Since we still had the car we hopped in and headed north to Porto and Braga for a fun filled Fulbright weekend. By going north and west we followed the Serra de Estrela range and were going up a hill and then down a hill, up and down, and up and down for a while. It made for a picturesque drive, being able to peek over a peak and see small mountain towns in cloud cover with intermittent spots of sunshine. It was fun until the ominous looking clouds that we were following decided to open up and rain down on us when we were only an hour away from Braga. We made it in safely to a nice dinner prepared by some of our new Brazilian friends. The weekend in Braga was full of mirth and joy.
After Braga we headed to Porto which is less than an hour away. Ah Porto the birthplace of Port - my heart was fluttering with glee and my stomach and palate were ready for consumption. Alas, my happiness was superseded with frustration and dismay. It was Sunday and we are in a Catholic country, d'oh. We had to wait until tomorrow. Mercifully we were able to find an incredible restaurant on a tip from a friend who is a local and has the same ostentatious tastes as myself. He sent us to Autentica Marisqueira which ruffly translates to Authentic Seafood Shop. It was amazing. Once we stepped in out of the rain we were immediately bombarded with the smell of today's fresh catch. There was lobster, ray, cod, sole, salmon, prawns, crayfish, shrimp and a smorgasbord of other fresh seafood. It was a sight and smell to enjoy. We sat down at a white table cloth covered table and I said right away this is going to be expensive, even before we opened the menu. I was right, upon perusing the menu we were treated to prices for a fresh catch around 100 euros for one person. Not a bad suggestion - my kind of place. We settled on a provençal dish from the Alentejano region called Açorda à Alentejana (not for 100 euros I may add). It was a bread stewie kind of dish, extremely filling and absolutely delicious. On the side was a house made piri piri (Portuguese hot sauce, they took the Mozambique and Angolan name). We paired the dish with a vinvo verde, which had a slight effervescence to it making it nice and crisp, complimenting the dish nicely. We finished the meal stuffed to our gills and actually had to skip out on some port - no room. Out the doors we went, unfortunately to more rain.
We decided to go back to the hotel and see what the morning brought us, it ended up being torrential downpour. Soaked to the skin from just a walk to the car we resolved to forgo exploring Porto and save it for another trip, one that is preferably sunny and mild. Back to Covhilã we went. Once we reached the east side of the range the sky cleared up and the sun came out - of course
The next day we were welcomed back by PM, Melissa's boss (the wonderful lender of our adventure facilitator - the car). She had been hunkered down in Lisbon for two weeks working on a paper and finally surfaced for air back in Covhilã. She and Melissa had a Fulbright presentation to give at a local high school. I was quick to announce upon our meeting that this evening was to be the culmination of the Leonid Meteor Shower and our advantageous positioning on a mountain side would enable optimal viewing. After a nice presentation, a six hour dinner/reminiscing of weeks past, Melissa and I headed back to our apartment only to fall asleep. I woke up in a a daze an hour later and managed to stumble around and piece together the camera and tripod and begin gazing up at the stars (estrela in Portuguese). I was able to only see a few meteors, but only (luckily) captured one (look in the bottom left hand corner of the picture and you will see the streak).
The meteors were elusive like my mustering up of ambition for the rest of the week. I am afraid and ashamed to say it but we have spent the last few days watching American television in the internet, damn you laziness, you wrap yourself around me and I cant break free. Perhaps a jaunt to Lisbon this week will get rid of you.
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