It's been three days since I've had a pastel de nata. I feel kind of guilty about it, as I've become somewhat of a regular at the bakery around the corner and I enjoy these daily interactions. I walk in and I am immediately greeted with "bom dia! Un pastel de nata y un espresso?" (or something like that). The sugar roller coaster hasn't been serving me though so I've decided to take a hiatus from them for the next few days. Wish me luck!
This past weekend, I went to Porto and the Duoro Valley. It was colder, wetter and so, so beautiful. Porto surprised me- it's cleaner and more polished than Lisbon. The tile building facades are bright and vivid, unlike Lisbon's crumbling, sun bleached-ones. The Duoro river adds mystery and whimsy to the city with it's boats and Venice-like feel.
We ate warm, sweet natas in a cozy cafe and warmed up from the humidity outside. We meandered through the winding cobblestone streets to one of Europe's oldest soap shops. I ended up with quite a few soaps, thinking that they'll make great gifts. The soap's lush lather and floral scents are transporting and luxurious and I already opened a lemon verbena one to use for the rest of our stay.
In the Duoro Valley, we sipped on local wines and port, the"Tawny" variety being my favourite. I read up about Porto's influence on J.K. Rowling's writing for the Harry Potter series. By chance, I ended up getting a passion fruit cocktail at a turn of the century cafe that she frequented. Did you know that Salazar Slytherin's name is based on the Portuguese world war two Dictator Salazar? We passed the bookstore that inspired Hogwarts but decided not to stand in the hour-long line up to get inside. Overall, it was a wonderful weekend escape and very special to see more of Portugal.
Snaps below!
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