A Reputable Journal

The train ride started peacefully enough. However when the conductor came to check our tickets the guy across the aisle was unresponsive. Like does he have a pulse? Unresponsive! A couple of stops later the EMTs got on the train and managed to get him awake. Soon after he was off the train. As usual the paperwork took longer than anything and we were soon 20 minutes behind.

We had thought that the train ride would be fun, with four seats facing each other, maybe a table to play Euchre or Qwertle. But the train was a “historic” train. No tables, no electricity to recharge devices. But the scenery was very nice. We got off the train in Pinhão to visit the Quinto Do Jollata winery, high above the city. We needed to either Uber or take a taxi. The Uber was advertising the ride for 5 euros, but no drivers were taking us up. There was a taxi with a feisty Portuguese woman driver. She told us 15 euros. When we said we were told that it would be 5 she slammed the car door shut in a huff. Then probably swore at us. We agreed to her 15 and got in for the ride. By the time we arrived we all thought that 15 was probably appropriate! The views from the winery were spectacular!

The tasting area was also beautiful.

There was a trail from the winery down to the city, and we had decided ahead of time to walk down. The host at the winery said to follow the dirt road to the end of their property then to climb over the fence to their neighbors, and continue to walk toward the bridge. By the time we got to the fence, one of us had had it! LOL.

Once back in the city we boarded a boat for a ride to Tua. More beauty but this time from the river!

In Tua we had a bit of an adventure finding the train station. We didn’t have a lot of time, and in our haste ended up away from the station, but deciding that the most expedient way forward was to simply walk the tracks, listening carefully for an approaching train!

We arrived safely! As it turned out the train to Porto was at the station but the train to Pocinho was not there yet. We looked for a conductor to see if we could just hop on and go back to Porto, and I finally found one, but just as I was asking him the question the train to Pocinho pulled in and he said if we wanted to go to Porto we had to get on right now. We dithered for a second to long and thus were committed to riding to the end of the line. In the end we all agreed we should have jumped on the train back when we had the chance.

The ride back to Porto was fine, but long, and at times VERY crowded. Speaking of crowded that is the only way to describe Time Out! Finding a place to sit took a couple of trips up and back, but we did eventually find a place for the four of us to sit. Jane and Holly saved our spots while Brian and I braved the ravenous hoards to gather our dinner. Jane had the duck rice which was kind of like a layer of rice with duck over the top covered in a thick layer of cheese. It was delicious. I had the Sea bass over Quinoa with Crayfish sauce. Also wonderful, but it turned out to be a starter! I wish I had ordered two!

To say we were exhausted after 12 hours on the train, and hiking and wine tasting is an understatement. Tomorrow is an easier day with just a bit of walking around town, and maybe visiting a port house.

We started today with a short walk to meet our guide, Maria, for a food tour of Porto. Maria is a private chef and sommelier who does these tours as well. She grew up in the neighborhood of Porto that we were visiting. We made several stops during our tour so let’s review, step by step.

1. Nota and coffee and Hungarian cookies. We had been waiting to try the Nota since we landed in Lisbon. But we did not want to have our first taste be something mass produced for airport visitors. This did not disappoint. The Nota is a pastry filled with egg custard. Seriously, the egg custard reminded me of my mom’s whipped cream where you could feel the sugar crunch between your teeth as you ate it. We also had a shortbread cookie that was half dipped in chocolate called a Hungarian. Both were great. Lots of pastries are made with egg yolks because the nuns who originally made the pastries used the egg whites as starch to stiffen their habits.
2. Spice store Romeo and Juliet (cheese and apple jam) At the spice store where Maria has shopped since childhood we tried the Romeo and Juliet, a slice of cheese topped with a dense slice of Quince on top. The salty cheese and the sweet marmalade were a perfect combination.
3. Market From the spice store we headed to the main market. It is a beautiful open air market, newly remodeled I think. Apparently once you have the license for a stall you can pass it on to your direct descendants, otherwise it is very hard to get in.
   1. Figs with Walnuts: we started with a taste of a fig stuffed with a walnut. Pretty tasty even for me who is not a big fan of figs.
   2. Beans (lupins) and Olives: The olives were olives, enough said. (I’m not a fan) But the Lupins were really interesting. You peel off a thin shell and then eat them. The consistency and taste reminded me of a rather hard cheese, and Maria confirmed that the lupins are often used to make a vegan cheese.
   3. Oyster and Mussels: Fresh oysters and Mussels. Pretty good. Brian did the oyster on the half-shell, the rest of us mussels. Not sure I’ve had a raw mussel before, it seemed like it had been cooked and then served cold.
   4. Sardines and Cod on crackers: Ok, this one tested us a bit. Sardines were a real staple of the Porto diet, especially if you were a working class family. I really wasn’t even sure I wanted to try one, but when you are on a food tour you just do it, that’s what you are there for. I thought the sardine on a cracker was quite good. The cod was more fishy to my taste but still decent. We actually went back and bought a tin of sardines to take on the train to the Douro valley. The cod in Porto is all dried, and then reconstituted when it is time to eat it, can you say Luetefisk?
   5. Ginja: Time for a drink! Ginja is a cherry liquor served in a chocolate cup. I’m not a huge cherry fan, but this tasted a little more like anise, or if you are in a bad mood you might say cough syrup.
   6. Iberian and Black pork: Although I had tried the black pork, this was our chance to see the Iberian and black pork side by side. When we tried several slices of the different pork side by side it was easy to see why the black pork is so much more expensive. 60 euros per kg for the Iberian, and 180 euros per kg for the black. In fact Maria said that when you are getting the black pork it is important to have the butcher cut it in front of you so that you can verify that it is the black pork. When we got some to bring on the train we did just that. We also learned how they use every part of the pig, and how in the battle against Spain the residents of Porto were used as human shields to protect the city which never fell! (Porto Invictus) The humans used as shields were treated to the best parts of the pig whereas the people being protected made due with the worst.
   7. Bread: We tried the peasant bread made with malt, barley and wheat flour. It was a very dark bread, and tasted like it had molasses in it, but that is just the malt. It lasts for a couple of weeks, and then you use it in bread pudding.
   8. Bonus Ginja: as we were leaving the market another tour guide came up to us with a tray of Ginja — We didn’t use it all with our group, please enjoy another glass!
4. Fancy Paste store: This was kind of an odd part of the tour. Whereas everything so far had been about the peasants and working class people and their food, this was a high end store featuring tubes of paste made from every region of Portugal. We tried some savory, some sweet, and some chocolate. We felt a little pressure to purchase, and so we did get three tubes to bring on the train.
5. Hot dogs and drinks: Our last stop was at a local establishment that makes the best hot dogs anywhere. This place is famous because Anthony Bourdain loved the place and featured it on his show. Reportedly he and the owners also became good friends over the years and he visited every time he was in Europe. There was a line to get in, but the hot dogs (and buns!) were really good.
6. Time Out market: As a bonus, Maria walked us through the Time Out Market, right next to the train station. This is kind of a high end food court where a few different Michelin starred chefs make their food available. It looks like the perfect place to grab a bit to eat when we get off the train from the Douro valley.

After the food tour we rested for a few minutes and then headed out across the bridge to Gaia. Along the river in Gaia is where all of the port houses are. The wine is transferred from the Douro Valley into town where it is aged and transformed into port. We planned on tasting in the Douro, but still enjoyed some time at the rooftop bar of one of the places. By the time we were done there we took the cable car back up to the bridge and walked back to our apartment. We were exhausted, so Brian and I walked to Rocky’s for some kebabs and pizza for supper.

As much as I was dreading the flight on Ryan Air, it was a very smooth and uneventful flight. We had upgraded to premium tickets so we had assigned seats, as well as “priority boarding”. That just meant that if you were at the gate early enough you got into the queue to get on the plane ahead of the non-priority passengers. If you didn’t, then you were stuck in the queue wherever it was when you showed up. Luckily we heeded the alert to head to the gate a little more than an hour before takeoff.

I was seated next to a very cute two year old, whose parents were mortified every time he made a sound. I just kept smiling and telling them it was fine. He was fascinated with my iPad, but declined to help me with the NYT crossword. We arrived in Porto and our next destination was the Metro. We were not sure how to find it…

It was a very easy trip on the metro with one transfer to get within a couple blocks of our AirBnB here in Porto. It’s a lovely 3 level apartment overlooking a little alley off another alley. There is a restaurant right below us. After dropping our luggage we were all a little “hangry” so we found a restaurant just up the hill, we had a reservation for 9PM so we just wanted a drink and a few tapas. The restaurant also had the sandwich called a Francesinha. It’s a slice of bread topped with steak, topped with more bread and then ham and sausage, topped with bread and cheese and tomato sauce. It’s Portuguese hangover food. (For the record we were not hungover) For us it was like having a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with tomato soup poured over the top!! Talk about childhood memories.

We explored the waterfront area for about five hours before our next meal! Which meant walking around and stopping at a few different wine bars… Yes, periods of starvation followed by periods of foodie excess! Dinner was at a tiny (16 person) restaurant called Taberna dos Mercadores. This was a recommendation from my stepbrother Dwight and his wife Laurance. We made the reservation a month and a half ago, which was a good thing because there was a huge line of people with no reservations hoping to get in. We ended up seated next to two young women from New Jersey (They were in Portugal to see Taylor Swift) who tried to get in last night, but worked their way to the front of the line, only to be turned away! But they came back earlier and were rewarded with a table tonight. They knew exactly what they wanted to order the moment they sat down.

We were happy to have a more leisurely pace! The service was great, our waiter had a fun sense of humor, and the food was excellent. Holly had the flaming sea bass.

I had Veal and a HUGE pot of Risotto! Large enough for the whole table to share. Brian had Cod and Jane had Ribs. Soooo much good food. By the time we were done it was well after 10:00 so we made our way home and fell into bed!

What a great first day in Porto! And yes, for the record, we might need another Francesinha in the morning. Although we have a food tour starting at 11. Stay tuned.

We woke around 7 again this morning. One possibility was to do the difficult hike from Areeiro to Ruivo, the so called “peak to peak” hike. A hike that can take 6 hours, with a LOT of elevation change. We decided to just go to one peak and enjoy the view, then do an easier hike somewhere else. This was probably a good decision as when we arrived at the pico it was very “cloudo” and we could not see much. But I’m getting ahead of myself!

We left the condo, and got in the car to head out… We missed a turn, and ended up on a different route that was basically 6 miles of city driving straight UP HILL. I’m so glad Jane was driving as I would have totally ruined the clutch on our rental car before escaping the city! Stopping and starting behind city busses on what must have been nearly 45% grade. I’m not exaggerating, I looked it up and that grade does exist in Funchal! Many are 25% or more.

Once out of the city the roads were less steep and really quite beautiful. Driving through some really old trees with the sun filtering through, it looked like we were going to be very lucky and get a great view. We happened upon a pack of mountain bikers! What a climb for them.

Sadly when we arrived at the parking area the clouds were starting to roll in.

At one point we could not even see the top anymore. Much less any of the scenery below us! Nevertheless we climbed to the highest point for a quick picture.

The footpath of Ponte de São Lourenço

After Areeiro we headed to the far north eastern end of the island to get some completely different scenery. This was a highly rated hike that lets you see the ocean from both sides of the path as you walk along ridge lines and up and down. The popularity of this was confirmed as we started to see cars parked precariously along the edge of the road at least a mile from the trail head. We made a couple of attempts to get lucky at finding a closer parking spot and were rewarded with a safe and relatively close spot our second lap!

It was fairly far to do the whole out and back hike so I set this saddle point as my goal, although I will say that there was not a consensus among the group as to how realistic that goal was.

The trail was super busy but the sights were amazing. I really loved all of the colors in the layers of the rocks!

After a wonderful hike we headed back to our apartment. We decided to stop for lunch after parking the car, realizing that if we returned to the apartment inertia would set in, and we would likely just sit there and starve. So we stopped at the Coachella restaurant. One of those along the hillside where there was always a woman trying to entice us to stop in and try the food. It had good reviews anyway so we risked it. It was well worth the stop even though we were all tired and sweaty from the hiking.

We still wanted to go back to one of the places back in old town in one of the long alleyways full of restaurants. We walked up and down the alley, accosted at every turn by eager restauranteurs who wanted to convince us to dine at their establishments. It was awful. We finally selected one, and although the food was good, the service was indifferent at best and hostile at worst. I had a steak with pepper sauce and fries. Yes the fries were what I really needed. :-)

After dinner we walked through the entertainment district, listened to some outdoor music and enjoyed a lovely after dinner drink at The Ritz. Tomorrow is a leisurely morning then off to the airport for our flight to Porto!

It is time for the annual migration back to Minnesota. Close up the house in the desert for the summer, and get in the car for a few days. This spring our itinerary is:

• Indio to Phoenix and meet friends for dinner.
• Phoenix to Santa Fe with a stop at the Petrified Forest
• Santa Fe to Kansas City (borrrrriiiiinnnggg)
• Kansas City to Decorah IA.

Once in Decorah, I’ll be in board of regents meetings for a couple of days. The meetings this week are highly consequential with the announcement of the impending retirement of our president, Jenifer Ward, we have some real thinking to do about how to set the course for the next several years.

Most of the drive is pretty flat, following the high plains! Not many trees, the desert turns to fields for as far as you can see. But the stop at the Petrified Forest was interesting. The science behind the petrification of the trees, and the views of the mesas and the painted desert were really great.

We arrived in Santa Fe a bit later than planned due to a lot of road construction! But we walked around for a bit, then tried a couple Margaritas at the highly rated bar in the La Fonda hotel. We had a later reservation at Sazon, a James Beard winner in Santa Fe. Dinner started with a sampler platter of Moles and another Margarita. (I am now a huge fan of Mezcal over Tequila) After we had a chance to try the various Moles, our water presented the menu. Lots of different options to go with the various Moles, so it all made sense! Jane ordered the Cholula — a tower of chile poblano / ground lamb, pork and beef / nuts / dried fruits, spices over a cold creamy walnut sauce / pomegranate seeds / balsamic jalapeño reduction! Jane describes it as having the main course and desert at the same time. It was really delicious. I opted for the pork loin with one of the spicier moles on the menu, served with rice it was truly a feast! We even got a chance to chat with the chef, Fernando Olga, who dropped by our table in jeans, chefs coat and cowboy hat.

It was a great evening, but tomorrow is nearly a 12 hour drive to get to Kansas City.

I am Just back from Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) 2024 conference in Portland Oregon. This is my 20th year going to SIGCSE, but only my second as an exhibitor. This link encompasses my thoughts on this year. Please click through and read it.