Portugal Trip Report - Nov. 28-Dec.13

Following along! And thanks for the tip about the Silver Line to Dulles - I passed it on to my daughter !

SamA
Did you run into any issues with the flooding in Lisbon? We're heading to Lisbon in early March and are worried that things won't be completely functional by the time we get there.

kbgoes, We had a lot of rain, but no "significant" travel issues. Leaving for the airport Tuesday morning, our Uber driver showed up 15 minutes early to circumvent a couple flooded tunnels/streets. He did great and we had plenty of time at the airport.

Leaving Porto for Lisbon, our train ran about an hour late due to the heavy rain, but it was no big deal.

As an aside, I booked the wrong date for our train from Braga to Porto. I simply took the tickets to the station, walked up to a window and had them changed to the correct date. No fuss, no muss.

Braga (Three-hour train ride from Lisbon.)

Burgus Tribute and Design Hotel ( https://burgustributedesignhotel.com-hotel.com/en/ ) Good location, about a 10-minute flat walk from train station, solid breakfast. Nice bar area for relaxing after a long day of poking around. World Cup on the television, too.
Excellent meal at Cante Food & Friends (https://canterestaurante.pt/carta.pdf) , one of the best of our two-week trip. Think Asian-Portuguese fusion! We didn’t have a reservation, but they squeezed us in anyhow.

Plenty of churches to explore, pedestrian shopping area, all in a relatively flat, walkable town.

We took the 15-minute bus to Bom Jesus Monte and rode the funicular (1.5 Euros) to the top. Excellent panoramic views of Braga from top. Churches in the historic part of town were more interesting to my eye. Hiked down the 550 steps.

We saw mixed reviews for Restaurante Churrasqueira da Sé - a couple blocks around the corner from the Burgus Tribute and Design Hotel. But we joined a Sunday evening local crowd and had a tasty belly filling meal that was very reasonably priced. No reservation.

As an aside, I discovered I booked our train to Porto from Braga for the wrong date. Went to the station and they pleasantly issued new tickets for the correct date. No problem!

Thanks for your report, which I'm bookmarking in hopes of a return visit to Portugal with a stop in Braga.

Cool that they rebooked your train tickets so easily.

I've just returned from Christmas Markets in and near Frankfurt. I'm curious about the Christmas Market at Rossio Square. What was that like?

CWsocial - The Rossio Square Christmas Market was a nice walk, if nothing else. Kinda dead, though. The Porto Christmas market was far more interesting with music and caroling and a real Christmas atmosphere. Even a "snow" bubble machine for the kids to enjoy!

Thanks for the info on the Porto market, which sounds festive!

Porto
M Maison Particuliere (www.m-porto.com) hotel. Great location, about a 12-minute walk from the Sau Bento station (yes, the tiles are worth a gander), very quiet, breakfast made to order. Susan says this was her favorite hotel of the trip. The Misericordia Church and Museum are next door. The train from Braga actually stops at Campanha station and you need to take the commuter train to the town center.

Sampled ports at the Port & Douro Wines Institute – This is a pay-as-you go tasting. Get a card from the from the attendant, insert card in machine, place glass under spout of desired drink, push button, drink. The attendant tallies up your bills when you are finished. The 30-year-old Cruz (14 Euros a tasting) was especially nice.

Good news. The Old Bolhau Market that had been closed and temporarily relocated is now open and again and it is as clean as a whistle! We enjoyed some great sandwiches and fish croquets and 2 Euro-a-glass vinho verde at the tables at the far end of the market. We compared some photos of the old market from a previous visit six or so years ago.

A planned upper Porto walk turned into a mega walk when we discovered the No. 22 trolley we planned to ride back has been out of action for a while due to city infrastructure work. The No. 1 trolley out to Foz and the Atlantic Ocean is running just fine, though.

The river taxi to Vila Nova de Gaia is a quick way to get over to the port tasting facilities across the river. One day we visited Ferreira’s lodge and the tour and tastings. 17 Euros each.

Another day we walked across the lower level of the bridge connecting Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia. It’s an easy enough walk, although most of it is shrouded and draped in construction curtains. For those of wearing black coats, the cement dust was a little annoying.

Yeah, churches aplenty and some great-looking tiled exteriors.

We enjoyed a local meal at the Ora Viva Restaurante at Rue Fonte Taurina 83, where we had a good chuckle with the owner about him remembering us from our previous visit six years earlier. Another good local meal was at Cafetaria da Bolsa Restaurante at Largo Sao Domingoes 24/25. Mom ran the kitchen, daughter took orders and served, and the nephew folded napkins. We got to say hello to mom in the kitchen when we were done with our complimentary after-dinner drinks.

At one point, Susan slipped on the slick white-stone sidewalk and banged up her knee. The pharmacy around the corner from the hotel had the ace bandage and generic Voltaren pain gel that worked wonders, although we were moving at a slower pace the rest of the visit.

The only item we missed on to-do list was visiting the Clerigos Church and Tower. We’ll save the 225-step hike to the top for another visit.