Portugal - Porto for Port

Before I know where Porto is, I knew and fell in love with Port, and even learned how it was made in one of my old food science class. I had a great chance to visit Porto thanks to the European Master in Food Studies peeps from one edition above me.

I visited Porto in early June and the weather was gorgeous. Blue sky and bright sun, slightly breezy, warm, but not too warm.

To be honest, I didn't really know where I was heading because I was just following my friends who had been living in Porto, or had been touring Porto.

One of the most memorable building we visited was the São Bento railway station in the middle of the city. The interior decoration was breath-taking.

São Bento Railway Station

There are also tuk-tuk in Porto. In Indonesia, we call that bajaj, although these tuk-tuk are obviously fancier than any available bajaj.

We took a touristic train around the town and to visit one of the oldest wine cellar in Porto calle Real Vinicola. It was only 8 Euros. The original price was 10 Euros, but apparently you can bargain with them :)

There are also wines aged in wooden barrels reserved for royal families, as seen by the Royal emblem on the barrel.

The winery tour included Port wine tastings. I tasted white Port for the first time - I always thought that all Port wines are red!

To my surprise, I actually love white Port very much. It is very sweet, but it's really smooth.

Now, let's talk about the exciting part: FOOD!

1. Francesinha 
Lo and behold, this is the famous Porto calorie bomb, Francesinha.

A plate of Francesinha

It's a layer of toast, meat, cheese, bacon, sausages, cheese, toast, more cheese, fried egg with runny yolk, and finally basked in sauce made of tomato and beer.

It's very difficult to finish a plate of this heart attack-inducing food because it is heavy, but it's good. And I just had to try it, since I was in Porto.

2. Bolinhos de Bacalhau

Bolinhos de Bacalhau, served with fries

Bolinhos de Bacalhau is translated as bacalhau balls, and it is basically balls of dried and salted cod. In restaurants, if you want to eat fresh cod (unsalted ones), you will have to look for bacalhau fresco in the menu. Otherwise, assume all bacalhau in Porto dried and salted.

These bacalhau balls are surprisingly not very fishy. It's also one of the things to eat in Porto :)

If you want to buy the 'raw' bacalhau, you can buy them from supermarkets easily.

 3. Pastries

The prices of pastries in Porto, compared to other parts of Europe like the Netherlands and especially Switzerland, is very cheap. There are many bakeries around. These pastries are great to start the day. Don't forget to try the Portuguese egg tart as well.

4. Octopus

Octopus can hardly go wrong in Porto, especially grilled octopus. we tried this grilled octopus basked in olive oil (and maybe some herbs and garlic, too?). It was splendid.

There are a lot of wine cellars along the Douro River that you can go to. But even if you are not a wine enthusiast (or can't drink wine for any reason), it's still a wonderful place for a casual stroll.

I would highly recommend going to Taylor's. Yes, it's English, but they really make good Port wines here. It's also one of the oldest Port winemakers.

If you are going on foot, the trip up to Taylor's can be quite a pain. But that's pretty much expected when you are travelling in Porto. I heard the slopes are not as steep as those in Lisbon, but anyways, it's a good exercise!

The end of the wine tour is always the most exciting: tasting. We tried vintage Ports here (that's what Taylor's is famous for, apparently).

I've never tasted any vintage wines, but holy molly, it was one of the best wines I have ever tasted!! It's a shame that I did not have a check-in baggage, so it would be difficult to bring a bottle back to the Netherlands. But anyways, vintage wines are expensive, and they have to be finished as quick as possible to avoid too much oxidation. I can't even survive drinking a glass of wine. It would go wasted on me.

We also visited Mercado do Bolhão, a semi open-air market. You can get fresh fruits and vegetables, and also flowers.

My friend showed us a cool candy shop with a refreshing concept. Or maybe not, if you have been taking medicines a lot. The shop is called Dream Pills (click here to visit their website).

At Dream Pills, you can mix and match candies and gums (and chocolates too, I think) and put them in a bottle of various sizes.

You can put prescriptions on the bottle, for example "For stress relieve" or "To remember Porto". There are "prescription labels" in English as well, although most are in Portuguese. And then they put the bottle in a paper bag, just like how you would get your medicine from a pharmacy. In the end, they are just candies packaged in an innovative way, but it's the experience that matters. And if you care about packaging (like me), you'd love this place.

I met some stray kittens as well. It's nothing particularly special, but I just love cats and I've never owned a cat haha.

Porto is one of the places I would love to come back one day :)

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Spain - Highlights of Madrid

This post was long overdue because of courses and group project deadline that I had to meet before graduation (yeah yeah I know, I keep making excuses).

I had a wonderful trip to Madrid, Spain, at the beginning of June. As I explained in my earlier post about foods to try in Madrid, my sole purpose to go there is to try as much local food as I could. But of course, sightseeing is part of the itinerary, especially when I discovered that there is always something interesting to see at every corner of the streets in Madrid.

The Hop-On-Hop-Off bus is normally my favourite way to explore a new city, but I decided that since most places can be reached by the Metro or on foot, it would be quite pointless to ride the hop-on-hop-off bus. 

The best word to describe the overall feeling I get from Madrid is "friendly". Although my friend warned me of pickpockets and people who would steal cameras from tourists if you asked them to take pictures. Luckily, I didn't have any of such encounters throughout my visit.

These girls were asking me if Spanish guys are hot, and then asked me to take a picture of them using my camera

Well, let's start with tapas bars. When you go to Madrid, you definitely have to visit at least one tapas bar for some wine or tapas (appetizer-like dishes). If you have dietary restrictions like no alcohol or no pork, it's probably a little bit hard to enjoy the gastronomical side of Madrid, but it's not that hard to find halal food. Unless you add seafood into dietary restriction.

The most famous street filled with tapas bars is called Cava Baja. It's pretty close to Plaza Major, just to the south of it.

Tapas bar in Cava Baja

Plaza Major

Another thing that catches attention is the cute city mascot:

If you want to take a picture of the bear statue, go to Puerta del Sol.

Statue of Charles III at Puerta del Sol

When I went to Puerta del Sol, I saw some kind of football gimmick. Maybe it's because the World Cup was coming! :)

Football gimmick: penalty shoots game

Madrid is heavily decorated with churches, cathedrals and monasteries of different architectures.

Iglesia de Los Jerónimos (near Museuo Nacional del Prado)

Iglesia de Los Jerónimos, interior

Monasterio Descalzas Reales

Santa Iglesia Colegiata de San Isidro

San Francisco El Grande

San Francisco El Grande, interior

Santa Cruz

But if there is one church that I strongly recommend going, it would be the Catedral de la Almudena, which is located next to Palacio Real (the Royal Palace).

Catedral de la Almudena

Catedral de la Almudena, side view

Not only it has wonderful interiors, but also you can climb the tower and see the whole Madrid from above.

Catedral de la Almudena, interior

Catedral de la Almudena, tower

That being said, the Royal Palace seems to be a worthy place to visit, but you have to start waiting in the queue before it opens. The line to enter the Royal Palace is always long - in the morning or in the afternoon. In the end, I did not manage to get inside, but the exterior can satisfy you enough if you don't have time to wait in the line. Just behind the Royal palace is Jardines del Campo del Moro.

Palacio Real (Royal Palace), side view

Palacio Real (Royal Palace), from behind

Palacio Real 

Jardines del Campo del Moro

As an addition, there is a beautiful viaduct just next to Catedral de la Almudena. Not literally next to it, but you'll find it if you walk a little bit to the south of the cathedral.

Plaza de la Villa is also quite beautiful. There is not much to do here, but it's a nice spot for pictures.

Another place I highly recommend visiting is Palacio de Cibeles (formerly Palacio de Comunicaciones or the Palace of Communication). There is a tourist information centre there, it has gorgeous interiors and various eye-opening art displays, and most importantly, it is FREE. And for someone who thinks that 25 degrees C is a little too hot for a full-day walk (like me), the air conditioner in this building is like an oasis in the dessert.

Palacio de Cibeles entrance

Palacio de Cibeles interior

I'm not a fanatic art enthusiast and sometimes I cannot appreciate abstract paintings or any other artworks, but I really enjoyed most of the displays.

One of the art displays in Palacio de Cibeles

That being said, I did not enter Museo Nacional del Prado. Almost everyone I knew recommended me to visit that museum, but I was more interested in discovering the city.

Caja Madrid Obelisk is not too far from Prado Museum, but unfortunately, you cannot enter the surrounding garden. You can still take pictures from afar, though :)

Now, about shopping. The city centre is lively with shops, department stores and restaurants. Since the weather is really nice around summer, it's also really nice to sit outside for lunch or dinner.

Callao

Terrace seats

Shopping streets (C. Preciados, between Callao and Puerta del Sol)

There's also a cute Angry Bird shop on C. C. Parquesur (street name).

Angry Birds merchandises

Not too far from Callao is the Teatro Real (Royal Theatre).

For food, try Plaza de San Miguel market or read my other post about food in Madrid for more info

Plaza de San Miguel market

Interior of Plaza de San Miguel market

And last but not least, visit Puerta de Alcala and Parque de El Retiro. Puerta de Alcala is located on the northwest side of Parque de El Retiro, so if you have the chance to visit the park, do visit Puerta de Alcala as well!

Puerta de Alcala

Parque del El Retiro entrance

The park is rather large, so if you have limited time, make sure to see the Alfonso XII monument in front of the lake as well as the rose garden on the south-most part of the park. I'm not sure if there are going to be any roses in winter, but at least it is beautiful in summer.

Monumento Alfonso XII

Rose Garden

Madrid is an awesome city to explore. You can also go to Toledo, a medieval city not too far from Madrid. A day trip is possible. I will cover Toledo in my next post :)

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