My Next 40 Years

Day 4

Another bright and early morning.  Today’s trip had been booked through Ennetours and started with a visit to the Paiva Walkways and Arouca Suspension Bridge, followed but lunch in a local village, a visit to Costa Nova and finally, a tour of the Aveiro canals and salt flats.

Arriving at our meeting location, I was bit confused because the address provided was just a door – no opening, no signs, nothing.  I lurked around until others started arriving and put me at ease that I was indeed in the correct location.  The guides arrived in three huge vans and split the group up – they did not mention we would not see much of the other groups after that point which was a little disappointing.  As a solo traveler, I had started to make friends with a few couples that had been on my earlier trips but we were split up with no discretion.  I will also take a moment to say I do not remember the name of my guide.  I spent 12 hours with this person and I cannot tell you his name.  At one point in the trip, I asked him a question and he was so engrossed in his cell phone that I had to repeat myself several times.

So… after a fairly short drive, we arrived at the Paiva Walkways and Arouca Suspension Bridge and were greeted by goats bounding across the road and a few kids hanging out on the shoulder – definitely was not expecting that.  The suspension bridge was absolutely stunning but unfortunately, I’ve developed a bit of vertigo in the last year and was not able to make it across.  I enjoyed the view nonetheless and was able to walk the Paiva Walkways down to the bottom of the ravine.  This was indeed a moderate 5km walk but because of the exertion of the day before and steep downhill nature of the walkways, my legs were jello by the time we made it to the bottom and I was counting my blessings that we didn’t have to go back up.

We spent about an hour at the bottom of the ravine and then made our way to a local restaurant where we enjoyed a lovely lunch of braised short ribs, cabbage and potatoes along with some green wine and local olives and cheese.  It was absolutely delicious and again, I was too busy in the moment to remember to take pictures!

After lunch, back into the van we all piled and were off to Costa Nova. One of the things that makes Costa Nova stand out is the fact that all of the houses are painted in stripes and other designs.  Legend has it, after the fisherman would return from months at sea, they couldn’t recognize their own homes in the heavy fog so each one was painted in a different fashion.  I’m not sure if the legend is true, but the unique homes certainly make for a memorable and picturesque little seaside village.

Our next and final stop was the town of Aveiro – famous for the salt flats and Venice like canals.  In an homage to fisherman of years past, the top of the canals is graced by a modern interpretation of an eel trap.  The town of Aveiro is very quaint – a city center with venders selling ice cream, snacks and booze.  After exploring a bit, we were treated to a tour of Aveiro from the canals.

On our return to Porto, I was exhausted so I had dinner in the restaurant inside my hotel (which was amazing!) and called it an early night.

Day 5

Today was mine – mostly.  I was free until a Pastel de Nata workshop at 6 in the evening so I took advantage of the time to take a closer look at some of the sites that piqued my interest during my walking tour several days ago.  Taking a relaxing view of the day, I slept in a bit and headed out for a hearty brunch at Negra Café Baixa.  It was a bit of a hike to get there from my hotel but it was well worth the effort and I tucked in to one of the best meals I’ve had in a while. 

My next stop was Livraria Lello – the amazing staircase in this bookshop was supposedly the inspiration for the staircase at Hogwarts.  JK Rawling was married to a Portuguese man and it was in Porto where Harry Potter was conceived.  If you’re travelling to Porto and have a limited amount of time, this could easily be a skip.  You have to purchase a ticket to enter and the time slots are grossly oversold so the whole experience is a little uncomfortable and rushed. 

After leaving the cramped little bookstore, I was drawn in to the Igreja do Carmo, a beautiful baroque era church at the top of the same city square as the bookstore.  This church was an absolute gem. It wasn’t very crowded and after a short climb to the top, you were treated with breathtaking views of Porto. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon getting lost in Porto.  I walked miles through medieval streets, coastal walkways, river shores and eventually found myself at the base of the Luís I Bridge watching local teenagers dive off into the icy waters of the Douro River.  These kids were entrepreneurs for sure – they were charging a euro to jump and making good money from the looks of it.

After spending a good amount of time sitting on the shores of the Douro, I made my way to my Pastel de Nata workshop and had a wonderful experience.  The group was small and led through the painstaking process of making pastel de nata from scratch.  As a recovering chef, this experience was right up my alley!