| Page Views: 651 Last Visit to Portugal: September, 2007 | Bom dia by iris2002 - last update: Oct 3, 2007 |
Oporto and the Minho region | portugal news stand - why send a postcard? ;) |
Just back from a short-break in Portugal ----- a country I had never been to before ............ a week was too short but there I learnt a lot about it's interesting cultural, culinary and spiritual heritage as we intended to hike we went to the north region with it's high peaks and national park in the Serra the Geres .... The dog incident (not for the fainthearted)Our itinery was altered after that incident to include a lot more routes and cultural explorations of towns and villages, rather then the higher pastures. Lucky us - we had sunshine alllll the way through - until the last day where it started to rain... this kind of sunshine weather was unusual we were told by our host :) ... so I told him the Austrian saying: "When angels travel the skies smile"... hihi |
| coffee - photo by Iris B. 2007 |
|  | Portugals other national drink > Coffee I will soon update with my own portugal experiences - a rather off the beaten track holiday it was...
But for now I have collected some bit's n' bobs off the web for you to delve into. One thing in Portugal to have even in the smallest, tiniest village is GOOD, strong coffee, which comes right after the Portwine in the region we were at.
I have never had so much coffee in my life as on this trip and I looooove it - it's strong, mostly italian roast and sets you up for a whole day of exploring. (n-n-n-o my hand isn't shaking)
On coming back I found this little article about the Portugese coffee...
As coffee connoisseurs know, coffee is interwoven throughout Portugal’s social, literary and economic history, but coffee has played a much more intimate and personal role in this Portuguese writer’s life.
Coffee is everywhere in Portugal. Every snack bar, bar, diner and restaurant has an espresso machine, so it is not surprising that I was introduced to coffee by my parents at a very young age. Of course, I didn’t get the real espresso shot. My parents watered down my drink - a bit of coffee and double the water - the original Americano, but I didn’t mind drinking espresso’s poor cousin.
To my undeveloped taste buds, the warm watery coffee felt good and tasted sweet and warm and grown up. By the way, I no longer put sugar in my espresso as it masks some of the taste, probably the best part, but as a child I loved it.
For as long as I can remember, meals out with my parents were followed by desert and coffee served by a waiter who always asked us if we’d like a coffee even though he already knew the answer. If you were to dine out today in my country, the waiter would serve you an espresso, but in the old days we got instant coffee; Nescafe, delivered to the table in a small, red tetrahedron (pot), accompanied by a little pouch of sugar, a steaming kettle of hot water and a delicate porcelain cup with "Vista Alegre" stamped on the bottom. (To this day, I like to drink my coffee in Portugal’s finest porcelain).
Don’t get me wrong, even though I was brought up on Nescafe, I don’t consider instant coffee to be coffee, but in Portugal our motto is "Desenrasca" or "Make do with what you have!" Here is our not so secret family recipe for turning instant coffee into an acceptable facsimile of espresso: In a coffee mug, combine a teaspoon of instant coffee with teaspoon of sugar. Mix in a couple of drops of water and stir until the mixture looks like black cake dough. Keep mixing until it turns white, or yellow and then fill with boiling water and behold! By oxygenating the coffee, you end up with a creamy yellow drink with foam on top. The taste is different in a good way!
I really got to know and appreciate coffee in 1998 - the year that Expo was held in Portugal. It was then that I tasted the best coffee in my life. It was from São Tomé, a African country, and it was so amazing that I almost couldn’t eat dinner that evening because I didn’t want the taste of that heavenly espresso to fade!
Soon after that I went to college where I learned far more about coffee than I ever did about academics. It has been said that a Portuguese university is the best place to learn about coffee in the world. It’s true. College for me was a cup of coffee with friends. It was over coffee that we discussed and debated current events, politics, soccer, philosophy, classes, studying, dating, singing, writing poetry and every topic imaginable.
The common name for coffee in most of Portugal is Bica. In Oporto, (home of the famous Port wine), it is called Cimbalinho in reference to the machines used to make it. |
| church in Oporto - photo by Iris B. 2007 |
| | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ History of Northern Portugal
North Portugal - Porto, Coimbra & Braga History
Porto has a long history dating back to a Roman settlement, "Porto Cale" meaning sheltered port. Conveniently enough the majority of the historic sights in Porto are clustered in the old town area and are within easy walking distance of each other; although you may get weary from walking up and downhill, but there's always the trams that trundle around the city from which you can get a good view and the new metro to save your legs. Many of the sights have been restored in light of the attention Porto has received becoming European City of Culture in 2001 and particularly in the Ribeira waterfront area that has now been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site that stretches as far as the Torre dos Clergios, but the medieval feel to the older parts of the city is very much still evident.
One of the attractions well worth a first stop is the Clergios Church and Tower (Torre & Igreja dos Clerigos) on Rua dos Clergios. This is 76 metre 18th century baroque tower with church attached designed by Italian architect Nicolau Nasoni. His influence can be seen at various sights throughout historic Porto.
Coimbra is steeped in history having been the place for Portugal's first and only university for some time and also Portugal's capital. Today it is a lively cosmopolitan town alive with students in term time. The old town of whitewashed and azulejo covered houses with red tiled roofs is piled on top of the hill and is full of character - a great place to explore on foot.
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| Pros: | "we had full 7 days of sunshine with balmy 26 degrees" | | Cons: | "ahem... read the story about the dog-attack" | | In A Nutshell: | "a place steeped in history but very, very remote" |
 iris2002's Portugal Travelogues | | | |
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 Comments for iris2002 about Portugal | | | | |
AKHTARSAYYAD Tue Jun 24, 2008 17:01 UTC
What a coffee! please add me as your friend dear ! one day I will visit Portugal and Drink that ! --akhtar | ncfg Sun Oct 14, 2007 17:31 UTC
Great intro on Portugal. Great choice you made visiting the north! Espresso coffe is great, i can't live without it! | toonsarah Wed Oct 3, 2007 14:07 UTC
Welcome home :) I'm just off to Belgium (writing this on the B'berry on the train!) - look forward to reading all about your trip on my return | Mariajoy Wed Oct 3, 2007 09:22 UTC
It looks like you had a great trip here.. scary dog story though!!! I've never been to Portugal but would love to visit one day. |
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