The Perfect Last Trip....

October 31, 2012- I have never spent Halloween any other way than in a costume, however this year is a bit different. My last trip in Europe was Portugal.  My awesome roommate Nic is Portuguese and her grandma was visiting their family home in Coimbra.  So Nic invited me to visit her grandma and family in Portugal for a few days to end my time in Europe.  It turned out to be the most beautiful place I had visited my entire time in Europe and I felt very welcomed by Nic’s entire family.

(Minha's house is the one with the red roof)

The journey to Nic’s small town was going to be a challenge; there was no real easy way to get there.  The town is Sao Frutuoso and has a very small population, however there is a bar!  So that is a plus.  We started our trip by flying to Porto and then took two trains, a cab and then a bus to the town.  Nic’s grandma, Minha was very excited and was standing outside waiting for us to arrive along with her friend Zelda.  Zelda is a family friend that lives in the rear of the house and takes care of everything while Minha is in Canada.

When we settled in a bit Minha wanted to visit with everyone that had not seen Nic in awhile.  It was very interesting to see authentic Portuguese homes, they all reminded me of dollhouses, with miniature kitchens and no central heating. 

The Portuguese were all amazing cooks and when we got back to Minha’s house she made some delicious chicken noodle soup.  This was very special soup because it has all the chicken insides in the soup; I had chicken heart, stomach, gizzard and neck for the first time.  The soup was outstanding!!! After some good Portuguese reality tv we decided to go to bed.  It was freezing at night in the mountains where the town was located and I had about 5 blankets, a hat, scarf and mittens to stay warm; hot showers before bed were a necessity before bed.

(Chicken heart anyone?! I was a bit hesitant, but Minha talked me into it)

November 1, 2012-Today we made a trip to the biggest department store in Portugal, it reminded me a lot of Target or Wal-Mart.  We walked around there for the majority of the day and went shopping at the mall. It was funny to see how excited people were to go to this store.

After grabbing a cab back to Minha’s house we had some delish vegetable soup that Zelda made.  I couldn’t have enough of it!  Nicolle and her grandma then went and visited with some other family while I stayed back and relaxed.  Once they got back Nic and I made plans to walk around and explore the city.

The city of Sao Frutuoso was tiny and built up on a high hill.  The city is full tiny, winding streets; I am shocked that cars can drive among these streets.  We walked to the top of the city and then back and decided to go to the bar we were told to avoid.

(Tiny roads!)

Since there was nothing else to do we decided that getting one drink wouldn’t hurt.  When we went into the bar across the street from Minha’s house there was absolutely no one in there besides about 3 people.  The bar had karaoke and the bar owner was one of the only singers. We decided to sit down and order a beer, which led to a few and then to us singing.  We were having a good time until a girl approached us and said that the bar owner was her husband and not to try anything with him. 

That is when it all went downhill.  The bar owner got pissed at his wife and demanded she leave.  Then it escalated to him slapping her and pushing her out of the bar.  He was yelling at her and grabbed his bat from behind his bar like he was going to beat her.  We felt terrible for this woman, especially since we did not do anything wrong.  She finally left and the fighting stopped.  We have a few more drinks and left that slump.

November 2, 2012- Minha was a bit mad that we went out last night and she made it apparent.  We had to get up early to go into town to get some paperwork for Nicolle to get her Portuguese citizenship.  We were waiting for the bus forever and it never came, we got a cab and got there quickly; I was definitely not feeling well.

(Coimbra)

After we went to a few offices to get paperwork we walked around the old part of Coimbra.  Coimbra is a beautiful city and has pebbled streets throughout.  We walked around the university and it reminded me of Harry Potter.  The students wore black capes and led tours; it was an old tradition and I am so happy Iowa did not have capes!

(City view of Coimbra)

We visited the university’s library, which held books from the 1300’s, and there is an academic prison in the basement of the library.  Students would be sent to this prison if they stole or vandalized the school.

(A bit blurry... but so beautiful)

(So uncomfortable... there would be no sleeping in these classes)

Nicolle and I then met up with Claudio.  Claudio is Nicolle’s cousin and actually went to Coimbra University, so he was a great tour guide!  We walked around the university, the city and along the river.  It was a beautiful city and we were very fortunate to have someone that was so knowledgeable of the area.

The three of us went back to Minha’s house for some dinner and then headed back out for a night out in Coimbra.  Since Nic and I were exhausted from being hungover and walking around all day we didn’t make it out for too long.  We went to Rock Cafe near the university campus and then went to an Irish Bar along the boardwalk near the river.

(Beautiful park near the campus)

November 3, 2012- Today was the day of family visiting!  We went over to Claudio’s house for lunch and saw his new baby niece; she was adorable.  His family made a delicious fish lunch with potatoes.  We then we for a drive and Claudio and his dad showed us some amazing views of Coimbra, Portugal is breath-taking!

After an amazing lunch we headed back to Minha’s cousin’s house for dinner.  Minha’s cousin, Palmina, lives 4 houses down and her son and his family were over for dinner.  They were cooking fish and meat in a wood-burning fireplace.  The dinner was great and we had chestnuts for dessert.  Everyone made fun of me because I thought eating chestnuts on an open fire was something people did a long time ago, not today.  While in Portugal I had a ton of fire-roasted chestnuts and they have a different constancy, almost like a meaty texture; I am not the biggest fan.

November 4, 2012- Today we went to Porto since that is where we are flying out of very early the next morning.  Claudio was very generous and drove us there and spend the day with us.  And Nicolle’s other cousin, Telmo, is letting us stay with him over night.

(Porto)

When we got there the boys showed us around and we walk down by the river that lead to the Atlantic Ocean.  Porto is a beautiful, terracotta-roofed village. We had lunch at a little café along the water and had the typical Portuguese sandwich, it was a meat sandwich smothered in what tasted like spicy Thousand Island dressing.  It was interesting and probably very un-healthy! 

(We ate lunch at the white umbrella cafe)

(Telmo, Nic, Claudio and I)

Port wine was a necessity since we were in Portugal!  There were a ton of wineries along the river and we decided to go on a tour and a tasting.  I had no idea that Port wine is specifically from Portugal; I thought it was just a type of wine, such amateur mistake.

(The boats that would carry the barrels of wine down the river)

We saw a ton of barrels of wine on the tour and had some amazing tastings.  The barrels were humongous and the size of the barrels depended on the type of wine they were fermenting. 

We walked around Porto some more and then headed back to Telmo’s apartment to get some dinner.  Both the guys pampered us and cooked a rice and chicken meal for Nic and I.  It was delicious and it was matched with some great wine and some fire-water shots which was probably the downfall for Nic.

We wanted to go out for a bit and since it was a Sunday night there were not a lot of bars open, we finally stumbled upon one and had a few drinks.  It turned out be a great night and it felt great to be welcomed so warmly into Nicolle’s family.  We went back to Telmo’s apartment to get a few hours of sleep before we had to fly back to Barcelona at 7am.

(Castle along the Atlantic in Porto)

We got about 2 hours of sleep and getting up that morning was difficult!  Nicolle was still drunk and did not remember the flight, it was sad leaving Portugal but I hope to have the chance to go back and visit again.

(Coimbra University)

(Porto)