Prepare yourselves for the classiest trip I have taken yet.
As you already know, I was in Porto. The first day, if you read the last post, was spent just wandering around, getting to know the town. You know, the usual. Well, the second day was a very different pace.
Hillary and I struck out right away. We knew that MGMT was playing a concert for the Burning of the Ribbons Festival, and the lady at the desk told us we might be able to get tickets if we went to some random café and asked around, maybe a random student could help us. Problems abound, one being we didn’t speak Portuguese and another being we couldn’t find said café, we were unsuccessful in the procurement of tickets.
Well, it was 5 o’clock somewhere so it was time for a drink.
Really though, around 11 am we headed off to our first wine “cave” or cellar for our first tour and tasting. We scoped out the lot of options we had and picked out the cheapest ones (read: free). Our first tour and tasting was at Croft. They served us a nice white port which was very smooth and sweet. We then set off for the tour. After the tour we got a ruby vintage port which we enjoyed on the terrace. (Are you getting the sense of classiness yet?)
I learned a little bit about ports on this and my other tours.
1. Port is sweet because they stop the fermentation process early, locking in the natural sugars.
2. Port is a strong wine, usually 18% to 22% alcohol.
After number 1, you may wonder how number 2 is true. You clever ones might be thinking, I thought the fermentation was stopped early. Well, that brings me to number 3.
3. The fermentation process is stopped by adding alcohol. From what I gather, it is brandy.
4. There are a few different types of port. The most common being Ruby, White and Tawny. They each pair with different courses, but usually as a dessert or aperitif.
So that is about all I know about port, or maybe just the interesting things I picked up that would fit in a blog about travel.
Hill and I thought that drinking too much before lunch was just alcoholic, so we got some lunch at a small Portuguese diner and then came back to Taylor’s for more tastings (after a siesta in the park of course). Taylor’s is situated up on the hill and has a great view of the city from their gardens. They also have this awesome tasting area which has a ceiling reminiscent of a circus tent with colored fabric draping across and a really nice library with books the size of my torso and the age of my great great great great… you get the idea. The books were old.
Oh, and every place we went had stools and tables made out of barrels. Neat!
After another tasting and tour we passed out on the river bank. Finally, we headed back to the hostel with a tawny in tow and made dinner, taking it easy on our last night.
The last day we picked up some post cards, wandered a little, and were sent off with a complimentary glass of tawny from our hostel and the promise that if we ever found ourselves in Porto again, we would have a home. I think this lady was the owner, and she was one of the sweetest Portuguese ladies I have met (although I haven’t met too many Portuguese ladies).
On to Madrid!
Oh, you may have noticed the blue and white painted buildings. These were everywhere and were actually made out of painted tiles. I guess Portugal is kind of a big deal when it comes to decorative tiles.
