Umbrella time in Porto and Coimbra

It is pouring in Porto as we walk around town for one last look around. As is always the way we discover interesting streets we haven't come across before just as we are about to leave. There are lots of very over the top bridalwear shops where we take photos to show Elysia.


We have lunch in the middle of the shopping area in a little cafe called Tupi Tupi where people are queueing to get a table.


Over to Sue:


"Alan has his usual serving of soup - vegetable this time. We compensate with a glass of red wine because we can't have him having more than us. We all have the fish - it is nice - boneless, moist and lightly battered. (Apparently it was the Portugese who introduced tempura to the Japanese.) The meal is accompanied by rice with beans - risotto style - and carrot salad. The ambience is enhanced by the shimmering peacock-blue eyelids of the elderly lady behind us. It is our best meal in Portugal so far for only 27 euros for all us including the good red wine."

The train trip to Coimbra takes just over an hour and we find accommodation right behind the main square opposite the river. Pensao Residencial Larbelo is very efficiently run and very clean. We are told off by the stern lady behind the desk to move so the cleaning lady, in her housecoat and scrubbing away on her knees, can clean the floor behind us. The rooms are spotless but ours are three floors up the spiral red staircase.


After a predinner drink in a great courtyard we find a little restaurant in an alleyway. They don't speak any English which makes for interesting identification of menu items.


Sue:


"Lee, Rose and I have the pork chops with very yellow french fries and rice with a carafe of red. The chops are a bit dry. We also have three salads and numerous bits of bread. Alan has roast chicken washed down with a carafe of white wine. Again the meal is ridiculously cheap."

Day 33 – Porto

Raining, raining, raining – we take a ride on the top of a tourist bus and wind around the city, across the bridge and port 'caves' area. All rather fascinating. Some observations: old women wearing short frilly aprons, the short stature of many Portuguese people, lots of young people smoking, prayer gatherings and marches, the food all seems to be yellow coloured, there is graffiti absolutely everywhere...


Around noon we return to the hotel to wait for the arrival of Rose from Germany. Now Alan has three wives instead of just the two!


Back down in the port area we take a tour on the Douro River under the five bridges which span various parts of the city. As we pass under one of the highest bridges I joke with Rose about hearing the splash of a jumper from the bridge. Less than a minute later my joke is in actual fact a grim reality. Just as we have passed under the bridge a man has jumped but we are all looking forward at the scenery ahead and don't see him. The captain of our ship stops the boat and circles around looking for the body, police boats speed to the scene, sirens sound along the roadways. When it becomes obvious no body is going to surface our tour continues. We are all quiet for a while.


Back at the port we have a quick bite before heading over the bridge to the port lodges. We visit Graham's for a wine tour and port tasting. Alan buys a bottle of the 10-year old tawny.


Food critic Sue describes our dinner experience:


“Deciding to eat off the tourist track we choose a restaurant up a side street. The waiter is a character and steers us through the menu. Once again we stick to a seafood theme. After Alan's grass soup he and I have octopus, which is is rather unusually served as a tentacle curled on the plate, and in my opinion a bit tasteless. Lee has seafood rice and Rose cod brago with 'blown' potatoes. Dessert is the highlight of the meal – after being shown the dessert menu we are told there is nothing available apart from pineapple or orange with port. The pineapple is plucked from the display on the counter, sliced and served with ruby port.”