Seafood is very popular in Portugal, unsurprisingly given its long coastline. For historical reasons from 500 years ago and a connection to Newfoundland in Canada, the Portuguese love cod, which they have to import. Grocery stores sell huge salted and dried codfish fillets called Bacalhau, which are rehydrated before preparation for eating. Apparently these could be stored while on a long ship journey (like from Newfoundland back to Portugal), and they wouldn’t go bad for a year.
Grilled sardines are also a popular dish. I enjoyed mine, though I wasn’t sure what to do with the heads.
On Saturday I took a guided tour of a port “lodge” where port wines are aged in barrels, sometimes for decades, before being bottled. The area across the Douro river from Porto is full of these lodges, owned by different companies. It’s like Kentucky’s bourbon trail, but with all the places walkable from one another. There must be at least two dozen of these lodges/cellars. The one I visited is called Calém. I took the tour in Spanish because the English tour was a couple of hours later, and I didn’t want to wait around. I definitely didn’t understand a lot of it – there was so much unfamiliar terminology. At the end of the tour we sampled a couple of different ports, including a white one, which I hadn’t even known was a thing. They were each 19% abv, and I surprisingly enjoyed each and would drink them again.
Nearby the port lodge there is this uniquely Portuguese multi-level circus-tent palace of canned foods! It’s shiny and colorful, and included in their offerings are tins dedicated to particular years, so you can buy a loved one or friend a tin of sardines from their birth year, with the tin indicating something relevant that happened in that year.
Porto offers multiple rooftop greenspaces – unique and welcomed respites in the bustling city.
Some photos from around town:
Today’s funny sign:
Today’s dad joke: What’s a woman from Lisbon?
A PortuGAL! And a man is a PortuGUY
Today’s limerick:
In Porto you can drink port as you wish
A different variety for each dish
Tawny with fruit pastries
A ruby with soft cheese
You can even pair it with your codfish.
Today’s travel quote:
All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.
Samuel Johnson
Major Meander 
What a daunting set of steps!
Don’t forget, I love sardines!
I should have bought you a tin with your birth year!
I don’t think I’ve ever had grilled sardines – I bet I’d like them! The face in the beer is cute.