April 18, 2014 Restful Day in Oporto

April 18, 2014 Restful Day in Oporto

                We stayed in the apartment this morning, except around 9:30 Suzette and I walked up to the little café near our apartment for a coffee and then we wailed up to the Mercado where we bought 6 eggs.   When we walked back to the apartment we stopped at the little pastry shop and bought two chocolate croissants.  When we returned to the apartment, Suzette read and I tried to load pictures into the blog.

Around 11:30 Suzette started brunch using the fish, octopus and seasoned potatoes in oil left from our three meals of the last two days,

 

She cut up the fish and potatoes and poured the excess olive into a small pan and added 2 eggs per skillet full of fish and potatoes.

After lunch we decided to walk down to the river to take the six bridge boat tour.  On the way down the hill to the river we saw a small grocery store with lots of wine.   We enjoyed the boat ride past the six bridges crossing the Douro The cruise went all the way out to the ocean and about five miles upriver to the sixth bridge.  When we returned to the dock, Suzette wanted to shop so we walked along the quay to view the stalls with goods.  I was not hopeful but in a few minutes Suzette found a table where a man was selling crocheted handbags made by his wife and found one she wanted for 20 Euros.

Then we decided to walk back to the apartment by way of the little grocery, so we could buy wine for Morocco.  When we entered the side street where the shop was located we soon came upon a lovely wine and spirits shop that has a small sitting area so we decided to have a drink before tackling the larger part of the hill.  Suzette had a ruby port, Willy had a red wine and I had a sparkling white wine named Santa Christiana.

Then we went to the wine store and bought four bottles of wine.  Two whites, a Madeira and a red.   Suzette also bought a bottle of Portuguese olive oil by a fabricator dating back to 1267.

The store owner boxed the bottles in a six bottle carton and wrapped all the wine and olive oil in the box in string and Willy was kind enough to carry it up the hill back to the apartment. 

 

We left the apartment again at 6:40 to walk to the Artunes Restaurant that had been recommended.  When we got to it was closed and it suddenly dawned on us that the day was Good Friday.  We had been told that Friday was a celebration and many stores would be closed and I noticed that the U.S. stock market had not opened but finally when the restaurant was closed we realized that it was Good Friday. 

I need to mention that Oporto is not only a large city at the side of the ocean and along both sides of the Douro, but there are also a series of valleys, so it is a lot like San Francisco.  Lots of up and down to get around, especially if you do not know the subway and bus systems. 

We walked back down the hill to the Regalia Restaurant across the street from our apartment that Manuel suggested as a good typically Portuguese restaurant.  The specialty of the restaurant is a sandwich made with two slices of white bread and layered with s thin slice of pork and a sausage sliced in half and a spicy cream sauce, called a Franchesinhe.   Willy ordered it and liked it.  Suzette wanted meat and ordered lamb chops, but something got lost in translation and she received roasted cabrito (goat), which she thought was a skimpy portion but she said it tasted good.  Perhaps to make up for the lack of meat the cabrrito was served with dirty rice, rice risotto combining giblets.  I ordered bacalau, which is salt cod that is reconstituted in water and then grilled and served with potatoes.   I loved it.

 Franchesinhe

After dinner we returned to the apartment and packed and made sandwiches for the trip tomorrow and Suzette cut up our fruit and made a fruit salad for breakfast.

We went to bed at 10:00 because we had to get up at 4:00 to get to the 6:30 flight to Madrid to connect to Marrakech.

Bon Appétit