Chuck's News: Day 18- In Porto - Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Sally had a street she wanted to visit that was a shopping district. We set our sites on that for the morning. It is just a couple blocks behind the cool train station. Since nothing opens until 10:00am, we weren’t too bothered about getting an early start. However, the Clerigo Tower right next door, a pinnacle of granite constructed in the 1800s opened at 9:00am. That was our first objective.

We walked into the church, paid our entrance fee and were expecting to start our climb right away. But, first we had to tour the church by walking around a sort of viewing level above the sanctuary. This required climbing and descending about 50 or more steps. Was this a warmup lap?

Climbing the tower was about 250 steps. It was somewhat reminiscent of other stone structures we have climbed before, such as the Duomo in Florence. Cramped stairway in between granite blocks winding up the tower. As I climbed, my mind drifted to the earthquake in Turkey and the 1755 quake here in Portugal. There is no way this thing would survive. A pile of stones glued together with cement.

If you have been reading this blog you will notice my preoccupation with ceramic construction and earthquakes. It doesn’t stop me from doing things, it just adds another element to the experience.

The view from the top was great. Since we had walked all over this part of the town in the past two days we were able to put this part of the city together.

We descended and then headed for the “Harry Potter” book store to see how bad the line to enter was. If short, we would enter. If long, we’d skip it. It was ridiculous. Clear down the block. That poor/lucky bookstore. They charge $5.00 a head to enter the store. They are making a fortune, but they are more tourist side show than bookstore now. Their income must be beyond their wildest dreams.

We walked across town to the public market because I thought that was our destination. About 2/3 of the way there Sally let me know that I had missed the boat. We were to walk up the shopping district on our way to the public market. Oh yeah. I focused on the end goal and not the path to it. Course correction and we were soon in the car free street lined with shops of all types. We passed a busker setting up. He played the cello and had a remarkable electric cello. We were well up the street by the time he started playing but his music was beautiful. After we discovered the public market was not open today we walked back down the same street and sat down to listen to him play. The sound echoed off the walls of the buildings and filled the air. It was magnificent. We sat through 3 or 4 songs before dragging ourselves away. We had items to hide outside the stock exchange for Mike Morgan to find when he visits Porto in May.

But first, we had to go to restaurant called Santiago’s and have this dish we had scene. Two pieces of toast with beef, pork and chick steaks between, a fried egg on top surrounded by French fries and smothered in some kind of sauce. It looked like a real gut bomb so decided to get one and split it, hoping the smaller quantity would not prove fatal as we surmised eating one each would be. Surprisingly, it was good. The meats were a little tough, but it was good. The restaurant was packed with people. Over 50% having the same dish. Everyone we saw survived. After we paid and had exited out of the place Sally was joking with another customer about surviving the meal. Turns out he was a local and had been having one every Tuesday for the last thirty years. He loved them.

Bellies full, we made our way to Henry the Navigator square, where the stock exchange is. We fiddled around testing hiding sites and finally settled on three unique places to hide our prizes for the Morgan’s to retrieve in May. Do I think they will be there in three months? Not a chance. But, you never know. Never done this before.

After our fun of hiding things in the square we visited the San Francisco church right next door and the crypts. Interesting.

We had to be to our Fado show/Port Wine tasting event at 6:00pm. We cruised the riverfront then climbed back to our apartment to get ready, then dropped back down to the river level, crossed the bridge and entered the Calem Port Lodge. We listened to conversations but did not hear anyone speaking English. The guide took us through the process of making Port, then into the cask and barrel room and then upstairs to the entertainment venue. There were about 20 tables each with 4 pairs of wine glasses situated so the occupants of the table would face a stage lit corner where two men sat with guitars on their laps, one a standard guitar, one a Portuguese guitar. We were led to a table where a couple was just taking their seats. We introduced ourselves. They were from Belgium and spoke French but no English. Using Google Translate we were able to converse a little. They were very nice.

About Fado. It is traditional Portuguese music featuring guitar and a male or female vocalist singing laments. Of course the words are in Portuguese so we have no idea what they are lamenting. It could be their dog died or their car transmission is being repaired in the bathtub. Whatever the lament, in any language the music was not appealing to me. Putting Port tasting and Fado together was our way of killing two undesirable birds with one stone, and nearly killing us in the process. As each song ended I clapped loudly, hoping that was their last. It went on longer than we expected. About 7:30pm we were released. We walked back across the river and up to our apartment. We had not eaten dinner yet. We prepared a spaghetti dinner similar to the night before, watched the news and called it a day.