January 2020 – Page 2 – Merrans travels

Douro valley

Upstream from Porto (50 mins by car) is the stunning Douro Valley, spread across 61,000 acres of mountains and rivers, and home to Portugal’s most famous port and table wines. I had booked a daytrip through Air BnB for a small group tour and it was amazing. You must do this if you come here, I guarantee you will have the best day. Our guide Manuel picked us up early this morning, apologising profusely for the traffic jam (a bus was blocking the road…..not what I would call a jam 🙂 ), and we headed out of the city. Manuel created this experience after the global financial crisis in 2008 resulted in losing his job, and he needed to create a new income. ‘Well you know I believe that if you put good things out in the world, good things come back to you, so I love to meet people and I love to show off our beautiful country, so it was the perfect thing to do, and people seem to love it. Already I have hosted 3500 people, and I have a 5 star rating and everyone is happy so I think I am doing ok’. I think he is doing more than ok! and he is a wonderful example of creating opportunity from difficulty, and following your passion. The tour he has created also employs his three sons, his cousin, several nephews, and some of his best friends. And it was the best day. As we wound our way through the mountains I could see terraced vineyards in every direction, planted on such steep terrain that everything has to be done by hand as no machines could manage. The harvest finished in October, so now it is winter the vines are being pruned (by hand). After a cruise on the river (sipping vintage port and tasting local tapas), Manuel took us to the oldest vineyard in the valley to taste their special port, before driving to a village at the summit of a mountain for an incredible lunch with local wines, and a wander through the town. Describing it now it sounds very simple, but the attention to detail Manuel has put into this experience is outstanding, and the feeling of satisfaction and happiness we all had as we headed back to Porto can only be compared to the post Christmas lunch feeling of total relaxation, when you’re full with good food and wine, and feeling you have had the best day with lovely people. Please give Manuel my regards when you come, and call him Papa which will make him laugh 🙂

Cold today, two jerseys and a coat needed

Where the heart is

Life is pretty good when the biggest decision is what to do today, and I am loving it. Such is the lifestyle of a wanderlust gypsy 🙂 The only cloud on my horizon has been poodle-shaped, as my best buddy Max (who is so happy and well looked after at home) has had some fluctuating health. After much deliberation and discussion with the team at home it seems the best course of action is a surgical procedure which will mean some round the clock nursing for a few weeks. So merranstravels.com will be heading to NZ (a bit earlier than planned) to catch some of our beautiful summer in late Feb, and I can be on tap for my furry friend while he recovers. The UK/Ireland/Wales exploring I had earmarked can wait for another time. Some things are just more important. In the meantime, I will keep soaking up experiences and sharing them 🙂 I did a tally this morning of all the countries I have visited on this trip, and counted seventeen! Four I have been to before, so thirteen have been brand new. I haven’t quite decided where I’ll go after I check out of my apartment on Friday, but that’s days away so I’ll keep mulling it over. Bom dia (good day in Portugese) x

Eating Porto

Jen had sent me a voucher for a Portugese food experience tour for my birthday, and today I was able to use it. Eating Europe offer food-based experiences in many countries, and lucky for me they have just started one in Porto. What a cool day. Our guide Beatriz took us to local bakeries, wine producers, restaurants and bars to sample the best of the best local food and the most delicious wine and port. We also toured Porto’s oldest wine cave and vintage cellar which has bottles of port dating back to the 1800s. I tried to pace myself over the four hours by taking just a few bites here and there, which is easier said than done when everything tastes so good. Highly recommend you give this tour a try if you come here, or you can look them up in Rome, Florence, Naples, Amsterdam, Prague, London, Paris, Strasbourg and Lisbon. I wish I had come across them sooner, it’s such a great way to be introduced to local dishes, and to find places you might like to go back to. And my fellow guests and guide were lovely. Thanks Jen, you’re the best daughter xx

Hill training

Like Lisbon, Porto is hilly, so any venture out will involve quite a bit of uphill walking. I’m pretty fit at the moment but had to pause several times to catch my breath today as I walked from one corner of the city to another, camera in hand. Luckily the sun was out, so I didn’t need to deal with slippery marble cobblestone footpaths. First stop this morning was the Livraria Lello bookstore which might be the world’s most beautiful bookshop. At least that is how it is marketed. And it is gorgeous, with carved wooden staircases and light streaming in from the stained glass roof above. It is also a very popular spot for tourists so it is jammed with people trying to get the best photo. The bookstore opened in 1906 as a temple to emotion and ideas, and it has inspired many great writers over the years; including JK Rowling who lived in Porto for a while teaching English and apparently carried inspiration from its design into the Harry Potter books. It is well worth a visit, even though the line outside is long. You can wait in it and pay 5 euro to go in, which will be refunded if you buy a book (there are loads in English), or go online and pay 12 euro to skip the line and go straight in. I spent at least an hour in there leafing through travel books 🙂 and it was really nice. The rest of the day I wandered around, following my nose, turning down streets that looked interesting, tracking down street art and following the sun. I found myself down at the river and sat at a sunny table for lunch next to a couple from Belfast who are here for a few days, and we had a chat about our plans in Porto (and the lack of sauce on our lunch). ‘Tom, this girl is from New Zealand, would you believe it. That’s such a long way’. Tom asked me where I was going after Porto and I said I hadn’t decided. ‘Tom! Would you believe it. She doesn’t know.’ Tom smiled at me. ‘Tom, would you believe coming all the way from New Zealand and not knowing where you’re going next.’ I tell them I might head back to the UK soon. ‘Tom, she says she might go to the UK.’ As he was sitting next to me I’m fairly sure he had heard me, but his patient smile said he was used to hearing things twice 🙂 🙂 As they left the restaurant I could hear ‘Tom, would you believe not getting any sauce on your lunch’, and Tom nodded and took his wife’s hand 🙂 🙂

Porto

After my hike (and a shower) it was time to check out Porto; and what a pretty city it is. Built along the river (old trading route), with some of the oldest wine caves in the world and several Unesco-protected neighbourhoods, Porto is lovely. I hopped on a boat for a chilly but picturesque view of five of the seven bridges the city is famous for, and as the day was so nice, loads of people were out enjoying it. The next few days will be quite touristy, with a wine/port tasting/food experience (birthday present from Jen 🙂 ), a daytrip to the Douro valley, and a visit to the Livraria Lello bookstore which inspired JK Rowling’s imagination for Harry Potter. Boa noite (goodnight) x

Hiking with dogs

I flew into Porto last night after several idyllic days at the beach and being in a city again was a bit of a shock 🙂 so the first activity I organised was not wandering around Porto. Instead I headed for the hills, and a 9km hike with Ricardo who is from here and loves to meet people and talk. A lot 🙂 He has created a hiking tour through one of the nature reserves close to where he lives with his (new) wife, and it is wonderful. We met at Sao Bento train station early this morning along with two other travelers. Sao Bento used to be a convent, and it is now possibly the most beautiful train station you will ever see, containing a tiled history of Portugal and the local area. From there it is a 20 minute ride to the start of the mountain hike, which passes through stunning landscape, Roman gold mines, the town of Couce (population 8), shale quarries, rivers and loads of eucalyptus groves. The best part though were the two local dogs who met us with huge excitement as soon as we got off the train, sprinting to Ricardo and jumping all over him until he gave them treats, and they accompanied us on the whole walk. Magic. The sun was out, and we stopped for a picnic with local tapas and green (young) wine, and caught the train back to Porto several hours later. A cool way to spend the day and another winning tour booked through Air BnB.

Just another day in paradise

There is something mesmerising about the ocean, I could look at it for hours. In fact that is exactly what I have been doing 🙂 and it’s wonderful. Highly recommend the Algarve as an inexpensive, beautiful, relaxing place to come for a break. I love it.

The beach

It is only three and a half hours by train from Lisbon to the Algarve, but I decided to fly (only 45 mins), and my hotel had sent a driver to pick me up. Carmelo is from Venezuela but has lived here in Portugal for 34 years. He is so so sad about the situation in Venezuela he started to cry when we talked about it. To distract him I asked about the trees with white blossoms that are growing everywhere. ‘They are almond trees!’ he said, perking up a bit. ‘These are the first to flower, soon the whole valley will be full of blossoms it will look like snow’. On a roll, he then pointed out the olive, fig, orange and lemon trees to me, and his smile slowly reappeared. I had looked at travel blogs and recommendations online for the best place to stay in the Algarve. Some places are party central, but I was after somewhere quieter, and Albufeira is exactly that. And for only 35 euro a night I have a generous room with a private balcony looking over the beach in a 4 star hotel, breakfast included. Magic. I will be a happy girl here 🙂

Roadtrip

Today’s activity was booked through Viator to visit the world heritage town of Sintra, Pena Palace, Cascais (pronounced cashcayish) which is like the Portugese riviera, and Coba da Roca which is the western most point of Europe. What a cool day. It started out thick with fog as our guide Andre picked us up from Lisbon and we headed to Sintra. Andre is 30 and has lived all his life in Lisbon, worked as a guide for 3 years and before that he spent seven years with the military as a paratrooper and heavy artillery specialist. I reckon he tested all his army training today wrangling 9 women to be on time 🙂 but he did it all with a big smile. Awesome day. Love Portugal. Tomorrow I’m heading to the Algarve for a few days by the beach and exploring the southern coast. Cheap cheap hotel deals in the off season, and I am a beach person at heart so really looking forward to getting my feet in the sand and sleeping by the ocean.

In the medina

Today’s walking tour of Lisbon was awesome. My guide was Julia, she is 27 and an arts /engineering grad who ditched the serious subjects to do what she loves which is show people around her lovely hometown. Lisbon has a heavy Moorish influence, similar to Granada and southern Spain (hence all the tiles), and you’ll see examples of this in the architecture and design of the city; especially in the medina (Alfama). Another great Air BnB experience (called the Lisbon essential walking tour), and another fabulous guide. Julia has the best laugh, if you come here please tell her a joke just so you can hear her laugh 🙂