Guimarães and Lizards

Gerrit's friend Charlie had tickets to the same New Year's Eve show that we did.  We all had a great time.  

On New Year's Day we took a day trip to Guimarães, one of our favorite towns, about 40 minutes from here.  We did a little research and decided we wanted to walk around the historical part of the old town.  We figured many places would be closed that day, like museums, other attractions, and even restaurants.  Pat packed us a picnic lunch and off we went to explore on our own.  This time we didn't miss the A3 freeway turnoff in Porto and we made it directly to Guimarães without a hitch.

It was a clear, sunny, cool day, and we sat on a sunny park bench just across from where we parked the car to enjoy our lunch and a bottle of vinho verde.  There in the park, without even a paper bag around it.  No big deal.

Then we began our leisurely tour of this incredible historic city.  Many people were out enjoying the fine weather.  We did a little window shopping as we strolled along centuries-old winding streets.  We were both overcome with the beauty and history, and we felt a deep sense of respect for this place and the people who have lived here, cared for it, and preserved it all these centuries.  Around every corner was a new breathtaking scene.  Guimarães was after all declared the most beautiful small city in Europe by Condé Nast a few years ago.

Guimarães street scene

"Look adorable" she said.  Not working.

Old town garden

Textures in a bell tower

Café life

Wrought iron gate

We followed a walkway along part of the ancient city wall, marveling at the masonry and what it must have taken to assemble these huge stones into a perfect, seamless, straight wall centuries ago.  We saw the narrow slots in the wall where archers shot to defend the town.  The wall provided a nice view of some of the town, and we could see the Palace of the Dukes of Braganza on one end, a medieval estate.  We sat and soaked up the ambience in medieval squares, watching the people and pigeons and admiring the architecture.  

Ancient wall with the Palace of the Dukes of Braganza in the background

A peek through the wall at some manicured gardens in Guimarães

Building with orange tree (sounds like the title of a Monét painting)

Municipal Chamber of Guimarães, built 50 years before the US even existed

Just before we left for home, we stopped at a sweet shop which was open on New Year's Day and had some crepes and coffee.  Pat tried Nutella on her crepe for the first time and found it delicious.

Lizards have become a regular part of our diet now, too.  Pork lizards, that is.  That's what they call these tasty little pork strips.  See the label below: black pig from Alentejo (a special pork delicacy in Portugal), and the cut, "lagartos", means "lizards".  They look sort of like lizards we guess, but they sure are delicious.  Here's one of our favorite dinners: lizards, curried cauliflower, and slices of pear, with an outstanding new wine we've discovered made from castelão grapes.  We'd never heard of them either.  This wine comes from the Tejo region in central Portugal.  Check Vivino for Quinta da Alorna Castelão, it's available in the US.

(As usual, you can click on any photo to enlarge it, scroll through them all, and click outside a photo when you're done.  Also, you can click on the bold underlined phrases to play the audio.)

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