one last look porto

back to porto after 24h upriver. had the option of dining at the in-house michelin star-ed restaurant but the mister and i don't really appreciate haute gastronomy. it's nice once in a while, and if it's there for the taking we won't turn down an invite. yet can't help but feel it's overrated, and not often bang for buck, if you get what i mean. turns out 2/3 of the 30-strong group felt the same way and V, of simple carb fame, found us a quaint little japanese by the water. having had a good experience with japanese food in portugal earlier over summer (go figure!) the mister and i were game to see how this compared with the authentic japanese we enjoyed in lisbon. can't remember where we went (sorry!) but it was good and what made it even better was the bottle of port we'd at the end. EUR20 for what retails for £250 in the UK. bargain!

took it easy and walked on the beach after dinner, until a rogue wave drenched V and we called it a night. finally got to enjoy the hotel (having only had 90min zz two nights prior) and was glad for the down time before the return flight.

quick trip to porto was over before we knew it but glad to have been twice in two months. the trips were different enough for me not to feel like it was groundhog day.

vineyards

after a little too much excitement the night before, we were somewhat somber the next day. nothing a couple of breakfast mimosas and greasy fry up couldn't fix but still! left bright and early (okok, 10am is early enough!) for the vineyards and what a sight to behold the contrast between the vines. all unplanned, of course, but beautiful nevertheless. the port production, supply chain and more recent diversification boggled the mind. also had some rather rank 48h grape must that i chose to spit while the rest swallowed. haha. felt like the clever one then!

the stragglers wheeling and dealing at the back. V, a russian ibanker, was on his devices throughout the trip. pretty impressive given how we were in a reception black hole, which led me to conclude that his possibly soviet-issued kit was somehow superior to anything the rest of the world was on. V is also terribly inspirational when it comes to eating, only simple carbs (fruit and veggie) which would sound the death knell for my sweet tooth but herald in a much healthier body on the whole. something i'm considering but know would never be disciplined enough to do :( also felt totes judged when we sat opposite each other at dinner and i finished what were meant to be communal canapes (fried fish pastries, rich fatty smoked sausages, other unidentifiable but altogether yummy nibbles) after leaving sufficient time for him to help himself. yikes.

taylors then duoro valley

have i mentioned the best thing about porto was the port? cursed with a sweet tooth and am already unable to resist the sweet hit of port on the best of days. throw me into porto and it's hellooooo cellars and cellars of syrupy goodness! yes, there's something to be said about moderation and being responsible (look ma, no water...) but all the rules go out of the window on holiday. so if day 0 was landing in the afternoon and hitting the ground running, day 1 was when we upped the ante. probably overstating the lack of sleep (literally 90min between getting back to the hotel from the club and the early morning talks) but when already running on empty, i felt like really needed the sugar rush to keep going. was also more than a little bummed that i only got 90min in the divine bed. starting to regret late (early?) night already. hopped across the street to taylors for lunch and ohmy what a view! and what a meal! commenting to F, one of the other +1s, that after a table setting with six glasses  each (champers, red, white and three ports in increasing age), we couldn't go back to regular feasting. any thing else would just pale in comparison!

as an aside, it was also cool to visit taylor's in person because it's the brand i'm most familiar with. in fact, i think i've paid kind friends in kind with taylor's port after stowing my mountain of barang barang at theirs over summer in between houses.

lunch was followed by a scenic ride to the duoro valley to visit the croft vineyards. L had chartered a bus and the crazy bunch managed to turn it into the party bus supreme. needless to say, the 4.5L bottle that magically reappeared was responsible for some of it. however, knowing when to bow out is as important as knowing when to boogey all night. so it was eye mask and noise cancelling earphones on (listening to radio3 no less!), to catch up on some zz. defensive sleeping, as i call it, not knowing what sort of night lay ahead. did wake after two hours and caught the most picturesque part of the journey and my inner nerd was excited by the multiple bridges across the duoro. may or may not have been trigger happy and then spammed my fellow bridge enthusiasts i.e. family whatsapp group with bridge pics.

L had scoped the cutest little vintage house hotel and we all had rooms with balconies overlooking the duoro, and up and down each others' rooms hehe. there was some commotion at night with the main hotel and some cheeky folk not being in the beds they were assigned to. but hey, all par for the course? throw 30 something 30somethings together and things are bound to get jiggy. as the youngest by a good couple of years (the mister being the second youngest heh) i felt a little like an old married prude listening in rapt attention to the morning after tales. such is life and vicarious living!

oh and that's the balcony i sought solace from when it all got too much and they started throwing each other / jumping into the duoro. something about dead fish and pants-ing trickled through the grapevine (haha) but i emerged when things were civil again for pre-dinner drinks before hitting up the town.

this was also the night things escalated and my first aid skills came in handy. without going into too much detail, save for the self-indulgence of reflection, a hand was put through a glass table. the former US army captain, PE fund general counsel and veterinary surgeon turned oil trader were on it, much to my relief and being older, more commanding presences they got things under control quite quickly. but i was able to triage and reassure the rest that the casualty was going to be fine. also nice to know that i think straight and remain calm when faced with lots of blood. a little duh at this point but having come to the medicine game later in the day, there's always been this remnant of self-doubt that doesn't quite seem to go away.

porto

the mister's friend, L, invited us and a couple of other friends on a trip to porto. wasn't entirely keen to begin with, having been to porto earlier in summer (such a first world problem) but was won over by the knowledge that L used to work for the old family group that owned the hotel and vineyards, and got us a very good deal. let's just say the entire trip (4D3N accom, transport and meals inclusive) came to half of what the rack rate for one night in the suite we stayed at would've come to. now if that doesn't appeal to my inner el cheapo, nothing would! L was an absolute doll, planning everything from start to finish and herding us from place to place. he also pulled out all the stops to make the trip as value-add as possible with talks by the group CEO and vineyard tours that left me feeling refined and educated (rare!).

hotel was gorgeous and as L had been project manager during its inception, construction and early operations, he was the best person to pick the rooms and set us up very nicely in the suite.

one of the best things about being in londontown (complain as i do) is how continental travel is so easy. ezyjet isn't exactly the cheapest way of getting around but the timing worked and we weren't about to kill ourselves getting to stansted. been there, done that. not above flying outta stansted having left for aix from there over summer but really rather not have anything to do with that godforsaken airport! anyhoos we arrived in the early afternoon and started with sundowners aplenty on the gorgeous terrace. after all, being in porto necessitated getting the port going and by dinner time (8 but actually 10) rolled round, we were buzzing. tell i lie, i did sneak away to town for a cheeky shop for backless dress essentials then back to the terrace to catch sunset.

everyone cleaned up nice for dinner and it was more terrace time chasing canapes with wine before finally sitting down about 10 for our meal. wondered about the mediterranean time before realising we'd to pace ourselves as the cool kids only went clubbing at 3am. leisurely dinner, more drinks at the hotel bar and by the time 3am rolled round, i was all ready for bed being the cool kid that i am. but game face on! hit up a cute little 90s bar with a car coming out of the wall. packed for a saturday night and a little stuffy but great music before moving on to eskada which was so hip it hurt.

of course someone bought a 4.5L and tadaaa! miracles happened. we called it the bad decision bottle and danced around it. somehow that bad decision bottle left the club with us and became the trip's totem. keen to continue our run as the last ones standing, the mister and i left about 7am, got 90min of zz before a full day of lectures and more touring. oh the beauty of being young and relatively accustomed to sleep-deprivation from our former lives as litigators. and my current life as a medic. in fact, i think sleep-deprivation, quite unfortunately, is probably going to be the one constant in my chosen path :( but hey, handy party 'trick' to deploy when wanting to make the most of short holiday and long days.

farol

when i was last in lisbon, had an extra day. the wonders of fb, even back then in 2009, was that a uni mate had seen the photos and suggested we visit cascais. was backpacking on a budget and remember taking the train to the seaside town, then walking all along the coast to the devil's mouth (throat?). it was breezy, the weather was great and we passed this beautiful hotel en route. remember looking wistfully at it and while enjoying the rossio hostel very much (haha) i did entertain a pipe dream of abandoning ship and offering to wash dishes in exchange for staying a night. obviously that didn't happen, but five years on, it was kinda surreal to be on the other side :)

it was a lovely, albeit short, stay at farol and as a goodbye gift, the dolphins put on a show during breakfast.

lisbon

everyone raves about portugese egg tarts so bright and early on our first morning we went in search of the holy grail in belem (pronounced belleh?) the insider tip was to go all the way as far into the cafe as you can, instead of of jostling for space with the tourists in the first couple of 'rooms'. because at the back, while there's often a short queue, the turnover is also higher. we'd a sweet waiter who spoke good english and i was just relieved we didn't have to order in sign language. that said, i couldn't understand the menu because i don't know what different pastries are called in portugese so i took a photo of the display case up front and pointed to the pastries i wanted. which wasn't hard, really, seeing how we ended up with one of everything.

gooey, hot and molten, flakiest filo pastry - thought these were good until we chanced upon a hole in the wall in alfama called pastelaria alfama doce at r. regueira 39 e 39A that was even better. so much for tourist traps in belem ;)

the next few photos were snapped over our couple of days in lisbon. the first thing i noticed was that i'm not a fan of portugese food. salty, oily and almost inedible. maybe we just had really bad luck but these were places the hotel / guidebooks / locals recommended and they were packed! maybe just didn't suit chinese palate so ended up eating hot dogs (cool place called hot dog lovers below) and japanese. not complaining, always up for japanese. the portugese restaurants we went to managed to destroy fresh fish so having sashimi to my heart's content was all the redemption lisbon needed.

good jap we enjoyed were sea me sushi in chiado and ozeki. wanted to try bonsai but it was closed for summer :(

beautes lisbon from porto do sol! whiled away an afternoon at a choice table in the shade drinking fizzy water and watching the world go by.

lisbon oceanarium

docked in lisbon bright and early and was sad to have to disembark after ten glorious days on board. did have a few days in lisbon to take the sting out of an otherwise abrupt end to the holiday. stayed in chiado in a sweet service apartment. actually, think it was a hotel but were upgraded to a suite that was like a serviced apartment with bedroom, living / dining, kitchen, bathroom and laundry room. complete with massive walk-in wardrobes and bathed in sunlight.  found lisbon to be relatively affordable, having backpacked there in while on exchange in stockholm. in fact, the best hostel i've ever stayed in (and believe you me, i've been to many!) was rossio in lisbon. so there. winning accom seems to be a thing!

chanced the oceanarium in the afternoon and hm to risk sounding like the spoilt singaporean i am, it was o-k? having been to the one at RWS, this paled in comparison. it was such a let down and i felt super duper cheated by 'second in the world' or whatever it was. granted, it had more exhibits like penguins and puffins (yay i like puffins but not so much in captivity) and more space, in fact it was sprawling, but gimme singers any day with its piped classical musical and relatively more genteel clientele. singers boleh!

oh and this was the view from our room!

porto

wasn't planned or anything but this trip seemed like deja vu, with repeat visits to honfleur, porto and lisbon. was last in portugal while on exchange and when trawling through the archives, i was aghast by how badly i write now. oh medicine, what have you done to my pseudo-literary mind :( was a whistle stop tour of porto and flying visit to the port cellar before setting sail for lisbon. 

but in a strange twist of fate, turns out that i'll be in porto for a couple of days in october so hope to properly explore it then.