Day 7 Porto

We started off the day by first dropping off our laundry in some tiny Laundromat hoping we could retrieve it within a few hours. I wouldn’t have bet on it, but we eventually did get it back and it looked pretty good. Satisfied with the laundry, it was necessary to check out the local market, which was fairly easy since it wasn’t too far from the hotel. It was a pretty good market, but not worth going much out of the way for. On the way to the market we passed the classiest McDonalds we’ve ever seen. It was in an old bank building with wall murals, mirrors, and statues. I did get pictures. From the market, we got lost looking for a tram to take us down to the river; instead we walked down the hill, which is almost as hard a walking up the hill. At the hotel the front desk clerk recommended a restaurant across the river called Bacalhoeira which was the nicest restaurant we’ve seen in Porto. It had started to rain, so even though it was only one o’clock we opted to eat an early lunch. The menu consisted of only thing…Cod (Bacalhau). They served it roasted, fried, broiled, every which way, and even had Cod tongue. We had their specialty, roasted with onions, potatoes, and broccoli. It was a huge piece of fish and the best Cod fish by far that I’ve ever eaten. We sat there for almost two hours finishing lunch and nursing our bottle of wine while waiting for the rain to subside…it didn’t. Since we were in the district where (according to the Portuguese), all the Port wine in the world is produced, we thought it might be wise to get educated in the science of Port production. It was a wet walk, but we first visited Taylors and took a tour (only five people) through their warehouse/production facilities (Lodges). The guide gave an interesting explanation of the process, after which, we had to suffer through a tasting of several of their nasty old Ports. It was so bad that we hung around afterwards and tasted a few more. In order to recover from the pain and suffering from the Taylor’s experience, we thought it best to stop and cleanse our palates by visiting the Kopke tasting room. Kopke’s been producing Port wines since 1638 so they have some thoughts on how to produce a proper Port wine (Taylor’s was better). All the producers have beautiful tasting rooms and it’s something you have to do when visiting Porto. It is a pleasant experience and I guarantee you’ll be a Port aficionado afterwards. It was getting towards evening, so we walked back to the hotel. We decided to skip dinner and instead sit in the hotel bar with the local soccer fans and watch Juventius beat Real Madrid, then off to the room to decide tomorrow’s future.