As we were planning our day, we realized that we had accidentally visited a good portion of the sights we had planned. Looking at the miradouros (view points) we wanted to do in the city, we had stopped by most of them just by walking about. Looking through the list of neighbourhoods, if they’re close to downtown we’ve already gone through them.
In what’s left, the local museums and palaces don’t interest us and most of what’s still on our list is outside. It wouldn’t be an issue but it’s raining and the forecast is telling us it’ll keep raining on and off all day. The only inside thing left is the 📍Mercado do Bolhão (Bolhão market).
We grab breakfast (pastel de nata and coffee) at 📍Delta Coffee House right next to the market. The shop is made for quick turnovers. Perfect to get a bite and head to the market. As for the market itself, we expected more of a working market with farmers, bread makers, butchers and fishmongers selling their wares, with some kiosks selling the staples of any downtown markets like pre-made fruit cups, food platers and sweets. The 📍Mercado do Bolhão flips the ratio with many more stores selling boxed sardines and food platers than fresh produce. One can get a glass of wine and freshly made pasta bowls. It’s more food court than market. Not necessarily a bad thing, it’s a good spot to observe the chaos of people battling for a spot in line or a spot to consume the spoils from their battle. Karine did have a delicious black pork pie and barely had to fight anybody to get it.
Post market we headed out to grab a coffee at 📍Combi Coffee Roasters. It’s good coffee and not too far from our grocery shop. We sat next to a couple playing Uno, making it clear we’re not the only ones finding all that rain a good reason to stick inside. Of course, while we were seated for coffee we saw both sun and torrential rain. At some point we got a break in the rain and resolved to go see the 📍Miradouro das Fontaínhas and walk towards the city wall (📍Muralhas Fernandinas do Port) to see if we could get on them. Of course the rain caught up with us almost immediately. The Miradouro did offer good views and we confirmed we could not get on the walls. We can also confirm, without the shadow of a doubt, that rain is wet, you’ll take more picture of street art when going about in the rain (it’s easier to spot them), and rain is the perfect excuse for day drinking.
Done trying to sightsee in the rain, we stopped by the grocery store for fruits and headed home. What we wanted to do is go to the riverside, find a well covered terrace and enjoy a glass of wine while enjoying the view and the people watching. The torrential rain that started as soon as we stepped out made us revise the plan. We stopped by a wine shop, bought a bottle of wine and enjoyed the view from our apartment. We did open the windows to give us the illusion we were outside but there’s really no people watching from the second story from inside the house.
Our dinner was at 📍Culto ao Bacalhau; which roughly translates to cult of the codfish. The menu is mainly cod with a little octopus sprinkled through. We had 4 variations of cod as starters and mains and skipped the cod dessert, going for a custard dessert with port caramel. The cod dishes were all excellent, not surprising for a restaurant that position itself as a cult to a specific fish.
Tomorrows is supposed to be sunnier and warmer. We’re keeping our fingers crossed as we’re hopping to be more active.