PJ Travels,
I also love the two Vitor Sobral restaurants in Campo de Ourique, a cool neighborhood and completely different from downtown.
We went there to check on the Mercado do Ourique, but unfortunately, it's a shadow of its former self and on a weekday was fairly deserted.
Our morning was saved by coffee in the quiosque of the sweet park-town square that you mention, and lunch again at Tasca da Esquina.

His Peixaria da Esquina is no more, now morphed into Padaria da Esquina, serving sandwiches, cheeses, charcuterie, and of course, breads. He just opened this month a really nice place in the Cascais Marina, Balção da Esquina, where we had a very tasty lunch while contemplating the yachts moored there and the sea.

https://padariadaesquinacampodeouriq....com/?lang=en#
https://tascadaesquina.com/pt-br/.
https://balcaodaesquina.com.

We would have caught the tram 28 back to Martim Moniz but alas, it was standing room only (we were too late in the day), as all the trams were during our Lisbon week. My advice for the trams, catch them early in the morning or later in the evening and guard belongings carefully, even then. As we left our dinner Cervejaria Ramiro in Intendente, the tram did then have empty seats.

The closing day for the Gulbenkian is Tuesday and Monday is the closing day for most monuments in Belém and the Tile Museum.

Oh, no, Maribel, not another treasure to see in Sintra! An embarrassment of riches! Planning the visit will be a challenge! And a big thank you for the many places to try pão-de-ló - especially the one near Quinta Das Lagrimas. That’s a definite stop.

PJ, thanks for the suggestions - and the reminder of days closed. I’m aware the Gulbenkian is open on Monday when most other places are closed. Is it going to be too crowded on a Monday? I’m intrigued by the Ourique neighborhood, too.

Helena, thank you for the little history of port! I’m looking forward to our visit to Porto. I’ll have to decide for myself whether I eat with port or not but cheese or chocolate both sound ok to me! 😉

Cheese and chocolate, both

The Gulbenkian never seems very crowded. It's just such an easy, comfortable see, with gardens to relax in and a nice cafeteria downstairs to have a refreshment break.

Heh, heh, Maribel, anything goes!

Thanks for the info about Gulbenkian. Very helpful!

Progol, if the British eat, do the British thing! They know, trust me! Of course you will not see any portuguese in those places where tourists go to feel as a local. No locals there. No locals eating things with Port. In our homes, we eat (as I've said) Pão-de-ló with vinho do Porto, at Easter, and sometimes with Bolo-rei at Christmas. Usually, we drink Porto after dinning. Or before. With meals, we drink regular wine. To me, drinking vinho do Porto with cheese, is as strange as drinking Brandy with a sausage.

Thursdays "So the nibbles available in the Port Institute in Lisbon were for tourists?". - Yes. Were there any portuguese?

Mel, I'm so glad you like your hotel, I was a litle bit worried, I advised you without knowing the place (never stayed there), just for the location. I think the location is really good! Of course you still have to face the hills, but at least you are in the midle.

Arrived in Pinhão after a slow and rather uncomfortable train ride.

Pinhão is not what I expected. The town is very non-descript and the rolling hills more brown than green...understandably given the time of year.

Tonight's dinner in the Vintage House Hotel was okay, but nothing we need to repeat, which might be rather challenging considering we're here for three nights.

Maybe I'm just tired. Tomorrow is another day, we'll see how this plays out.






Vintage House Hotel

View from our hotel room

Helena - what pray tell is codfish swim bladder stew? It was on tonight's menu.

Mel,
Try Veladouro for your next meal if there are items on the menu that appeal to both of you (the Capresse salad is good, as are the wines).
None of the Douro villages will ever win a beauty prize, I'm afraid.

Will look for it tomorrow - I had it on my list from your previous recommendation. Tomorrow we have a late afternoon booking for tapas at Quinta da la Rossa. And wine's a food, is it not?

Yes, at least two, meeting me. I don't remember whether we ate anything, it was a while back. I really don't get why you have a problem with this. Portuguese don't eat with port, Brits do, and both had a hand in creating port. Now, if you are complaining about drinking port with the main course, rather than with the cheese or just maybe the dessert course, I'm with you.

Yep, Mel, wine is food. The Douro is all about the wine, the hiking through the vineyards and the views from the Miradouros. Veladouro is down by the pier, behind the LBV restaurant, easily walkable from Vintage House.

Port, chocolate, cheese, and Nata...wish I was in Portugal right now.

Reliving our trip last year through your lovely photos! Keep them coming. We also loved Guimarães!

Train from Pinhão to Pocinho along the Douro River, alfresco wine infused lunch alongside the waterfront (now there's a story, will have to wait for the trip report, lol), followed by more wine, food and port. Oink, oink.

Pinhão is the most pedestrian unfriendly place I've visited since Hahndorf, South Australia. Boats and cars rule, mere mortals are on their own.

We're sunburned, windburned and thoroughly worn out, but feeling much better about Pinhão than we did yesterday.


Pinhão

Pocinho

Douro River

Douro River

Animo, mel!
Wow, the Douro IS brown in early April! but that lunch looked quite nice!

I found a pão-de-ló recipe from Fernanda, the cook at Quinta Guimarães, and wow is it egg-y--

Separate the whites and yolks of 12 eggs. Beat the whites until they are firm. Mix the yolks with 250 grams of sugar. Strain 100 grams of white flour though a fine sieve and add to the yolk mixture. Fold the whites with the yolks. Place the batter in a cake pan lined with paper. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes at 200 degrees Centigrade (390 Fahrenheit).
Can't duplicate Fernanda's recipe at home because she uses 3 unique ingredients: eggs from her own free range chickens, a large cake pan with a round clay cover and her special, magic touch.

OMG, that lunch! I can feel my waistband expanding even as I look at it! I hope I get to read the story before I leave -- or perhaps, even as I'm traveling.

The Douro Valley looks lovely even with its early spring greenery; we'll be there at the end of May, so I imagine it'll be a bit greener by then.

Would love some of that cheese!

You're bringing back memories, but I stayed in Regua, and rode a couple of mountain railways.

Yummy!!!! That lunch looks delicious, to echo everyone else. Especially the salad! And what is the dessert???

The dessert - sponge cake with port reduction and walnut ice cream.

Animo, mel!

Wow, the Douro IS brown in early April! but that lunch looked quite nice!

Your recommendation Maribel (thank you!) Veladouro which took some doing to locate, but made complete sense once we found it.

We're booked in for dinner tomorrow night too.