Susan, Simon & The Skimobile!
Friday morning we left Our Majestic Property in the Douro Valley and headed back to Porto to have a seafood lunch in Matosinhos, which borders the Atlantic Ocean.
It was certainly the seafood area with lots of restaurants and fishmongers. Jane was in the know of where to go. When we found Toupeirinho http://m.toupeirinho.pt/ it was well worth the walk. Totally unremarkable from the outside and small with a total of 26 seats. A lot of the restaurants in the main are had covered outside seating. Touperininho was down a side street. The fish was impressive- you can eat Barnacles! The other restaurant on Janes list was closed for lunch on Fridays.
After dropping Jane at the airport we hit Top Gear and headed to Braga. Speed limit on the motorways is 120kph. We were heading via the motorways as it as Friday afternoon and did not want to get delayed plus S...n wanted to see what Top Gear was like. We had a good trip and reached Braga and our hotel Do Templo with only a few U-Turns. FYI: U-Turns on motorways can take a few km to complete.
Top Gear was smooth and hard to tell what your speed was besides the speedo and the cars passing us that were going faster. The hotel which Simon had booked the previous day had an indoor pool and came with breakfast.
It was also high above city by some gardens and a big Basilica a lovely spot. It’s adjacent to Portugal’s pilgrimage site Bom Jesus do Monte which has a 580-step spiritual stairway. When Simon booked the hotel he did not realise how good the location was. So guess what Simon was planning to do on Saturday morning? In English it means Good Jesus of the Mount. Where we were staying was obviously ‘meant to be’ as looking on Trip Advisor the top ranked thing to do in Braga was yes the Bom Jesus do Monte steps. The hotel has no evening dining onsite but has a sister hotel on the other side of the Basilica which did have a restaurant but it was full on Friday night. We had past a wedding as we drove up to the hotel so it could be where the Wedding Breakfast is. We did not rock on up as plus 1’s as 300m away was a couple of restaurants. Restaurante Central Bom Jesus 300m walk in the rain.
As we had had a lovely fish lunch, Simon dined alone and read Saturday’s The Press online, the poor Auckland Blues! The menu was quite simple a Lamb for 1 x Euro for 2 a bit more, Veal for 1 x Euro etc, Pork for 1 etc. The beef had a different description. Simon had lamb for 1, it came out in a decent sized dish with yummy spuds and a salad. The waiter said he will go and get the rice. Simon said no! He has enough. Yes he did say that. It was very nice and no pudding was needed. Locals were also dining there so he was not a total loner.
Simon ran the steps both down and then up in the morning.
The rain had cleared and the steps were great to run as far as steps go. The stairs were in sections of 10 steps then a flat bit, so you repeated this cycle quite a few times. The top 12 sections or so it was 18 steps. The steps were great as the step ( ie height & depth ) was perfect for running and Simon imagines also for walking. Far better than the St Martin Steps or the steps on the Crater Rim walkway leading up to the gondola in Christchurch. Simon always finds these a test ( which he gets an achieve most times ) as the rise and length of the step means you do not get into a rhythm running. Non-Runners will think WTF, you are a bit mad to run but runners will understand. Next to the steps is a ‘cable car’ or funicular. It was not yet open so Simon had no choice in his means of uphill travel! It is the oldest funicular in the world moved by water counterbalancing, loading water into the car at the top of the hill, weighing it down so it descends to the bottom, at the same time drawing the lighter, drained car up the hill, where the process starts all over again: the trip takes between 2.4 and 4 minutes.
Check out was by 12 ( we discovered that’s quite common in Portugal and Spain ) and the pool did not open until 10am so it was breakfast first ( muesli & fruit yeah) then Susan and Simon had a swim.
Time to walk The Camino de Santiago.
Elia
2018-05-15
Love it!!!! So jealous....
Anne
2018-05-16
You should be SO fit after all the delicious fish and negotiating those steps. A beautiful country and the Portuguese are so hospitable. Xx