on flat terrain, but just can't seem to handle elevation gains these days), it was a very enjoyable day. 

 

The next day we did some more walking around in the city. We had a plan to go to Cafe Majestic for pastels de nata, but the line was insanely long. So we found a place that had been recommended for their chocolate eclairs, which were VERY good! We ended up back on Rua de Flores, and strolled through the Museu da Misericórdia. We also visited the Sao Bento train station, which has amazing tile work. 

Later that day, we walked across the Dom Luis bridge. 

We then attended a port tasting session at Ferreira Porto, founded by a family of winemakers from
Douro, in 1751. We learned about the various kinds of port (I didn't know there is such a thing as port made from white grapes) and how each is made and aged. They still have bottles from the early 1800's, which cost thousands of dollars per bottle. I don't know that I've become a port fan necessarily, but it was fun to learn more about the city's namesake and taste the different kinds. We ended the evening with dinner at a sidewalk cafe before returning to the other side of the Duoro River. 

The following day we flew to one of the Azores islands, Sao Miguel. One fun development (not): it turned out that the eMed tests we took with us in order to be admitted to the Azores were not on their approved list, so we had to get a test upon arrival. Unfortunately for us, it was the deep swab/brain scraping version. No fun! But at least it was free. Marina and I never did get our results. 

After some trouble with the rental car (took a minute to figure out where reverse was...I haven't driven stick for a few years), we finally made it in the dark to our next Airbnb. This one was on the north side of the island, with a backyard that looked out over the Atlantic. Not exactly a swimming beach, but very beautiful nonetheless. 

The next morning we started driving, and our first stop was at a tea plantation. 

And a stop at Praia dos Moinhos (Moinhos Beach)...

 

The next day, which by this point is Friday, we set out for another day of driving around the island. This time our goal was to see Vale das Furnas (thermal hot pots) and to eat the Cozido das Furnas, which is basically a stew that is buried in the volcanic soil at Lagoa das Furnas (Lake Furnas). We stopped by to watch them take the stew out of the ground before continuing on for an intended lunch of cozida. Unfortunately, by the time we got to Tony's restaurant, they were already out of their allotment of the cozida, so we never did get to try it. 

Our next destination was Villa Franca Do Campo - well-known for cliff diving competition off the village's islet. We also visited the Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Paz, which is situated at the top of a mountain/hill. By the way, hydrangeas grow EVERYWHERE on Sao Miguel. They were half in bloom while we were there, and beautiful.

Our final destination for the day was Poca da Dona Beija, a thermal pool place. It was absolutely pouring rain when we arrived. There was no parking nearby, and by the time we parked and walked there, we were absolutely soaking wet - despite having umbrellas. Even though we were there to get wet, at least the pools were warm!

A lot of the driving on this day was in very, very misty/foggy conditions - not great in any circumstance but especially so when the area is not familiar and the roads are narrow! I was pretty tense by the time we made it back to our place.

All too soon, it was our final full day on Sao Miguel. Destination: Sete Cidades, plus a whole lot of gorgeous scenery along the way. Luckily for us, this day we had great weather and visibility. We drove on country roads we believed to be the local short-cut, as we were going the opposite way from the signage...but Google didn't let us down! Sete Cidades is composed of two lakes in the center of a large volcanic crater. The crater measures about five kilometers in length and one to two kilometers in width. One of many striking features of the area is the colours of the two lakes. One is green and the other ists blue. Legend has it that the colours of the two lakes were created by the tears of a princess and her lover when the king forbade their romance. The king allowed one last visit between the princess and the young shepherd. At this meeting the princess and her young lover shed tears that formed the two lakes, each with a colour matching their eyes.

After driving on a road that runs between the two lakes, we continued on to the ocean, and a village called Mosteiros. Along the way, we stopped at a lookout point for a quick snack and a view of the sublime. In Mosteiros, we walked along the shore, stopped at a black sand beach and enjoyed a drink and snack at a place overlooking the ocean. 

Marina wanted these ducks to move, ha ha. They really didn't move much at all. 

The next day we flew back to Porto so that we could catch our flight home the following day. Honestly, by this point we were all kind of petered out, so we just spent a quiet evening in - I didn't even go to the hotel restaurant for dinner with Kara and Marina. Also, we had to get up insanely early for our flight. 

As I've mentioned before, I almost always prefer to go to new places rather than returning to somewhere I've been before, no matter how much I like it. But there are a few exceptions - I think I would always jump at Santorini or Hawaii, for example. And I think Portugal has to stay on the "to do" list because we didn't spend any time at all in Lisbon or the Algarve. It's a beautiful and friendly country, and I'm glad I finally made it there!