After a fabulous sleep in a king-sized bed, Luke and I awoke ready to enjoy the wonders of the Lake District and to catch the bus to Windermere to meet Luke’s parents, Lea and Pete, at the Windermere train station.
The smiles are a lie. It was freezing and I was deeply regretted not bringing my coat.
We caught the open-topped bus from Ambleside to Windermere and had a wander around Booths while we waited. It is a large and fancy supermarket where everything looks perfect and fresh and the labels are all very English and cute, it’s a bit like walking around an art gallery. Also there are no decent supermarkets in Ambleside so we picked out a few things to buy later before we caught the bus back.
Close to the time the train arrived, we went to the station, which is right next door to the supermarket. Precisely on time, the train pulled in.
I had several potential plans for the afternoon and we settled on the following:
Brunch at a cute cafe.Full English!We saw a huge dog in the street.
Then up to Orrest Head, one of the best bang-for-buck walks in the area and it starts right by the train station.
A lovely leafy walk.Not too many stairs.Beautiful green views along the way.The view from the top was fantastic but is hard to show in a photo, so here’s one of us instead:-) On the way down we found the Gruffalo! We also saw some fat native bumblebees and robins bobbing around the undergrowth.
Then a tour of Booths to buy supplies..
Examining the beer selection.
Then onto the bus to Ambleside!
Followed by relaxing in our lovely apartment, eating cheese, drinking wine and sharing travel stories.
Our flat is up those steps.
In the evening we took a short walked to bridge house, which had already featured in the blog at least once, many years ago. It is the most photographed building in the Lake District and used to house a family with six children. It was built across the beck to avoid land taxes.
We had a drink outside one of the pubs then bought some pizzas from the little local supermarket to heat up at home. We were all in bed by 10!
So, an ongoing theme of this trip to Galicia has been me playing second string to Daniel when it comes to meeting people. Galicians seem to feel some sort of kindred-spirit connection to Ireland and Australians are as good as chopped liver in comparison.
When discussing holiday nicknames ‘Chopper’ was even suggested as an option for me but I was not keen.
Last night we turned up at 9pm to a fancy restaurant called Benedita Elisa (because 9pm is when they open. WHEN THEY OPEN!!) and they couldn’t fit us in so we went for dinner to a place that one of the patrons at the bar had suggested the previous night.
The place we ended up going to was great, the helpful waiter had lots of recommendations for Galician dishes.
Satay beef and pork ribs. A very mild flavoured fish cake. The chips are freshly made everywhere.
We shared all the dishes and it was very enjoyable to discuss the flavours and which were our favourites.
Afterwards we walked into the old part of town to see the cathedral by night.
The centre was largely quiet but there were a few groups of musicians around and some pilgrims walking into town. The alleyways must look almost identical now to medieval times but probably smell a lot better.
After a walk around we went home to bed where I managed to spend hours getting to sleep despite having far less alcohol than the previous night.
We were all up and about by 11am (really getting into the Spanish lifestyle now) and spent the morning getting ready for our 2pm lunch booking at Bernadita Elisa.
This restaurant was a little more upscale than the previous night and we did the same – shared plates so we got to try many things on the menu.
Calf bikini with trumpets of death (a type of mushroom). Delicious and not as dramatic as the name suggests.Curry crispy rice with mango, sardines and roe.Carpaccio with pine nuts.Burrata salad
Just a few of the many dishes!
We each had such a small bite of the dishes so that we had room for dessert, which was nothing short of fabtastulous.
Ok, no more food photos, I promise.
A cross between creamy cheesecake and crème brûlée.
Peter and Ash arrived to much excitement on our behalf and in a holiday mood after a number of drinks on the journey. Obviously this is something I personally do not condone and certainly not something Danny and I did to excess on the way over.
The apartment only has one bathroom so everyone had showers and drinks (not at the same time) before going out for the evening.
We didn’t walk far before finding a nice restaurant. We ordered the set menu, which was platters for two with a mix of meats and sides.
When they arrived the servings looked huge but we managed to get through them. Peter and I shelled all the prawns and, like the heroes of ancient mythology, we completed the Herculean task set before us.
When the desserts and digestif arrived I began to doubt my staying power, but made it through.
Much better profiteroles than I’ve ever made!
At 11pm we found the local bar and were the only patrons until people started to arrive at 1am. ONE AM. On a Wednesday night (Thursday morning, really). It’s really no surprise the streets of Spain are deserted until mid morning.
Lots of space on the dance floor.
After hearing ‘we’ll go after one more drink’ a few times I snuck out and took myself home, thankful I had a set of keys. Then I texted the others when I was down the street to let them know I’d gone.
It was quite a surprise, after so many drinks, that I could operate the various locks but I got in, drank a large glass of water, had some ibuprofen and woke up feeling fine. A Santiago miracle!
The apartment is quite small so when I woke up the next morning I stayed in my room, listened to podcasts and did some stretches. I was so diligent with stretching on the Camino but we are walking almost as far most days now but I’ve stopped looking after myself properly. I wake up feeling quite stiff so it’s good to have time to do it thoroughly.
Today’s main mission was to go shopping. It’s fun (and slightly disconcerting) to go to a shopping mall that is barely indistinguishable from my usual one back home yet has entirely different shops. I think the only one I saw that I recognised was IKEA, but that was a tiny shopfront rather than the mega stores we have.
It’s an anime merchandise store.
I was very keen to get a few new things to wear and to replace my leggings, which are developing alarming stretches of holes along the inner seam. Clothes wear out surprisingly quickly when you wear them every second day.
Having bought a nice dress in Porto, I needed nice shoes and ended up buying a whole new outfit. Woo!
It’s not super obvious here, but my tan lines are an epic band of brown between my sock line and the bottom of my leggings and they make me look like I’ve never washed my ankles.
We had lunch at place called ‘Foster’s Hollywood’ and all the food was great.
except the ‘fruit plate’ Ash got for dessert.
Or should I say ‘dessert’.
In the shopping centre Ash and I saw a woman knock over her entire cup of coffee while putting on her coat, I got to watch a golden retriever play with a soft toy and on the way home we all saw a guy fall off his bike. So it really was an action-packed day.
When we got back to the apartment I washed my hair and everyone else went out for a drink. I’m happy to have a bit of quiet time and fill in this entry… and maybe have a nap!
First, a big hello to Kathy, Danny’s mother, who has been reading the blog and I’ve been shouting ‘HELLO’ to from the background most mornings while Danny is on the phone. Looking forward to meeting you again when we get to Ireland!
After staying up until 1am watching Ted Lasso (using our holiday time wisely, I know) we decided to have a lie in. Our only planned activity of the day wasn’t until 12:30.
To get across to the port house side of the river we walked down, down, down to the water level and crossed the lower level of Porto’s iconic bridge.
This was our first proper trip over to this side and it provided an excellent view of the side we were staying on. Hills might be an effort to navigate but hilly cities are much more scenic.
If we had thought the other side of the city was busy, this side was heaving – and on a Monday.
We had booked an Airbnb port and cheese experience but we were a bit early so we went for a wander. We saw a famous rabbit.
And a tower painted all around with beautiful flowers.
I had booked the port and cheese tasting experience at a port house called Quevedo, through Airbnb experiences. It was only $30 and came with a talk on port and the history of the port house.
I am 90% certain that it was one of the same port houses luke and I visited last time we were here but the cheese was a nice addition and I got to refresh my knowledge of port.
We both agreed the white port was our favourite. I don’t think it’s available to Australia but I might try bringing some home from the uk.
For the rest of the afternoon we wandered around and sat a few different places. The first did a port and chocolate pairing.
The chocolates were excellent and locally produced.
After all the chocolate and cheese what I obviously needed was a large lunch. We found an Italian restaurant in a nice laneway and I ordered carbonara and Danny had pizza. But first they brought out tiny perfect little garlic breads.
Obviously we needed a litre of sangria too.
It was an absolutely stunning carbonara, served in a bowl that was lava-hot, but I realised halfway through that I had severely overestimated my capacity. I ate it all and refused to learn any kind of lesson from my experience.
Cafe view.
One thing Danny observed as we sat there was that not a single table in Spain or Portugal had been the slightest bit wobbly. At home about half of tables require extensive chocking with coasters or wadded-up serviettes, yet here they seem to have no problem setting up a table on a cobblestone street with a 20 degree slope.
We had a drink on the waterfront and listened to a busker for a while, then caught the cable car up to the top of the hill.
We went back to a little bar we had visited two nights previously. It was by a bus stop and looked like the kind of place frequented by locals. Six drinks and a bowl of chips were 24 euros – and the gin and tonics here are at least double the size of ones at home.
One the way home we crossed the top of the bridge and managed to be right on time for an absolutely spectacular sunset.
It was a popular spot.
After an afternoon of drinking and an early morning start, I went to bed early and made the most of our last night in our lovely apartment.
Thanks to Danny booking our accommodation in an epic location, we are really close to almost everything in Porto.
Our apartment is in that white building, behind it is the main cathedral and town square and it’s right beside the biggest bridge across the river.
We had an excellent sleep then I found a very Melbourne-style cafe for breakfast, but at about half the price of a Melbourne brunch.
Near us was a large table of people of various ages who were all spread out using various devices and tapping away. We thought they were all working independently. Just before we left they all stopped typing and started introducing themselves and talking about poetry. We tried to overhear when was going on but it was a bit mysterious.
Next stop: stained glass museum! As you can imagine, one of us was more excited about this that the other.
Danny wasn’t terribly keen, but it was only eight euros and literally backed onto our accommodation so if he wanted to go sit it out he could.
A nice surprise when we paid…
Art and port, a winning combination! Sure, it was 11am but it would have been rude to refuse.
The museum is very small but had some nice stained glass.
Tiffany!
Next, a quick break at the apartment to charge devices and do some puzzles with our feet up. I hadn’t known previously that we were both fans of word puzzles and this book I bought in Australia has been great entertainment.
Then we went for a walk and had a snack break with a view.
It was kind of a brioche-pizza-calzone mashup.
We wanted to do a bit of shopping today. We walked to a mall for a look around and I bought a book. Shopping centres really are the same all over the world.
I was very grateful that the mall bookshop had a couple of shelves of books in English and even a decent selection of fantasy and sci fi.
We went on a walk around town to see street art and other lovely sights.
Iconic Porto church.
I found a nice middle-aged-lady fashion store and bought a dress to wear if we go out to somewhere nice for dinner. While in the shop I met a couple of Kiwis who had been living in Mount Martha for the last ten years. it’s (relatively) just down the road from where I live so it seemed like quite a coincidence.
Next we walked through some markets where I bought strawberries. the strawberries we’ve had here have been really great.
Danny has been wanting some open shoes that would be more comfortable with his blisters.
Despite my encouragement he didn’t even try on this pair of fake-diamond-encrusted trainers (rude) and went for some Birkenstocks.
We made it to 10km and decided to have an afternoon rest and watch some Rick and Morty, during which Danny feel asleep and I started my book.
I’m coming to realise that this isn’t my most riveting blog entry but I’ve written too much to stop now!
Porto is a VERY hilly city and the walk to our restaurant for the evening was quite an ordeal. Worth it though, for views towards the sunset and feeling like we’d found a place where locals hang out.
I’d been reading up on local street artists and there was some work right by our spot.
Subtle but beautiful. Hazul luzer, a local artist.
We walked back to the apartment to get our laundry at 9pm. It turned out that the nearest laundromat was halfway back to the restaurant. Up and down hills again.
In the very new and clean laundromat we got talking to a couple from Melbourne and a couple from Turkey. We all agreed that the laundromat was the place to be on Monday nights.
We’d brought drinks, everyone agreed it was the right idea.
Here Comes The Planet 