Travel Log: Portugal

Portugal: The country of sardines and buckets of fish, cobble streets, cafes, castles, pastries, lovely wines and cheeses, wonderful sunshine and light drizzles when needed and cheap as chips! Oh, and overly grumpy people…have you ever seen the Chelsea football team’s manager on TV, Jose Marinho….have you ever seen him happy or nice? He is from Setubal!!

 

8 September, Friday

My trip started well…couldn’t get upgraded, but I did get an emergency exit seat! And a pass to the Emirates lounge, so I didn’t have to sit with the riff-raff in the airport. Flew via Gatwick, so had a little wait there until my next flight into Lisbon. I arrived late afternoon, so headed to Setubal, a fishing town about 40 km from Lisbon. As Vinnie was in Greece for a couple of days, I was chaperoned by Paul Mannion, our friend who was out on the job with Vinnie. We just went out to dinner…so I thought I would kick it off with the traditional sardines. They were lovely, bbq-ed with plenty of sea/ rock salt, served with boiled potatoes. Delicious! There was a slight communication problem with the waiting staff – as just about everywhere in Setubal, but with a few gestures and some broken Spanish (by the way they speak Portuguese and are not impressed with broken Spanglish), ended up with a half liter bottle red wine..delicious! The meal, as everywhere in Portugal, is accompanied by a bowl of olives, wonderful bread, sardine and tuna pastes and sometimes the gorgeous local cheese made from elks? (is there such an animal?)...all which is charged for by the way.

Paul and I were serenaded by the usual traveling musicians with an accordion and tambourine, and were bothered by loads of hawkers in the restaurant that actually reminded me of being back home!

 

9 September

Saturday morning, after the ham and cheese sandwiches (just another thing reminding me of traveling in Brazil), I headed into Setubal town. My first stop was only a few steps from the hotel- the archeological and ethnology museum. They were under construction so only went into one room. The guide, Vania, was extremely pretty and friendly and spoke excellent English. She told me loads of useful info about the huge earthquake in the 18^th century (or was it 17^th?) that ruined most of Portugal. She was the only proper tour guide I encountered my whole trip so whatever she told me was the only real info I received. She even walked me to the tourist info (around the corner from the hotel – I completely missed it- coz there was no sign!), and offered to provide any other info when needed. I then headed off to the St Sebastian church- which was closed for a christening; then to Museum Trabalho, a workers museum, depicting the sardine packing business during the war – I did not know that before I went in by the way; Museum Barroco- which was a semi-church, very beautiful murals and ceiling paintings, stunning tile works and gold guilds. Walked further around town, Praca do Bocage, like the main square in town. I met Philippe, a Portuguese dude that lives in the UK. He started making small talk, but I excused myself and went for lunch on the harbor. I ordered the first thing on the menu, no clue what it was…”Carapau”..turned out it was fish, something like mackerels. It was delicious, bbq-ed with rock salt, boiled baby spuds, olives, bread, the same deal. Beautiful! With a pint of local beer, all for only E12 ! Cheap as chips! Especially as the chef liked me so much I got a free sardine!! Recharged, I went back into town, to the Church of Jesus, one of the oldest in Europe from the 15^th century. It is much neglected, what a shame, the inside was amazing with the pillars made to look like intertwined trees. Next to the church was the Museum of Setubal, which had a very small but amazingly old Christian art collection. And who do I bump into, Philippe! He wanted to ‘walk’ with me. After flashing my wedding ring the whole time, and realizing I was walking too far out of my way, I made my excuses and turned around. After all this, it was late afternoon..I headed to the praca in front of the hotel for some lemon sorbet, then to the supermarket for a snoop around and buy some water for the room. For dinner, I headed out to the same restaurant I was the night before…sad I know, I just couldn’t walk too far anymore. I had “lulas’ ..calamari, with salad and more red wine. The only thing with the Lulas was they did not clean them…and I don’t know if you have ever seen the inside of uncleaned calamari? Not nice. But it still tasted great. Salad was perfect, again…the rock salt. I am now addicted to salt! Thanks Porras! Paul did not come to dinner with me, but I did bump into him and he joined me for a drink before bed time.

 

10 the, Sunday.

After seeing just about everything of Setubal on the first day..I went to the main market to inspect the local produce..loads of fish, cheese and breads. I then headed to the castle Pousada do castello de Sao Filipe, on top of the hill overlooking Setubal. I took a taxi up. There was not much to see, apart from the surrounding walls and the view down to the town. The rest of the castle was made into a hotel. I sat there to read the paper and had some white wine to waste some time. Making my way back into town, I realized it was F1 time, so I headed to the nearest little restaurant…where again, I ordered something unknown with “Peru” in the name and a small jug of sangria branco – white sangria..only it was green?! It tasted like it was made with SA crème soda…weird, but I drank it. My lunch turned out to be a small steak (hooray!! Meat!!!), rice, sausage and black beans. I also had some unidentified fried pockets with something fishy inside. After the F1, I headed to the square behind the hotel, being tempted with the local bakeries, I had a little custard tart and coffee. Then, off to buy some more postcards …and who do I bump into? PHILIPE! Yes, it is a very small town. So, trying hard to get rid of him, I end up inviting him for a drink on the praca. We had 2 beers chatting away and after he announced he wrote a song for me, I decided it was time to fast forward Vinnie’s arrival time to 6pm and make my excuses. So in hiding from Philippe, I stayed I the hotel until Vinnie arrived from Greece at around 11 pm! We then headed out for a quick drink and I, starving off course, had a little ham and cheese sandwich.

 

11^th Monday.

A brisk walk took me to the bus station in no time, and I was on my way to Lisbon for like E3..cheap as chips!! Arriving at Praca do Espanha, I took the metro (subway) to downtown Lisbon. Then, with my map, I headed off in search of the castle. Only (!) took me 2 hours to find it..and I wasn’t the only walking tourist lost! Yes, there are busses and trams and all sorts, but you see more when you walk anyway..and to try and figure out which bus takes you where, takes 2 hours anyway. Even before I reached the castle..I mean when I actually gave up, walking up and down hill and in circles around the bloody thing, it was lunch time! I went into a very small local restaurant and had ham and cheese sandwich..and Vinho Verde, which translates to ‘green wine’, but it is the most delicious sparkling wine. Really light and tasty! So I had 2! Finally the waitress could speak English and I thought Id give it one more try…where is the castle?! Oh, just up that hill. Freaking hills! But, up the hill, there it was! After all that, the view was beautiful, but yet again, no inside..only the outer walls and garden layouts to see. Funny also, how every museum and place of interest in Setubal was E1, where in Lisbon, its all E3. Plus, being a Monday, most museums were closed – as in most places in the world. I forgot about that. So, I just walked around a lot more, getting badly lost. Finally, I made it back to the bus and back to Setubal.

It was Paul’s last night, so I met the boys for a ‘dirty beer” after work, then we went to dinner later on. I had a delicious prawn and tomato stew. We then headed to Mark’s Pub for more drinks until very late!!!!! We left Paul there to make his farewells to Portugal o his own!

 

12^th Tuesday,

Back on the bus to Lisbon. I sat next to this gentleman, who, by the time we reached Lisbon, had spoken 1 sentence to me, as his English was so poor. Yet, he still managed to ask me out for dinner by the time his stop came up. Asking me out, after I was telling him that I was there with my h u s b a n d who is working in Setubal. Seems that a ring on a finger does not deter any Porras.

Today I was on the art gallery hunt and some more proper sight seeing. I headed to the Belem area with a tram. There I saw the torre do Belem (Belem tower); Padrao dos Descobrimentos (be my guest?); the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos (monastery – very beautiful). I tried to go into the Museo art popular, but it was closed for renovation…so I went to the Museo Nacional de Arqueologia – archeology- awesome, really good. I then tried to find another art museum (sacred art) but couldn’t find it. So, decided to stop for lunch at a cool and shady open air restaurant. I had traditional veal and potato pie (Meat! Hooray!)..it was lovely, but could have done with some ketchup, though did not want to offend the sweet waiter, who was already insulted that I denied the bread – I am watching my waistline you know. But apparently it is somewhat of a tradition to have bread with every meal. Anyway…after 2 glasses of wine, I needed to head off, but the waiter had to tell me first that he feels within him that I am truly a beautiful person and he likes me very much. Flattered – as he is probably not even 21 yet, but still annoyed with this attention I seem to be getting, I even look local! People stopped me in the street speaking Portuguese to me! I darted out of the place in search of another museum. I finally found the museum of contemporary art. They did not have much in at the moment apart from installations. I hate installations. Why is it art, to have a dark room and a stupid dark screen with a white video flash? Ridiculous. Anyway, I came to realize that the older I get the more scared of the dark I get..so much so, that one of the gallery ushers had to walk with me thru the exhibit (if that’s what you can call it) with a flash light. Hey, that’s what they are there for…apparently I’m not the only baby in town! I tried another museum, which was part of a very old church and lo and behold, it was closed for a private function. So annoyed with an unsatisfied art appetite, I headed back to Setubal. Vinnie and I went to dinner, right on the door step of the hotel…we had the usual, bread and accompaniments, this time we got an extra plate of pickled calamari- gorgeous, then sardines, with a calamari and fish kebab, spuds and loads of white wine. We had an early night….after we stopped at the bakery for some desert- lovely!!!

 

13^th Wednesday,

Last day in Lisbon. I was on the hunt for Jesus…the statue. Today was a little rainy but it was so welcome! I took the ferry across the river to Cacilhas, then the bus up the mountain to Jesus. The statue stands quite tall over the city, but up close, it doesn’t look so huge. I think the one in Brazil – the original- is much bigger. This one is very high though so you can’t get too good a look. Afterwards I headed back downtown, had a coffee and piece of chocolate tart to wait out a little rain, then back on the ferry across to Lisbon. I then made my way to the Museo Nacional de arte Antigua, a lovely collection of old favorites like Rembrandt and Monet/Renoir etc. After this, and the rainstorm, I headed to Praca Do Espanha, to visit the Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian (Gulbenkian foundation = gallery of his personal collections = amazing!) and the adjoining Museo do Centro de arte moderna (museum of modern art). It was right by my bus station, to head back to Setubal…and farewell to Lisbon! Can’t remember what I did for lunch…so either it was not memorable, or I didn’t have any. Nah! It just wasn’t memorable.

Went out to dinner with Vincent again. We had another local favorite Choco fritto, which is deep fried cuttlefish, delicious! We also had a monkfish, prawns and clams fish stew with boiled spuds. Lovely evening.

 

(O, lunch was tosto misto- a toasted ham and cheese sandwich, had to get out of the rain on way to Gulbenkian museum. That excuse works for me)

 

14^th Thursday.

Today I headed by bus to Palmela, a little town not even 10km from Setubal. I headed straight for the big castle that I saw every morning from the bus to Lisbon. After walking around the castle and seeing what’s remained of the Church of St Mary dating from the 12^th century, I strolled into the little town, visited the Church of St Peter. Then found another small little café for a coffee and local delicacies- tart with caramelized pine kernels, tasty. I also found the wine route house, as this area is very well-known for its wine and cheeses. Though they do not do any wine tasting there, I found some info on nearby wine routes. So, after seeing just about everything else Palmela had to offer, still before lunch, I took a taxi to Quinta do Anjo, about 4 km away to find the wine route. Difficult not driving on your own, we finally found the place and to my surprise and disappointment was not a wine farm. Though you can see the big silver urn things where they distill the wine, they only had a shop in the front and no English speaking people working there, and no wine tasting. So after feeling like I wasted my time, I had a quick look around the little town of nothing, and took the bus back to Setubal.

Back in town, I went for lunch..this time on a big meat hunt. I heard the pork is good, so I ordered some pork chops and white wine off course. The chops were great, got 3 pieces! Hooray! I then headed to the supermarket, bought some cheeses and chorizo sausages and loads of sardine paste… and yes, the famous sea salt, to bring home with me. I then went to the shopping area and looked for a few bargains, bought a few souvenirs and headed back to the hotel to pack. Vinnie and I took the superintendent of the ship he was working on to dinner in the evening. Before hand we had a few drinks at a few small bars before dinner and went to Mike’s bar to say goodbye. We then met Lars..and after a few drinks, ordered a seafood platter- the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life. Wish I had taken a photo of it. Lobsters, big and small, clams, bamboo clams, mussels, crabs, prawns, langostines..gosh, just about everything you can imagine- all served cold with different sauces. It was lovely. After dinner we had a few more drinks to keep up with the Norwegian, stumbled back to the hotel, had another nightcap there, when Vinnie and I left him in the bar to go to bed.

 

Friday, 15^th.

Off to the airport at stupid o’clock. We were on different flights, Vinnie was supposed to be back in Dubai around 8 pm I think? His flight was delayed, so that I was in the UK before him. He had to change his homeward flight, but couldn’t get on the same one as I was, so he had to take the train to Heathrow, while I stayed in Gatwick, for 8 hours until my flight at 9pm that night. I arrived back in Dubai Saturday morning, with a massive cold.

 

All in all, the trip was not quite what I expected. The place reminded me a lot of Brazil, by the way of the food, some scenery and seemingly the way of life. The people were not very friendly..until you meet the ones that can speak English and they are over friendly or over-interested in you. No one wears hats, as on my first 2 days I was the only person in town wearing a type of cowboy hat I bought in the US and I was the center of attention. It was annoying. The place is very cheap, especially food and drink, which is very, very good! The towns were small, and everything was always up hill. I was so sick of walking up hill all the time. The tourism is not developed very well in the smaller towns, though they had maps, they weren’t very easy to read, and no up hills noted anywhere! Half of street names were missing, but I grant them that, as the streets were very small and winding, must be the 12^th century developers!! The cities are all very pretty with cobble streets everywhere, tiles on buildings, decorations, paintings etc. Most buildings have little shops at the bottom and apartments above, though they all seem to be very run down and old, they are still decorated. Lisbon, it was clean and more tourists there. They did have hop-on-hop-off buses and arranged day tours, which I only regret I did not do to get some more historical information on the place. But getting around is ok once you figure out the buses and trams…though walking with a map is not really recommended- the maps are sh*te..like I said, little winding streets with no names. I feel that I somehow missed a bit of the things Lisbon had to offer, but I did get to see quite a lot. I don’t think there will be a next time, but if so, I would go down to the Algarve to visit beaches and more popular touristy places.