Margarita slept her jet lag like log, so we didn't go to visit the beach early as we wanted. Then again, we woke up to a light but persistent rain, so the idea of walking to a windy beach was not appetizing at all. We did take a walk to the mercado we had visited last night, just so Tita could see what she had missed, and then pushed "down" toward the river (turns out that Porto is perched high above the river, so the land elevation drops like a stone as you move from the cathedral to the port), pass the university (which at the beginning I took for the bullfight arena on account of its colorful tiles and circular footprint), and then back to the flat to have breakfast before going to pick up the expedition bikes. Chrissy, Tita, and Raimundo took an Uber to the rental place, while I went there in my bike, under the annoying rain.
Once everyone was on a steed, we took a very cautious ride to the old downtown, to make a reservation to visit the Livraria Lello (the Lello Bookstore), which is normally so packed that you have to pay 8 euros to make a reservation (in our case the first open places were at 13h30) so we had a couple hours to do something else in between. And no, we didn't take the bikes into the bookstore, but parked them at a nearby plaza and went to explore on foot.
The walk through the old town had a significant charm, and eventually we reached the Cathedral, which we wanted to visit and where we were going to get our Credencial del Peregrino, the "passport" that peregrinos get stamped as they progress through El Camino as a reminder that this is a road of devotion, reflection, and humility (plus it is the proof that the peregrino has met the distance and time requirements for la compostela or certificate issued after one reaches Santiago). The Cathedral is small but exquisite, and the blue-on-white mosaic scenes are some of the best exponents of this art, which is so characteristic of Portuguese churches.
Back at the Livraria Lello, we joined the long 13h30 queue at 13h00 under the persistent rain, had to endure the endless complaints of the Spanish woman behind us, who had nothing good to say about having to wait on line, and eventually were allowed into the hallow space. It is a small but very tall bookstore that has handsome old bookshelves, a fabulous staircase, and a colored-glass ceiling that gives it the aspect of an old mansion. The place was crawling with tourists who were gawking with open mouths at the colorful display of so many books (although I suspect most of them have not read a book in the last couple of years), posing for selfies, and taking a zillion videos and cellphone pictures. What is going on? Then Raimundo told me that J.K. Rawlings had worked at this particular bookstore at some point in her life, and that much of the inspiration for the Harry Potter books came from her fascination with the zany staircase and the many nooks and crannies where book worms could hide if the place was not such a zoo. So it was Harry Potter who brought in the tourists, not any love for books.
For lunch we chose a cozy bar restaurant, where Margarita and I had a very comforting Caldo Verdhe (a creamy soup of collard greens and potatoes), everyone else had a Francesinha and I had a nice cod fish dish with a mountain of potatoes. My only complaint is that they didn't put much salt on the food (they must be on a health kick or under some draconian EU regulation), and there were no salt or pepper shakers on the table. Unfortunately this is very common in restaurants in Portugal (and France, and Spain).
For the afternoon we crossed to the other side of the river, to the district called Villanova, where the warehouses that stored the famous Porto wine have been located since the 1600's. The vineyards are upstream, many kilometers from Porto, and there are many different types of grapes, and after fermentation has started the bacteria get shocked by the addition of aguardiente distilled from the previous season. This has two effects: First, the fermenting bacteria die because of the alcohol and the high sugar content of the grapes is preserved in the wines, and second the wine is "fortified" in its alcohol content to give the characteristic sweetness and kick of the Porto wine. The final wine is a blend of the different batches, one blend different from the other. The fortified wines were then barreled and brought down the river in special boats to Villanova, where the warehouse would store them in small barrels and store them for years and years to let the price grow. A 1953 bottle of good Porto will put you back 450 euros!
To partake in the
cultural experience we stopped at a bar, and had our very own Porto tasting
experience, with five different wines that went from pale yellow, to straw
yellow, to rose, to tawny, to ruby. We did all the right moves, sniffs, and
gargles, and I am glad to say that at the end each of us had our own favorites,
and resisted being swayed by the opinion of the others. On rather wobbly legs
we went across the river in a small boat and climbed on our bikes to tackle
going up the steep hills back to our lodgings (and were very happy to have the
electric power on turbo mode). Tomorrow we will start El Camino!
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