Porto

On Sunday, we finally arrived in Portugal. Portugal was really my destination. France and Spain were just a means to an end. I had never been to Spain, and sure I was a little curious, but I had no real expectation. Portugal, however... Portugal is the place I had been dreaming of.

As a child, I equated Portugal with all things magical and mysterious. I do not know why. I just always did. I dreamed of Portugal. I longed to study Portuguese. However, nowhere I studied ever offered Portuguese. Italian was second place. And in my case, second place won. Italy became the great love of my life, even became my life for a period of time. So, when I was living in Siena, and I had the opportunity to travel to Portugal for Spring Break in 2009, I couldn't pass it up. A week was not enough. I knew that I would have to come back again, for longer this time. And, I would bring reinforcements. This is how my summer trip this year was born. I knew that I would go back to Castel del Bosco, but from there, I would venture on an epic road trip which would end in Portugal. I would revisit the places I had seen before, and discover others about which I had only dreamed.

Porto was the first place on the itinerary. We stayed in the Sheraton, as I had before. The Sheraton is perfectly located: not in the hustle and bustle of the downtown area, but in the Boa Vista region of the city, and directly on the hop on hop off bus tour route. Please do not discount the value of being on a hop on hop off tour route: you pay 13-15 euros and you have transportation both to and from your hotel to all the sites of the city, saving you cab fare. On the first day, we did the red bus, the classic hop on hop off tour. This one was 13 euros. We had a full day, following the two tours offered. However, there was a lot of circling of the main square (Praca da Liberdade), and lots of sitting and waiting for people to board, pay, sit, hop off, etc. The second day, we did the Yellow Bus tour. For 19 euros, we got a third tour of the beach castles of the coast of Porto, AND we got a boat tour, AND we got a port wine cellar tour and tasting. So, long story short: if you are going to Porto, save your money and go straight for the Yellow Bus tour...

The second night we were in Porto, we asked the concierge for a restaurant recommendation. She replied that we should go to a place called 5 Oceans, a 10 minute, 10 euro cab ride from the hotel. We were game, as we were certain that if nothing else, it would not be a tourist trap. And we were right about that.

We arrived at 9PM for our reservation and were promptly seated and given menus. The menu had different sections in Portuguese, Spanish, French, German and English. But, what was interesting was that the English section had different food and different prices than the Portuguese section. We were a little shocked. But, that was nothing... about 3 minutes after we were given menus, the waiter came back and slapped a giant rubbermaid tray at the end of our table. In the tray were 3 huge dead fish. He picked up each one by the gills, and jabbered something in Portuguese, probably about what fine specimens of seafood each was, and then walked off, leaving the dead fish unceremoniously in the tray at the end of the table. He did not return for another 40 minutes, at which point we gave our orders (seafood casserole for Maureen, seafood rice, for me, two mixed salads, two lemon waters, two diet cokes, and a bottle of white wine).

Our drinks arrived soon after, but the wine just sat in the cooler, unopened. We waited and waited and waited, trying to get someone's attention to open the wine. At about 10:15, Maureen was finally able to get his attention and ask in Portugues if he would please open the wine. He apologized and said that he was waiting for us to finish our diet cokes... fair enough, I guess.

By 10:30, the dinner arrived on the table. It was delicious, to be sure, and it was served family style, however, the portions would put any TGIFridays to shame. It was more food than I had seen in one place the whole time we had been on vacation. Just as you finished what was on your plate, another waiter would come and replace what you had eaten with what was in the pot at the end of the table. At quarter to midnight, with extremely full bellies, Maureen and I asked for the waiter to call a cab for us. Within a few minutes, we were being whisked back to the Sheraton.

Of the three days we spent in Porto, the dinner at the 5 Oceans was definitely the highlight of the stay. It taught us to look at the menu, the whole menu, not just the English translated part. It taught us that the best restaurants are the ones where large families are enjoying a meal ALL together. And, finally, it taught us that often the best thing that can happen to you in a restaurant is to be kept waiting, because only when you are a captive audience, you see what is truly worth seeing.