EUROPE 2025 : DOURO VALLEY

Tuesday 16th to Thursday 18th September

Picking up a rental car always takes longer than you think. We were on the road out of Lisbon by 11am and headed straight to Burguezia do Leitao in Mealhada for a lunch of roast suckling pig, a speciality of Biarrada. (Neil had been dreaming of this dish since we were last here in 2016.)

Arriving in Folgosa in the heart of the Douro Valley, we loved our farm stay at Quinta da Azenha.

That evening they were crushing their Port grapes in the garage.

We trundled down the hill to La Bamba for dinner. Grumpy service and mediocre food but spectacular company and then the slow climb back up to bed.

On Wednesday morning after breakfast we drove to Regua.

At noon we embarked on our lunch cruise up the Douro River, including going through the 35m  Carrapatelo Lock.

At Pinhao we were driven up through awesome vineyard scenery to Quinta da Avessada for a wine and port tasting.

A very touristy place but we did enjoy ourselves.

Back in Pinhao we took the scenic train back to Regua.

On our return we tasted various aged ports at Da Azehna and also the day old port made with the juice they crushed the previous evening. Fermentation is stopped almost immediately by adding brandy and then the port is aged in barrels for a minimum of 3 years.

That evening we lazed by the pool with bread,cheese and the farm's own wine.

Thursday morning we stopped in at gorgeous Popa Winery for a tasting.

We also visited Mateus Palace before heading off to Porto.

EUROPE 2025 : TWO DAYS IN LISBON

Sunday 14 and Monday 15th September

We were on a late Saturday flight to Lisbon. We stayed at Stay Hotel, Chaido. It's very well located and easy to walk everywhere in central Lisbon from there. And it's NOT at the top of a hill. The best advice I can give you for Lisbon is to stay low down. You are going to be climbing so many hills and stairs anyway; don't add to it!

We met Stephen and Vivienne in our lobby and went out in search of coffee with Pastei

De Nata (custard tartlets) for breakfast.

And Pasteis de Bachalau (codfish patties).

And a tot of Ginjinha. (cherry licquer). Favourites from our last trip to Lisbon. We strolled the pedestrianised streets and meandered our way down to the shore.

Everything is a lot busier and more touristy these days. Even the tinned sardines!

We wandered the windy streets of Alfama, up to St.Jorge's Castle. The higher you go, the better the view. 

In the evening we had sunset drinks at the hole in the wall - Rooftop Lisboa.

Followed by an excellent dinner and Fado at Solido. 

On Monday we tried to go less touristy for a bit. Catching Tram 28 AWAY from town instead of up to Alfama. It was still busy.

Going to Ourique market instead of Time Out. Not much going on there. So we went to touristy Belem.

And had more Pastei de Nata.

Then on to Pink Street for Portotonico and live music. 

Terry and Andrew arrived and we all met up for a repeat of drinks at Rooftop Lisboa and dinner sans Fado this time at Solido.

Don't mess with a plan that works!

Europe 2025 : Munich

Wednesday 10th to Saturday 13th September

Swissair to Zurich overnight. Now that there's wifi on the planes there's a tendency to try and catch up with all the outstanding admin and comms on the flight instead of getting a good night's rest.  Happy birthday to Neil for the 10th. We caught the train from Zurich to Munich and arrived in the rain.

Motel One is a handy option near the station. We don't do anything touristy in Munich any more but we like to walk a lot, stopping for a coffee or a beer to people-watch. We mostly catch up with friends and this involves a lot of eating and drinking too.

The IAA Mobility show was happening all over town.

Saturday morning at 9am we were down at Kilian's Pub for old time's sake. We watched the Springboks thrash the All Blacks!

That didn't happen much in the days when we lived here and Kilian's was our local Saffer hangout.