SQ26/25 SIN-FRA-SIN A380 Biz & Suites: Frankfurt Xmas Markets & 2 Weeks in Portugal

[yflyer]

From the train station, we headed straight to Quinta do Vale Meão...



Unlike many of vineyards along the Douro River, here there were relatively gentle slopes where the vines could be planted, without the terraces that we saw along the river.



This was quite a different wine tasting experience from what we had experienced before in the wine regions of California or Australia, where over there, you could cover many different wineries in a single day, going from cellar door to cellar door, and tasting their selection. Over here, you booked a specific time slot for a visit, and took your time touring the facilities of each vineyard, and then stayed for a very comprehensive tasting -- very different from the "drive-by" style of tastings we previously did in Napa, or the Barossa Valley.



The tour and tasting at Quinta do Vale Meão that day would be done just for the two of us...

Our host, Filipa, first took us on a tour of their facility, where we saw how the grapes were pressed. We were surprised to learn that the traditional practice of pressing grapes using feet was still done here, in large concrete pens...



There were, of course also machines to supplement the manual process...



I also spied two antique "Titan" grape presses...



The tour continued in the cellar where they stored their barrels...



The tasting room was set on a platform directly overlooking the barrels in the cellar...



What a beautiful setting to taste their wines...

[yflyer]

We would be tasting a selection of the Quinta's wines that day...



It was great to be able to taste the wines while gazing at the vines themselves, out the large picture window...



...while at the same time also overlooking the cellar itself.



Cheese, bread and nuts were laid out, along with the Quinta's own olive oil...



The tasting line-up that day...



Highlights included their top wine, Quinta do Vale Meão 2020, a wine made of a blend of Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional, as well as Tinta Roriz and Tinta Barroca (All Portuguese grape varietals which were unfamiliar to us...). This was an absolutely delicious wine that has been rated very highly by wine critics.



Their 2019 vintage port, was also superb...



We couldn't resist buying several bottles of their wines to bring home to Singapore. In retrospect, I regretted not buying more bottles, as these wines were very hard to find (and much more expensive) outside Portugal.

To wine aficianados out there, I would highly recommend a visit to Quinta do Vale Meão if you are planning a visit to the Douro valley.

[yflyer]

After our visit to Quinta do Vale Meão, we headed, together with Luis, our driver, to a nearby restaurant for lunch. This was a family-owned, restaurant, Taberna da Julinha, where husband and wife team, Senhor Costa and Dona Julinha handled the front of house, and the cooking, respectively.



The setting was simple and rustic...



...but the traditional, home-style cuisine just blew us away.

There was no menu. You were just served the meal of the day, with the main course being Mirandesa beef, where Mirandesa was a breed of cow local to the area, prized for the exceptional flavour and texture of the meat.

We began with traditional Portuguese starters...



These were a great way to whet the appetite for what was to come. The fresh raw tomatoes were so tasty, served cold with a little coarse salt sprinkled on them.

And then, Alheira com carne de caça, a type of sausage made with game meat...one of the most delicious sausages we had ever eaten, served piping hot, with a crisp savoury skin, and soft flavourful filling...



The next starter was omelette with asparagus...this was a simple dish, but oh so well done...home-style cooking at its best...



The highlight of the meal was the Mirandesa beef...this was grilled, and served with a side of rice with beans...



Words cannot describe how delicious the beef was...it was a fairly lean cut, from close the ribs, without much fat, but tasted incredibly tender and full of rich beef flavour...

As someone who enjoys all kinds of steak and beef, from Japanese Wagyu, to Spanish Txuleta or a classic New York Striploin, I can say that the Mirandesa steak we ate that day was unique, with a flavour and texture that expanded our taste horizons and introduced something quite new and different. The Mirandesa beef tasted subtle, natural and fine...

Our host, Senhor Costa brought out a framed certificate which showed the lineage of the Mirandesa cattle that he had sourced, which he was very proud of, and rightly so...



"That's a picture of the breed of cow", I remarked...

"No..." said Luis, "...that is a photo of the actual cow..."

At that point I think Mrs yflyer looked as if she was about to burst into tears...

I too felt a little twisted up at that point. Upon reflection, I think all non-vegetarians have to face the reality that to eat meat, an animal had to be slaughtered. This was true whether you were eating a McD burger, or Tian Tian chicken rice in Singapore.

I tried to rationalise it by thinking that this animal probably lived a very good life before that "one bad day". And the animal would be honoured by being served with utmost care and pride, to grateful guests, at the Taberna.

We continued our meal, savouring every bite of the delicious meat.


Dessert was creme brûlée, as well as fresh cheese with home-made marmalade...



After our meal, Senhor Costa brought out a visitor's book, which was filled with autographs and notes of thanks from guests who had visited from all over the world. I was very happy to add a page as well, writing up a short note with glowing compliments to Senhor Costa and Dona Julinha.

Dona Julinha came out from the kitchen as well, and we thanked them both for a wonderful meal.

And the cost of this superb meal? EUR 22 per person, or about SGD 31, for the whole set menu, excluding wine.

What an amazing lunch...I would travel many hours for a meal at Taberna da Julinha.

[yflyer]

We drove back to Porto, where our last stop of the day was a tour and Port tasting at Ferreira Cellars in Gaia, just a short distance from our hotel.



This was one of Ferreira's regular scheduled group tours, which were very popular with visitors.

On this tour, we would learn about the history of Port, and of Ferreira...



...and tour the cellars where Port was stored...



...before ending in the tasting room...



...where we would sample three varieties of Port...



This was a really educational tour, which taught Mrs yflyer and I a lot about Port wine...much more than we knew before the tour, in any case.

The tour ended in the wine shop, where a large selection of Ferreira Port wines, and still wines from their non-fortified label, Casa Ferreirinha, could be purchased...

[yflyer]

We ended the day with a meal of traditional tripe stew at a restaurant a short Uber ride from the hotel...

We began with Papas de Sarrabulho, a traditional soup made with pigs blood and assorted meat and sausage...this one was much thicker than the version we had at Cafe Guedes the day before...it felt like a meal in itself, rather than a soup...



...and then the main event, Dobrada, tripe and bean stew, which was intended as a portion for one (!) but was large enough for us both to share...



This was a dish that Mrs yflyer was really keen to try, and it lived up to her expectations...tender, delicious tripe in a savoury stew, accompanied with rice.

[yflyer]

We checked out of the Hilton Porto the next morning, but not before I had an early morning workout in the gym.

I had intended to head out for another morning run through Porto, but wet weather put paid to that plan, so I ended up on the treadmill in the Hilton gym instead.

The good thing about the Hilton Porto being so new was that the gym had really state-of-the-art equipment. This was a "smart" treadmill with colour LCD panel and a range of workouts, including programmed runs which displayed a first person view of the scenery.



You ran with the first-person video matched to your pace, with the slope of the treadmill matched to the terrain as well. This was really cool technology...the first time I had tried it...it was great to be able to enjoy the changing scene ahead as you ran.



The only caveat was that many of the routes were quite hilly and mountainous, and the treadmill was programmed to vary the incline accordingly -- and it did so to the extreme!

For those of you who don't use treadmills, the average guy would run at 0 incline, or maybe an incline of 1 to 3 at most...it gets tiring very quickly...this machine raised the incline up to 9 or more at some points, and kept it there for a really long time!



Thankfully the manual controls still worked so I could reduce the incline to more sane levels on the fly...otherwise I think I would have run the risk of a heart attack...perhaps an exaggeration, but I remember thinking at the time "is this treadmill trying to kill me?"

Great tech, but some caution needed so as not to overstrain oneself, I think...

After the run, I showered, then checked out of the Hilton, for our drive to Lisbon, via Fatima.

[yflyer]

Porto to Lisbon is a 3+ to 4 hour drive. Rather than go direct to Lisbon, we opted to do a stop at Fatima, which was just over halfway along the way to Lisbon.

The city of Fatima in Portugal is best known as a Catholic pilgrimage site, when in 1917, believers say that an apparition of the Virgin Mary appeared to 3 local shepherd children. Since then, the faithful have been making pilgrimages there, to the neoclassical Basilica, as well as the small chapel marking the original location of the sightings.



This was a very popular destination, which saw up to 8 million visitors a year. We were there in the off-season, but there were still a decent number of visitors, comprising both tourists and pilgrims.



One of the traditions there was for the faithful to walk on their knees for a few hundred meters to the chapel, along the white path shown below...



During peak season, between May and October, dates commemorating the first and last sightings, there would be lines of pilgrims on their knees making their way to the chapel.



That day, I did see some pilgrims make their way on their knees down the path, either part way or the full way. I could imagine how ecstatic the faithful would feel after completing journey down the path to the chapel itself.



After our brief stop in Fatima, we had lunch at a nearby restaurant before continuing our drive to Lisbon.

Our driver for the past 2 days, Luis, ran a company which specialised in driving visitors around Portugal and Spain. His company offered private driver services, in a variety of vehicles, ranging from sedans to MPVs, for one-way or return travel between European cities. Lisbon to Porto and vv, was a popular route for him, but his trips took him much further afield as well, to Spain and other European cities, which were well connected by highways, and as part of the EU, without any land border checkpoints either.

A large chunk of his business was transport for groups on religious pilgrimages. Many of his customers were on a religious walk, known as the Camino, along a network of walking trails across Spain and Portugal, and would require transport or logistical help to get them (and their luggage) from one point to the next.

There were many companies and drivers offering similar services, but Mrs yflyer picked Luis based on very positive online reviews, as well as very prompt and thoughtful replies to her enquiries to him on our proposed itinerary. It was a great choice -- Luis was knowledgeable and absolutely reliable, not to mention a very safe and expert driver. He was very pleasant company on the long drives as well. We also learnt that a lot of his business came from word of mouth referrals from previous customers. His services would have to be booked well in advance though, especially now that post-COVID travel was booming.

[yflyer]

Our drive ended in Lisbon in the late afternoon...



...where Luis dropped us off at our hotel for the next 2 days, the Moxy Lisbon City.



Moxy is a stylish, budget-friendly, youth-oriented brand, part of the Marriott family. For this segment of our trip, I picked the Moxy because of the reasonable room rates, decent location, and the need for me to chalk up nights for renewal of my Marriott Platinum status.

The vibe in the lobby was similar to that of the Moxy Copenhagen Sydhavn, which I had stayed at recently: fun, playful and casual.

The lobby decor was colourful and quirky...



...with many informal spaces for mingling...



Once again, the bar doubled as the check-in counter...



...and we were offered welcome cocktails, which could be redeemed any time during our stay...



During the day, there were always folks in the lobby area either working or surfing the web...



In the evenings, a projection screen came down, and a small crowd would gather to watch World Cup soccer matches.

[yflyer]

As Marriott Platinum, we were given a room on a high floor, and complimentary full breakfast for 2 each day. There was no room upgrade per se, but we were given a room which looked slightly larger than the regular rooms, which were quite small.



The room was fairly new, with a quirky, minimalist design...



Like other Moxy hotels, there were no drawers or enclosed cupboards in sight, just an open wardrobe, and a metal grid on the wall, where items could be hung...



We were grateful to have space for some seating...



...and a sofa.



Windows could be opened slightly, which was great, because we found that the room could get a little warm...

[yflyer]

The desk in the room was a fold-down affair...



Thankfully I didn't have any work to do on this trip. Desk space was cramped...



What you see is what you get...



More "storage"...



Bright red phone...



The bathroom...



...with shower stall...



Overall I would say this was a comfortable, if slightly spartan, room to stay in.

Not lux by any means, but the price was right...

[yflyer]

The Moxy Lisbon City had a small rooftop pool.



In the mornings, the combined bar / dining area served a decent breakfast spread...



Cereal and bakery items...



Fruit and cold cuts...



Pancakes, donuts and egg tarts...



Bacon and eggs...



Baked beans and mushrooms...



Coffee, tea and juice...



There was also a microwave available all day, for you to heat up any of your own food...



We enjoyed our breakfasts at the Moxy. We went fairly early so the place was never busy, and the food was decent (Although I would skip the buffet egg tarts as they were too sweet, and not very hot...)

[yflyer]

After checking into the Moxy Lisbon City on the first day, I took Mrs yflyer on an afternoon walk through Lisbon. We took a stroll down the Jardins da Avenida da Liberdade, which was the Lisbon equivalent of Singapore's Orchard Road, lined with high end shops and boutiques...



We made our way down to Monumento dos Restauradores...



...before walking through the old town, with it's antique elevator, the Santa Justa Lift...



We continued towards the riverfront, and ended at Praça do Comércio, a large public square along the Tagus River...



By then the sun was starting to set...the sky was a glowing orange, with made for a great backdrop for views of Ponte 25 de Abril, a bridge with a striking resemblance to San Francisco's Golden Gate...



I pointed out Lisbon's old trams to Mrs yflyer...there were still many tram routes operating around Lisbon, and far from just being tourist novelties, were still used by locals to get around as well.



From there we headed back to the hotel via Rua Augusta, passing through the Christmas market at Rossio Square on the way back to the Moxy.

[yflyer]

At that point, several days into our trip, where we had eaten mainly Portuguese and European food since our arrival in Frankfurt, I was starting to get food cravings for something Asian for dinner.

There was a Japanese ramen shop near the Moxy, Ajitama Ramen Bistro, and I persuaded Mrs yflyer that a bowl of hot, steaming ramen would be just the thing to reset our palates for what was to come...



The menu looked pretty appealing...with interesting cocktails and some starters, but with ramen taking centre stage...



I immediately zero-ed in on the red tonkotsu ramen, and was not disappointed...



While not the last word in ramen excellence (For me, that would have to be Ichiran in Tokyo...), this was a very satisfying bowl, with decent noodle texture, and a tasty, slightly spicy, broth.

The cocktails on the menu were popular too...

[yflyer]

The next morning, our 2nd day in Lisbon, I headed out for an early morning run. From the Moxy, I jogged downhill to Praça Marquês de Pombal, a large roundabout and major Lisbon landmark...



From there I headed uphill along the edge of Parque Eduardo VII, a huge public park...



...with a hedge maze at its centre...



I continued uphill to Jardim Amália Rodrigues...



...and explored part of what appeared to be a park connector right next to the Palacio de Justicia de Lisboa.



Palacio de Justicia was the Lisbon Civil Court Building...



It was located right next to Lisbon Prison, a walled prison complex designed as a central hub with prison blocks as spokes around it.



I would be better able to appreciate the asterisk-shaped architecture of the prison complex later on in the trip from an A320 window seat, as the approach to Lisbon airport passed close to the park and almost directly over the prison...



As far as I could tell, this might still have been an operating prison, although I couldn't be sure. Needless to say, this location had no Google Reviews associated with it...



I retraced my steps and did a couple of exhausting laps of the park, up and down the inclined promenades which lined the park, before heading back to the Moxy.



Total distance that day, starting and ending at the Moxy Lisbon City, was 6km...

[yflyer]

We had time for a bit of sightseeing before lunch.

Mrs yflyer and I headed to Castelo de Sao Jorge...



...with its great views of the city...



We entered the castle complex...



...and walked the ramparts...



...taking in views from every angle...



There were peacocks resident in the castle complex. They pretty much went wherever they pleased...



Within the museum, there was a small museum showcasing artifacts from the Castle's past, which dated back to the 10th and 11th centuries, when Lisbon was a Moorish port.



While wandering the grounds of Castelo de Sao Jorge, I reminded Mrs yflyer that the last time I visited the castle, it was after a frantic, exhausting run from my hotel to the castle, at the end of a business trip in 2019, a year before the pandemic. What memories. The last time I was at the Castle, it was at dusk, and the view of Lisbon from the castle at sunset were just so dramatic and beautiful. This time round, the sky was overcast, and that diminished the impact of the views a little, but one could not control the weather...