During my time in Porto I stayed at Rosa et Al, a townhouse boutique hotel in the Bombarda district of Porto. It’s convenient location made it easy to get around to all the different places I wanted to visit. There is also an excellent restaurant and deli on the main floor. The founders live across the street so if you ever need anything they are never far away.
Breaking Waves
Between Porto and Lisbon I spent a few nights in the surf town of Ericeira. It has charming traditional architecture and is renowned for breathtaking ocean vistas and over 10 local beaches to visit. Ericeira is officially a World Surfing Reserve, meaning it has become the permanent home for many world surfing champions. It is equally loved by lisboêtas who come here for a weekend getaway.
A little further south along the coast is the picturesque town of Azenhas-do-Mar. A 30 minute taxi ride from Ericeira it has great food options and spectacular views. Seeing the crashing waves against the rock pool reminds you that this wild patch of Portugal is more Atlantic than Mediterranean. If you’re looking for a place to stay in the area, Areias do Seixo sits between blonde beaches and a forest of pines.
Centre Court
Centre Court at the 141st edition of the Canadian Open tournament has its own microclimate; intense, pressurized, and high octane. The players ferocious grace makes them appear to float a fraction above the hard court surface at Toronto’s York University. On the qualifying weekend spectators can attend for free to watch some of the best players in the world compete for the title.
With Serena Williams’ announcement that she will be retiring from tennis after the 2022 US Open; Sobeys stadium was filled to capacity. Serena’s famous forehands exploded off her racquet like popped paper bags and for a few games in each set she reminded us of the Serena Williams of old — the magic of a player who had written herself into tennis’ past, present, and future.
Wine Route
By some stroke of luck I was able to book a last minute reservation at Quinta Da Côrte, a small vineyard and hotel high in the Douro valley. Once you reach the property the views are breathtaking. The French architect Pierre Yovanovitch recently restored the 17th century winery and house, and added adjoining buildings.
The public transport trek from Porto involves catching the Douro train from Porto to Pinhão and taking a taxi up the mountain. Or if you are clumsy like me and stand at the wrong platform in Porto, and miss the train, you can catch another train to the town of Marco de Canaveses and hop on the Douro train from there.
The bedrooms spare no detail from the embroidered pillow shams to the art from Etel Adnan. You can sign up each day for dinner and the option is typically between meat or fish 3 course meals. I also found a new-to-me soap brand Castalbel that I brought home from their store in Lisbon.
They have a wine tasting tour of the property that goes over the extensive history of producing wine in the Douro region. Both the new modern winery addition to Quinta da Côrte and the original (1800’s) winery are visible to view. Unfortunately living in Ontario means you can’t ship the wine back because of the LCBO monopoly on sales in the province.
The other winery’s nearby to check out are Quinta do Vallado and Quinta do Bomfin. Alternatively you can sit in the pool and enjoy the stunning views over the Douro region.
Guggenheim
On yet another rainy weekend in Northern Spain (“It’s like Manchester here” - a friend) I visited Bilbao; and while the city was interesting enough I was here for the same reason as millions each year, to visit Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim. Each exterior panel is shaped individually to form one structure — a lesson in management. The inside however I found to be cavernous and unremarkable with art struggling to adequately fill the vast space.
