Portugal Day 4 - From Lisbon to Porto

We skipped the gym (shocking I know!) and instead hit the breakfast buffet at the hotel. Mr. RRR was in his glory at the buffet; enough bacon to last for days!

Then the RRR's and I hopped in a cab and headed to Belem. It was a pretty area of West Lisbon full of lined streets with large houses. We started our journey at the Torre de Belem, the well-known defensive tower.

There was a convoy of tour buses and since we were short on time, we simply snapped a few pics and then walked along the river to the Padrao dos Descobrimentos, a monument created in 1960 for the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry the Navigator.

The detail was stunning and there was a map in front of the monument showing the exploits of the explorers depicted in the monument. Interestingly enough, there wasn't a great depiction of Spain on the map, adding further proof to our guess that the Spanish and the Portuguese aren't exactly the best of friends.

From there it was a short walk over to the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos, considered by some to be the greatest monument in Portugal.

There were even more tour groups here and we chose to visit the free church area versus fighting the crowds and long lines to see the cloister. The nave was beautiful and striking and the exterior of the south portal was simply breathtaking. This is also where the tomb of Vasco de Gama is along with the explorer Luis de Camoes. Poor Luis, he didn't draw nearly the crowds that Vasco did, it must stink to be the "other guy".

We decided it was time to get some lunch and start heading back to meet Mitch and Sharpie. When we asked our cab driver to take us to this one market area, he suggested another market, Mercado de Arroios, for a more authentic peek into Portuguese life. As he drove he gave us a bit of a tour and history of Lisbon and showed us areas including the Alcantara where my cousin had told me a lot of the clubs were. (since this isn't much of a club crowd, I knew this would be my only sight of the clubs)

We went into the market and after a few loops around stopped in Charcutario Imperio where I bought 44kg of jamon to smuggle back in my suitcase. ("I have nothing to declare Mr. Customs Agent...") The butcher gave us a few slices to taste and I was sucked in by its garlicky goodness. So was Mr. RRR - he was begging me to cut up my cryo-vac sealed bag! No way!

We rounded out this purchase with some fruit, cookies and olives and I snapped a few pictures along the way. One of the more interesting observations about this market was that the stalls were predominantly run by women; a bit of a departure from the markets in France. There were also some "convenience foods" to be had here - diced celery, carrots, onions, greens, etc. to make things easier on the busy home cook!

After the market it was off to lunch. We stopped in a small plaza near the hotel and I ordered the plancha grelhado with laranjas (grilled steak with oranges). It came thinly sliced, grilled and had a great flavor, due in part to a nice line of fat on the beef. My plate was full of white rice, potatoes, black olives, a small salad and of course a few oranges! The waiter was wondering why I didn't finish but the portion was so generous there was no way I could.

RRR had a nice grilled sandwich of jamon, cheese and butter and Mr. RRR's attempt at a decent cheeseburger was thwarted by the egg sitting top of it. (He's allergic) After finishing up our small bottle of 2006 Porto da Ravessa red wine, we met up with the girls and headed to the train station.

We grabbed some coffee and waited for the train. It was a bit harrowing since the train was packed and the cars were not well numbered. We finally found our seats and were on our way. I wound up sitting next to a lovely Portuguese businessman for some of the trip and found out not only that we were on a local train from Faro to Lisbon (partially explains why it wasn't as nice as this train ride) but got a bit of some history of the area as well. One thing I can say for sure was that all of the people we've met so far have been nothing but pleasant, friendly and really helpful.

We got to the Sheraton Porto and it was awesome! One of the more modern hotel I've even been to with glass elevators a la Marriott Marquis. We checked in and made a reservation that evening for the Bull & Bear Restaurant.

The restaurant was located in a more suburban part of town and had a casual bistro up front. Mitch went with the chef's menu and her almond vichyssoise was one of the many highlights of the meal. RRR, Lisa and Mitch all had the salmon tartare and I actually had a taste (loyal readers will know I am not a fan). The dill and fresh cream did give the salmon a very nice flavor and I barely tasted the salmon.

I started with the fresh pasta with shrimp, pesto and pine nuts. It was so flavorful that I continued to scoop up the slightly chewy pine nuts in the nutty oil sitting at the base of the dish. It also satisfied my craving for pasta; it's been way too long since I've indulged in this beautiful carbohydrate!

For a main course, I had the grilled hake with black bean and corn crust. It was sitting atop an herby puddle of sauce and the fish was perfectly cooked; firm and not too tough. It was a nice departure from the classic meat and potato dishes I've been having so far on our trip.

At this point, we were all pretty beat and RRR and Mr. RRR headed back to the hotel while we waited for Mitch's dessert course to arrive. Good things certainly come to those who wait and we were treated to a delicious molten chocolate cake on marscapone cream. They were nice enough to add an extra cake since the three of us were sharing Mitch's - how generous!

We left before we passed out at the table from exhaustion...what a long day!