Time to drive to Porto. We loaded up the car and got going by 10, stopping briefly in town to check on Laurie’s sun glasses (not there) and check the Audi’s tire pressure (topped off). Then headed toward Avila and Salamanca before reaching Portugal. There was a remnant of a border station between the countries, though it felt most like Breezewood, PA — a place to slow down and maybe make a purchase before getting back on the highway. Thanks EU!
Listened to Laurie’s CDs, including Linda Ronstadt Duets (not great) and Emmylou Harris Elite Hotel reissue (quite wonderful…and so many progenitors of some of the happier threads of country music for me). Once we got to Portugal, switched to Brazilian singer (whose name I forget, but Laurie would know) which was pleasant.
Passed briefly through a burnt-out valley in Portugal and wondered if it was from the fire that had recently killed more than 60 people fleeing in cars. Turns out much of Portugal is suffering from drought and many areas had wildfires, even while we were there. We would subsequently see smoke from several fires, and there were daily news reports…when we happened to see the local news.
Made a stop in Viseu for lunch and for Laurie to do some shopping. We followed our nose to city center and ended up parking just around the corner from main square and the one shop Laurie was looking for. She bought some fuzzy slippers for various family members, and looked for a rug (no luck). We toured the square briefly and picked a likely looking restaurant for lunch, Muralha da Se. It turned out to be very nice — more expensive than we’d bargained for but the food was done very well. 
I had a rice dish with octopus and shrimp that was delicious with a hint of saffron. Laurie had a pasta with shrimp; the pasta was homemade and for both our dishes the shrimp was wonderfully fresh and tender. A very tasty start to our time in Portugal.
We walked a bit more in Viseu, checking out was purported to be the Jewish quarter but it was only one street, and we couldn’t find the rumored statue of Raoul Wallenburg. Laurie and I discovered that neither of us knew sufficiently who he was, so herewith his Wikipedia page. Should we add that there is supposed to be a statue of him in Viseu, Portugal, but we couldn’t find it?
We wandered our way out of Viseu back to the A25 highway (lots of signage gets you into the City Center, but not so much leads you out the best way) and drove on toward Porto, bypassing Aveiro. Arrived in Porto area around 5:30 and made our way to the apartment at Calcada de Serra #154 in Gaia (http://oportoapart.com/, though the website doesn’t exactly show our apartment). This was the first time I’d booked an apartment through TripAdvisor and was a little wary that we’d be ripped off or disappointed. But we found the location and our contact was right there at the door. The apartment owner/contact, Miguel, turned out to be a very gregarious young musician (his band is HumanCycle).
He helped me park the car and showed us around the place. It has an unbelievable view over the Douro to Porto, just by the Ponte Luis bridge (not to be redundant) and the Gaia Teleferico (cable car lift, ibid, about which more tomorrow). The 2-BR apartment was very well stocked (though we had to add toilet paper, and should have added paper towels). And did we mention the view?
Miguel told us where there was a mini-mart so we went to get some snacks and supplies. I had also signed us up (the day before) for a walking tour of Porto for the next morning, so around 8pm we walked over the bridge to scope out the Praca de Liberdade where we would meet the tour. We headed down to the waterfront Ribeira area of Porto which has lots of restaurants — the guides said that’s where you should start getting to know Porto. Laurie was somewhat aghast at how many tourists filled the streets and how many restaurants and bars there were ready to welcome them. There is little chance of an authentic Portuguese experience in Ribeira. We wandered among a few places, not having really picked anything in advance. We saw an open table at one of the busiest squares and it turns out chose about as poorly as possible. We should have known better than to order from the scruffy and very touristy menu but we chose a cheese sampler and calamari to go with two glasses of wine. The cheese came in an enormous portion enough for two, but all bland and indistinguishable, and the calamari were clearly frozen rings of mush. Laurie had the idea of packing the cheese into the little bags in which they’d given us our silverware, but we plowed through the calamari because I’m a committed member of the clean plate club.
I did find a little wifi and looked up another wine bar nearby, the Wine Quay Bar. We made our way there and snagged a table. This was a more upscale location, highly rated, with an extensive wine list and small selection of tapas. It became clear that Laurie wasn’t going to eat anymore, but when the waiter came and she said she didn’t even want a drink, I became frustrated and batted her on the head with the menu. She didn’t appreciate that but did order a Vinho Verde. I did as well and got a nice little tomato with oregano tapa, a tuna fish plate, and bread. Laurie nursed her resentment while I worked my way through the tapas. It really was quite good and I would have been pleased to return to the bar.
We went back across the lower span of the Ponte Luis (it has auto traffic on the lower level and tram traffic on the much higher level), then trudged up the hill to our apartment. It was a challenge for two older, overweight (speaking for myself, only) folks. It was the only time we walked up the hill, I believe.
The apartment itself was pleasant, with two bedrooms and one bath. The living room and kitchen area shared a blackboard that was filled with messages from previous travelers, a cute touch.
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