The Iberian Peninsula is a major region of Europe that I had not been to prior to last month. It has a much slower pace than that of France, Germany, and England, but there is much to be appreciated. I spent 10 days total in Europe on this trip: 5 days in Porto and 5 days in Madrid.
Portugal
After a 30-minute layover in the Azores, a Portuguese
archipelago in the middle of the North Atlantic, I hit the ground running as soon as I arrived Saturday morning in Porto. This is the second largest city in Portugal, which is about a 3-hour drive or train ride from the capital, Lisbon. The most direct route from Boston to Porto is via the Azores.
I strolled across the Dom Luís I Bridge, right at the center of the city, and took a historic streetcar down to the mouth of Douro River, where it meets the ocean. The streetcars around Porto are more of a tourist attraction and prone to breakdown, but it was a fun way to initially take in the new city. Porto also has a modern light-rail system, which I did take to and from the airport.
Food
Food tends to be a highlight when I travel and this trip was no exception. The most popular local dish is called Francesinha (“little French girl”), an adaptation of a French croque monsieur, but with linguiça sausage plus a tomato beer sauce. It’s quite good. I indulged in an assortment of pastries. The local delicacy is a Pastel de Nata, which is small flakey pastry cup shell filled with custard.
I was also happily surprised by how affordable the food is relative to New England. A basic meal in Portugal can be found for under €10, which is not the case in Spain.
Douro Valley
This was the most scenic part of my trip. I took a wine tour on a bus from Porto up the Douro Valley, which is painted with vineyard terraces as far as the eye can see. The Douro River starts in the mountains in northeastern Portugal and ends in the ocean in Porto.
Braga
The Boston friend that I rendezvoused with in Porto was there on a business trip, which was part of my excuse for going. My friend recommended that I take a train one day up to the City of Braga, which is an hour north of Porto. The historic city center was significantly less touristy city than Porto, which I found authentically charming. Lots of tile covered sidewalks and beautiful pavilions.
The highlight of the day was that I took a Bolt taxi (the Iberian version of Uber) up a hill to visit the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte, which is a Catholic shrine. Beautiful views from the top and ornate stonework on the building and especially the staircase leading up the hill in front of the church. The stairs are deceivingly far and the pictures make them look small. I made the trek down the stairs and then took a Bolt back to the main city square.
Spain
A good friend of mine moved to Madrid, so for the second half of the trip, I stayed with him. Madrid is one of the largest cities in Europe and likewise it has all the amenities you’d expect from a major metropolis. Parks, museums, discotheques that open at 4am, you name it. It’s clean, it’s pretty, but It didn’t have the same level of old-world charm that Portugal had. I had fantastic stay none the less.
Food
The Spanish are big into tapas, but the dish that I found most interesting was one called tortilla. Nothing to do with the chips that Americans are familiar with, but rather thin quiche-like egg crust around a meat filling. Quite good.
Art museums
I went to a couple art museums. The most interesting one was the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, which had a large collection of impressionist pieces that I enjoyed. They even had a Bierstadt scene of New England, ha!
Segovia
On my last full day in Madrid, I wanted to do a day trip to a town outside of Madrid to get a taste of the countryside. The first choice would have been to go to the City of Toledo, but the trains that day were booked up and we ended up going to the City of Segovia, about 30 min by high speed train north of Madrid.
The scenery on the train at the city limits of Madrid quickly turned into high mountain desert with mountains in the distance, reminiscent of the American West. The train approached a large mountain range and then suddenly descended into a dark tunnel. Mind you, we were going 200 mph, so everything happened rapidly. After shuttling 15 minutes through a mountain range, we came out the other side into Colorado. No seriously, I had to double take looking out the window to assure myself I wasn’t in the front range of the Rockies near Boulder, Colorado. The geography and vegetation was a near carbon copy.
The train station for Segovia was at the other end of the tunnel and we got off and boarded a bus bound for the center of town. The entrance to the historic area of Segovia is guarded by an original Roman aqueduct. All these years of traveling thru Europe and this was the first time I had ever seen one. It’s striking to see such an old and well-constructed piece of civil engineering.
Segovia also features a beautiful castle that towers at the edge of town next to a very large cliff. Lot of beautiful tiled mosaics inside. The Moorish influence on the architecture was evident.
We had some coffee, pastries, and then we plowed over a gaggle of Spanish tourists to get back on the last bus back to the train out of town.
This was a great trip and the only full week I took off from work this year. Portugal definitely was more compelling from a tourist perspective. It had more old world charm, and they’ve slowly built up a tourism industry around it. It also doesn’t hurt that the dollar goes a long way there. Would I go back to Portugal? Sure. I think I’d want to go to a beach during the warmer months.
