Porto to Sesimbra

Most of my entertainment comes from walking around. I never know what I’m going to encounter. People are always doing unexpected things. We were sitting down by the waterfront in Lisbon and we happened upon several guys practicing acrobatics. It was amazing how many flips they could do. The street music is also a favorite of ours. If we like the performer, we plop down at the nearest street café and get a cup of coffee or wine and beer.

Speaking of beer… Sagres is the beer of Lisbon and they do make a dark beer called Sagres Preta (black). Bock is the beer of Porto, and their dark beer is called Bock Stout. All their wine is good, even the table wine, but I prefer the Douro region because it’s bigger and sweeter. Alentejo tends to be too dry for my taste.

We do run into a few people asking for a handout. One Portuguese lady said they prefer people to beg than to steal. I prefer people to work for their money, but that’s just me. Joe’s been the target of men asking him if he wants some “weed” but they accept no for an answer. Wandering sunglass salesmen are big along the riverfront. If you have a pair of sunglasses on, they leave you alone. Sidewalk pubs and cafes are everywhere here in Portugal, and they’re cheap. A shot of espresso is about 80-90 cents compared to 2 or 3 bucks in the States. If you can’t live without your Starbucks, they have one on every corner in Porto.

Down along the river front on the Gaia side is where the best vibe is. Small river cruise boats tie up here to let their older guests wander around spending money. We were walking next to a raised grassy area with a stone wall about knee-high when we came upon an older man. He was about eightyish and clearly a tourist. As it turns out he was French. He wanted to get up onto the grassy area where all his buddies were. One foot went up on the ledge and he attempted to hoist himself up like he did when he was fifty. By now I was very close. I slowed to a stop right behind him. My geriatric disaster-radar was going off. He made another attempt and got his other foot up, so now he’s in a squat on the edge of a wall. I stepped up closer. He tried to rise up. He waivered, teetered, and in slow motion fell back against me. While I held him in the sitting position, a Portuguese couple came to our rescue and lifted him to his feet. Obviously, he was very grateful. We ended up chatting with that couple for half an hour after the Frenchman wobbled over to his friends.

One thing that’s a little hard to adjust to here is the late dining. They make Italians look like early eaters. Most of the dinner restaurants are open from 8:00 to midnight. We usually get there at 8:00 and by the time we’re done the places would be finally be filling up. The servers in restaurants hustle. They seriously work really hard and because there’s no tipping, they all work together. It wasn’t unusual to have several waiters. The person who took your order often didn’t deliver your food. It would be brought by whoever was handy when the food was ready. They seem to appreciate my efforts to speak Portuguese to them, but they almost always switch to English.

By the way, um café is a single shot of espresso. If you want a black cup of coffee, order a café Americano. They don’t serve milk or creamer with coffee, but they’ll make it that way on request. That would be com lete. The term latte means nothing to them. Just say you want a café Americano com lete. They may ask if you want it cold or hot, frio o quente. As I sit here writing at a beach front café, I’m breathing in the cigarette smoke from a nearby table. Smoking is a major past time here, which I find confusing. This is a hard-working, physical fitness people… especially the younger folks, but they all smoke! I don’t get it.

They have statues everywhere. My two favorite were the laughing guys and the Lady Justice. The guys are on stadium seats. One unfortunate man is falling off the seats, head over heels. The other two are laughing hysterically.

Then there’s the Lady Justice or maybe I should say Lady Injustice. She stands with one hand on a sword in the ground before her. The other hand holds the scale, but it’s not held out. Instead it’s held folded to her side to be used at her whim. And this lady is not blindfolded either—for her, justice is not blind. This statue was made during the dictatorship years. Interesting, huh? 

The other major artform and nationally controlled thing is the sidewalk design. Each area has its own design and has to submit it to the government for approval. Here in Sesimbra, I think it was designed by a drunk sailor. The lines are crooked and haphazard… consistently throughout the town.

Sesimbra is a quiet little beach town. It has lots of condo complexes up the hillside for tourist to climb up to after a long day on the beach. I was excited to see the perfectly clear turquoise water. We dropped our bags and our newly purchased beach blanket and went straight to the water. I skidded to a stop in the sand as soon as my feet got wet—freezing cold water! So far I’ve gotten in up to my knees, but Joe has gotten in several times. He comes out gasping every time, but he swears it feels great. Whatever. I’m not getting in. However the beach is perfect for sunbathing and walking on the silky sand.

This morning we went for a workout. I walked the extensive boardwalk while Joe chose the beach gym. He was happy and I got to do stairs and a very long slope. It felt good to finally get a workout in. One morning on my walk, I was a little surprised when eight white ladies stripped off their clothes and got in the frigid water. The guys working on the boardwalk were also clearly surprised. That’s actually what made me look to the sea. All the guys stood with tools poised as they stared in the same direction. We’ve seen a lot of thong bikinis and a few topless, but not nude.

I forgot to tell you about our journey here. We left early Monday morning for the big metro station, Trinidade. We hopped on the metro before the doors snapped us in two. We got off at the Campanha metro and walked across the lot to the Campanha train station. I’d already purchased our tickets, so we lined up at the station platform and waited for the train. This is not for weak in spirit. You must be ready. When that train arrives—get on! Even if it’s the wrong car. You can always walk to your car. If possible go to the second car door because everyone gets in the first door of your car and takes up the luggage space.

We went to Lisbon and got off at the Oriente Station. Then we went to the ticket counter and bought tickets to Sete Rios. The regular trains can be purchased using a card you get the first time you buy a ticket (that card cost fifty cents, so hang on to it and reload it). We barely caught that train and had to stand inside, but only for ten minutes. Next we got another train to cross the river heading south. This time we had to stand for fifteen minutes. We’d purchased a full day’s food back in Porto, so we didn’t have to try to find food. We got off at Foros de Amora and loaded our little cards again for a bus ride (all on the same card). 

As a side note, a foreigner was asking us at the Lisbon train station which platform was for the train going to Amora. Since that's where we were going, he was in luck. The only English he could speak was please and thank you. He was very concerned about getting the wrong train, but the ticket master had sent him to this line. He followed us closely as we boarded the train for Coina--the train's final stop. We got off in Amora and he followed. At the ticket counter for the buses (and trains) he was ahead of me. He turned around and said a couple of other English words he knew, "Shit! Amadora, not Amora!" Bummer. He had to go back to Lisbon and catch a different train. :/

After waiting 45 minutes we boarded the crappiest old bus I’ve ever been on and were told the card didn’t have enough money on it! Thankfully the driver takes cash. 3.50E each to Sesimbra. That was a long 45 minutes in a jam-packed bus with no air conditioner. It was swelteringly hot. A ceiling vent was propped open with a squished water bottle. I think we'll find a different mode of travel next time.

Once we arrived here, hot and sweaty, we had to walk to our home. It’s wasn’t that hard of a walk, but pulling suitcases over cobblestones is brutal. We arrived exhausted to an air-conditioned apartment one street from the beach. What a blessing.

I’ve got laryngitis, which as you know can be tiring. We decided after our crazy travel day from Porto to Sesimbra to take a day of rest. We bought a bucket of peri-peri chicken and frozen veggies from the grocery store and I made dinner. We watched The Chosen… which is our go-to show to watch while traveling.

Porto; Wine and the four Fs

We’re on the high-speed train from Porto back to Lisbon right now. Portugal is a really pretty country. It looks very much like Tuscany or California. We went through a foggy little coastal community and now we’re heading inland for awhile. I learned a lesson on our train ride to Porto from Lisbon… buy the tickets early enough to get forward facing seats! This is much better. This time I knew our car and seat numbers :)

We went on a wine tasting tour last Friday with a group call Manual and Family on Airbnb. They picked us up in the city center of Porto and drove us in small Mercedes vans to a little town way up the Douro valley above the dam.

Everyone working for the tour company is related (siblings, cousins, adult kids) and they joke and bicker like a family. Our first stop was a little riverside town of 500. We got espresso and climbed aboard a patio boat. Our van driver, Paulo, drove the boat down the Douro River while a cousin explained the intricacies of the wine region dating back to Roman times. This is a very old country, and when I say that I mean Neanderthal old… dinosaur old. We ate gourmet snacks and drank a white port mixed with tonic water, mint, and lemon. It was great.

A long time ago, in the mid 1800s, an insect attacked the grapevines all over the world. Some countries suffered more than others. Portugal lost 90% of the vineyards. Scientists scurried to find a solution, maybe a chemical. Suddenly the world became aware that one territory wasn’t affected… America! We had the insects, but for some reason the grapevines in America were resistant. A Portuguese group went to America to figure out what to do and came back with our grapevines. They grafted their grapes to our plants and, viola! The problem was solved worldwide. Every vine you see in Portugal has an American root. Pretty cool, huh?

From there we drove to a lookout point and then to the first winery. We had a wine tasting in the barrel room with a great presentation from the winemaker and more charcuterie. Then we proceeded to the port making room. We sampled white, tawney, and ruby port (from the barrel). Before we left that room, they asked us if we would like to climb inside the big-big barrel. I almost said no, but then I thought, who knows how much longer we’ll be able to crawl through that little opening? We could stand up inside it and it was super echoey.

After the wine tasting we went to another wine-makers house. He’s also a chef. We had a gourmet meal in his courtyard with wine-pairing, dessert and port tasting. The grand finish to the meal was an older bottle of port. Luckily for us, we were seated at the end of the table for the port opening procedure.

They preheated clamps (like tongs) in a fire and then clamped the neck of the bottle for a minute. Then they poured ice water over it and gently snapped off the top of the bottle. It was a magical experience to sit outdoors next to a yard full of giant camellia trees.

On the drive home we listened to Fado music and snoozed. We went through a tunnel to get to the Douro region that was 5.7 kilometers long! That’s over 3 miles long. Our driver was telling us a couple of odd facts. A couple of years ago a major fire ripped through here, so in classic Portuguese style they asked what caused the fire to be out of control. After an investigation they made two new laws. One, you have to have a permit to burn anything on your property. Two, it is forbidden to plant eucalyptus trees! Apparently, the nickname for eucalyptus is Green Gasoline. It burns like a torch.

As we drove, Paulo pointed to the vertical terraced vineyards and said they have a joke about grape harvesters being mythical creatures with legs of a goat and hands of a human. Looking at the steep rocky hills, I’d say it may be more than a joke. By the way, the stones are part of the reason for the amazing port grapes. The black slate absorbs the heat all day and releases it in the night. It keeps the grapes warm all night long. Another stone (I forget the name) absorbs water like a sponge. The boat guide dipped the stone in the water and showed us. The grapes roots wrap around this stone and use it for water—they’re not allowed to water the vineyards except at the very top of the high mountains.

When the port was ready, they would send it down the Douro River in shallow boats that had to navigate white water rapids all the way to the city of Porto to be stored for decades across the river from the city (Vila Nova de Gaia). It wasn’t always successful. Lives were lost, boats were lost, but the port barrels floated and for good wine karma the barrels would be delivered to the owner in Porto. Nowadays they deliver the port via trains.

I’ve covered Fado music—played in the van. Now I will touch on the other three Fs of Portugal; Futbal (soccer), Fatima, and Family. The other night when I was posting my last blog, I was sitting out in the back yard. I could hear people cheering for
the soccer game. It became louder, and louder, and then it suddenly became deafening. Clearly an important team had just won. It turns out that Porto took the national championship. I have nothing in America to compare this to… the entire city had a meltdown. The chanting of “Porto,” the yelling, the car horns honking, flags waving, everyone wearing jerseys was flat-out insane and it lasted the rest of the night. It was actually fun. Everyone was so happy.

Now Fatima. Fatima represents the religious aspect of Portugal. The vast majority of the people are Catholic, the other is Protestant, and less than three percent are not Christian. I expected to be able to visit a lot of churches like we did in Italy, Mexico, and Guatemala. Nope, we have not found one church yet that doesn’t charge you a fee to go inside. I’m very disappointed. I love going into the peace and quiet of a church to regroup and pray, and of course look at the history. I’ve never heard of being charged to enter a church.

Family is more important than anything in Portugal. Everywhere I see examples of this, especially in the parks. From babies to great-grandparents, they’re all there. The little ones aren’t coddled or spoiled, but you can tell they’re considered important. In one park they had a zipline with a tiny round disc to sit on. They’d help their kids get on it and send them flying out over the sand (their little butts about two feet off the ground) to the other end about fifty feet away. When it came to the end it stops abruptly causing the child to go lurching wildly through the air. They had to really hang on. One little three-year old girl wanted to do it, so her mom lifted her onto the disc, pulled back and gave her a shove. We were at the stop-point and that little girl almost flew off her seat! She climbed off with her dad’s help and ran back to the start. I was commenting on the degree of risk present at the playgrounds to a Portuguese man. He said that’s what develops intelligence.

Porto, Food, and Black Capes

I’m having a hard time deciding where to begin. We came here to Porto on Monday. I couldn’t read the car number or the seat number on the train ticket they sent me. I kinda remembered it being in car 4 and that’s about it. So the train came and we shoved our way into car 4. After getting our luggage situated, we lingered in the aisle hoping the empty seats would show themselves to us. We finally took two seats close by and settled in. Five minutes later a girl told us they were her seats. We staggered down the aisle to two other vacant seats. Half an hour later the ticket guy came through. We were dreading the confusion. He stopped at our seats and said our names! Apparently, we’d somehow found our seats. Isn’t that amazing?

We have a cute back yard at our Porto place to relax in, which is where I’m sitting right now. We’ve wandered aimlessly as usual, trying food, coffee, beer, and wine. I read ahead of time that there were certain traditional Portuguese dishes to try, such as pastel de bacalhau, Francesinhas, pastel de nata, and sardines. I was pretty excited about trying the pastel de bacalhau, which is codfish in a crunchy fried ball. We went to a place with a line out front. I got my crispy, crunchy cod thingy and took one bite—it was disgusting. It had that really strong fishy taste, so I handed it to Joe because he’ll eat anything. He took one bite and we threw it away, then we got a beer to wash the taste out of our mouths. Next up was the pastel de nata. This is a tiny flaky pie of egg custard. It was delicious but a little sweet for me. I already mentioned the pureed sardines… that was surprisingly good.

The major thing I was determined to eat was the Francesinhas—a thick fried ham and cheese sandwich with an egg on top and covered in a sauce. It’s affectionately called a gut-bomb. I was hugely disappointed. First of all it wasn’t hot, wasn’t fried, was made with thick/cheap white bread, and the sauce was bland. Just my opinion, but that’s all I have.

Another thing to try is Ginjinha. This is the famous cherry flavored drink that’s supposed to be good for your health. We actually found the super old shop in Lisbon. I made Joe go in because I hate hard alcohol. It’s just a bar counter right inside the front door. People pop in to get their Ginjinha in a shot glass. They down it and leave. I took a tiny sip and it was pretty good—very sweet like a cherry liqueur. Speaking of liquid—you can drink the water here and it tastes good. Just specify to the server that you want tap water.

On the subject of food; The menu usually has dishes for two. Be sure to ask. They don’t mind giving you a single serving. It can be a little deceiving because the prices are so cheap. We had two beers, a big glass of wine and split a sandwich today and it was only 8E… and they don’t tip here! A couple of nights ago we were struggling up some hill somewhere and Joe says, “Is that a terrace restaurant?” I strained my eyes to see that there appeared to be an umbrella on a deck on the top floor of a high-rise hotel in front of us called Dom Henrique. We shrugged our shoulders and cut across the street to find out. A sign indicated that the restaurant was on the 17th floor. We got off the elevator to a gorgeous and empty restaurant. The bar was out on the edge with a glass wall showing a spectacular view. We stayed and had a hamburger and smoked salmon sandwich. After two hours of talking to the other ten guests we paid our 25E tab and headed home. We went again last night after we told a couple from Seattle about it. By the time we led them to the hotel, we’d talked ourselves into having dinner with them. That’s really one of the best burgers I’ve ever had.

Here's a great tip for you people coming to Portugal. Download the app called Map of Portugal offline. It’s incredibly useful. It doesn’t use any data and doesn’t need wifi. If you turn on your location, it will show you where you are, which I don’t understand since you’re not using data or wifi. Before I left home I found each of our homes and touched the screen causing a pop-up to appear. I typed in the address and date of the stay and saved it. Then a little star appears on the map. Later if you need the address for a taxi or uber, you can just refer to the app. We got un-lost many times on this trip thanks to this handy little thing.

Wednesday night we went on a Harry Potter tour. We all met at the famous Sao Bento train station between platforms 3 and 4. Our guide showed up with a wand. You may ask why in the world I’d choose a Harry Potter tour? Well, I reasoned that someone so passionate about his tour would probably be fun. I was right. He enjoyed having Joe and I there to be the two in the group of seven who couldn’t answer all his random quiz question about Hogwarts and horcruxes. I like to think we created a balance. We went to the Majestic Café where Rawling reportedly wrote the beginning of the series. We talked all about the mythical creatures making up Porto’s history and stood in front of the famous library that inspired her for the Hogwarts stairs (which she claims is untrue), but didn’t go in because they charge a fee. A challenge was to find the smallest house in a nearby huge plaza. We all searched and failed. Vini finally caved in and pointed it out to us… it is in the middle of a big church. Not sure how that happened, but there you go.

Several bizarre things have happened here that we didn’t anticipate. For example, we had no idea we would be here for the university graduation. In Porto that a big deal, especially after a couple of years of no ceremonies. Our first indication that something big was happening was young adults walking around in all black with black capes (real capes made out of good material). The only thing that differentiated them was their top-hats. Each school had their own color. For example, sociology was blue. By the afternoon half the people on the streets were graduates shouting chants and songs in competition with each other. They had color-coded canes, which they pounded on the sidewalk in time with their noise. We really enjoyed their excitement. We went across the river on the bridge to have dinner. By the time we came back it was almost impossible to walk back to our home. A parade accompanied by a massive crowd of well-wishers completely shut down the city. We managed to find our way back up some narrow winding streets packed with cars stuck in the traffic jam. It was a memorable experience!

Today, we went back over the bridge to Vila Nova de Gaia. This is usually a tranquil classy area to get a charcuterie board. Not today! They were having a motocross race on the wharf. It was crazy. They had huge logs and giant tires, and weird obstacles. Their path was narrow and enclosed with cheap metal barricades and thousands of spectators lined up to get killed if anything went wrong. We lined up right alongside them. After they did the obstacle course, they had to go up the steep cobblestone streets and come back around for another try. Their last part was going up a steep ancient staircase between two five-hundred-year-old buildings. I couldn’t see them (because the nice policeman held me back), but I could hear them trying to get up the steps… and failing. You could hear the bike coming back down, and the cameramen would come scrambling back down to get out of the way. Just another day in Porto!

I have more to write about our wine tour yesterday, but I’ll wait until the next blog. Until then, ciao!

Portugal: Lisbon to Porto

We’re somewhere over the Atlantic about 45 minutes before my birthday. I wish I could sleep on planes, but alas, I cannot. First of all, I can’t find my ear plugs. When we first took off from San Francisco a little toddler started crying. I thought, uh-oh I’m never gonna sleep. But the child quieted down. I was binge watching movies when I noticed an unusual sound. At first I thought it was from the movie… Like a bird or a cat or something. Then I realized that the couple who was walking around the airport with a cat in an animal carrier was sitting next to us. Apparently, Fluffy doesn’t like to fly. I kid you not! That cat meowed for the better part of eleven hours.

So, we’re flying on TAP Air. It’s a Portuguese airline. We upgraded to the seats that are a little wider, include the luggage, have meal service, drink service and priority boarding. I guess Tap Air considers priority boarding a little differently than we do. We were in the fourth group to board. Their meal service was very polite but the meal was tiny and not very flavorful. I got a glass of wine and Joe had a beer. That’s the last service we’ve gotten in six hours except for half a cup of water. We asked the flight attendant if we could have another glass of wine and a beer, and she said nope… very politely of course. Alcohol is only served during meal time. I don’t know when they plan to feed us again, but I’m glad I brought beef jerky and protein bars. Another odd thing is there’s no vents or fans. I’ve never been on a plane without individual adjustable vents. I’ll add to this after we get situated in our rooms in Lisbon.

We’re settled into our rooms and, in fact are leaving for Porto tomorrow. Before I tell you about this amazing country, I’ll add a few more things about their not-so-amazing airline. On an 11.5 hour flight we got two small meals and that’s on the upgraded seats. Joe brought a water bottle and kept carrying it to the stewards to be refilled. Otherwise we would have been rationing water like the other passengers I talked to. Breakfast was a large white bread roll with a  couple of slices of cheese and two thin slices of turkey. As I don’t eat bread, I just ate the meat and cheese. Needless to say, I was starving and exhausted by the time we landed.

Customs in Lisbon was a breeze. It was a huge crowd, but the line moved smoothly. We all chatted about the lack of service and the cat. The requirements for covid were: a negative test result within 72 hours of boarding the flight in your last flight directly to Lisbon (in our case San Francisco), the test was only required if you’re not vaccinated and boosted recently, a mask for the duration of the flight (but not aggressively enforced), the online passenger locator form was stopped about a week ago (which was a major pain in the butt to fill out), the check-in desk in San Francisco inspected our test results and told us to keep them handy for the customs officials who didn’t even look at them. Nobody working at the Lisbon Airport was masked up. About half the people in line were. Since we’ve arrived the vast majority of people are not wearing masks at all. I only include this info because most people I talked to in customs had a vague understanding of the requirements. I hope this helps.

My choice for where to stay here in Lisbon was based on the subway line coming from the airport. That’s the Red Line. When you exit the baggage claim go out the giant glass doors and follow the signs  to your right for the metro. Once inside, always go downhill/stairs until can’t go any lower. They have lots of machines to buy your metro tickets and they have a little British flag button to make the instructions in English. I picked our place because it’s only a half a block from the Alameda stop.

The Alameda area is wonderful. The metro pops up in the middle of an enormous park full of people playing sports on the grass (Parque Infantil Da Alameda Dom Afonso Henriques). After we ate and got into our room for a nap (HomeOut) we went to the park.

I’ve heard many times that the Portuguese people are family oriented. I can say this is true. They are also fitness and activity oriented.

The men were chasing around soccer balls, the women were either playing volleyball or chasing children, there are fitness stations everywhere. The children’s playgrounds are immense and challenging… I mean a kid could actually get hurt here. We wandered to one end of the park and stopped to watch a group of about forty people dancing salsa.

They had a boom box and were dressed in regular clothes. The dancers changed partners constantly, so I’m assuming it was some kind of club. Sometimes the girls danced together, sometimes the guys danced together. They didn’t seem to care, as long as they got to dance. One man danced with his wife with his son on his shoulders.

Another man danced with his infant curled up against his chest. As I watched everyone my eyes teared up. I hadn’t realized how much I was craving a society who values togetherness more than safety.

The first morning we headed down the big main road until we were adjacent to the Sao Jorge Castle. We turned east off the and after winding east through a maze of tiny streets we finally found the arch leading into the walled castle area. We weren’t interested in getting into the castle proper, but I wanted to see the medieval village within the walls. I thought it was worth it. At first glance you may not notice the age because it’s occupied with residents and businesses, but the thick walls and short front doors showed its age. We eventually made it down to the riverfront, but we went up several times to get there. When I say up, I mean up. Some of the streets are actually stairs.

They have public elevators and outdoor escalators, but you still have to go up most of the hills. Thank goodness I had good walking shoes on. The Lisbon wharf area is beautiful. There’s an enormous plaza on the riverfront. We found a crowded restaurant with a view of the action and had a beer and glass of wine (save your eating for the less touristy back streets).

Coming back Alameda was fairly easy going up the main street, which gently slopes. Our park was packed full of people celebrating Labor Day (May 1st, a day for bringing attention to workers and their struggles—often marked by protests and marches). It was so crowded I really couldn’t tell you what was going on. I could here a band somewhere, and there were booths everywhere selling ideas and merch. 

We scurried into the peace and quiet of our favorite restaurant, Café Imperial. It’s a huge place with really good food and even better service. We had two meals (salmon with buttery mashed potatoes and chicken parmigiana) two stout beers, a glass of reserve red wine, two glasses of tawny port wine, and chocolate cake—all for $36.00!

The next day, Monday, we hopped on the metro for the big train station (Oriente) where we took the high speed Alpha Pendicular to Porto’s big train station (Campahna). There we got on the metro to Trinidade. I chose our Airbnb based on it being relatively close to this major metro stop. All metros stop at Trinidade, so we didn’t need to worry about getting on the wrong one.

Because we’re stupid we decided to walk to our new home. After twenty stops to catch our breath from dragging suitcases straight uphill, we found our place. I can’t believe I found a place with a back yard… what a luxury.

Our house keeper was an absolute gem. She made sure we were settled properly and then entertained us with trying to communicate in Portuguese. She said our Portuguese was excellent! Isn’t that adorable? It's a common theme here that the locals’ faces light up when we make an attempt to speak Portuguese to them. We sat out back in the sun and ate pureed sardines on little toasts (like a crouton) and drank a little glass of white port. It was amazing.