Finsatsea: April 16 - The other side of the bridge over the Tagus River in Portugal

I had an absolutely fabulous day today seeing part of southern Portugal I’d never been to. I booked a private tour through ToursbyLocals with Natalia, a naturalized Portuguese citizen who came here because she fell in love with a Portuguese man. She is an interesting character. She is Russian from a small town on the Volga River. Before coming here she worked as a journalist in Russia. Besides falling for the Portuguese guy she told me she was disenchanted with journalism because in Russia if you don’t write what the government line is, you can wind up in prison or dead. So she moved here, married the man (she has since divorced – the togetherness of Covid did them in), and changed careers.

Natalia in front of some beautiful tiles at the entrance to the market

Back to the tour. I booked this one because it was a food and wine tour. (I know, I know. I’m going to have nearly two months of probably eating more than I should. But this is one of the countries that specializes in glorious wine and cheese, and besides I’d seen the palaces, churches, museums and typical tourist sites before.) After a marvelous breakfast of fresh mango and blueberries followed by crusty Portuguese bread, Iberico ham, and a yummy local soft cheese, Natalia and I headed over the 25th of April Bridge crossing the Tagus River. I’ve been under the bridge a number of times but never had driven over it. Designed by the same people who built the Golden Gate, it looks like a smaller version. On the hill next to the far side of the bridge is a Christ the Redeemer statue which is the same size as the one in Rio. I like the Brazilian one better; this one is more modern and stark.

Here's the statue taken from the ship

and here's the bridge

Since it was just the two of us I sat in the front seat and Natalia and I talked a lot along the way. She told me the history and geographical information of things we passed. Perhaps I shouldn’t have, though she didn’t seem to mind, I asked her about how ordinary people in Russia feel about what’s going on in the world. She was very candid and told me that because the press is so controlled there, people don’t really know what is happening in the war with Ukraine. She has her mother and other family living there and it has made visiting them very difficult.

Our first stop was at a big indoor market in the fishing town of Setúbal. I am a sucker for markets and this one was very clean and interesting. There was a huge variety of fish (it is a fishing village after all) but there were plenty of other food provisions.. I saw red bell peppers bigger than my outspread hand, luscious strawberries, gorgeous flowers, various meats and sausages, and homemade jams and crystallized fruits and vegetables. Along the outer sides of the market there are a number of coffee shops and Natalia recommended one where I could get a typical Portuguese pasteis de nata. I.ve written about them before; they’re small custard tarts, and this one was warm and fresh. After some free time seeing the foods for sale and taking more pictures than I should, I met my guide by a cheese merchant. Natalia had fixed up a tray with a soft goat cheese and a harder sheep’s milk one. There was crusty Portuguese bread and to finish the little tasting we had luscious ripe strawberries. Natalia had met a fellow guide she knew who was escorting an elderly couple from rural Nebraska so the three of us shared the samples. It was all wonderful!

Baked goods, produce and flowers in the wonderful market

These fish slept in the ocean last night.

We got back into her car and zipped off to a road that took us to the Arrábida National Park. The Atlantic coast of Portugal is mainly mountainous with impressive cliffs and only small strips of white beach far below the road on which we drove. We stopped at a couple of beautiful viewpoints. Fortune smiled on me today because it was a gorgeous day with Carolina blue skies and a nice temperature in the mid 70’s.

When we left the park road we came to the little town of Villa Nogueira de Azeitäo. Here we stopped and took a tour of the Fonseca Winery. That name was familiar to me because Fonseca is a big port wine producer and has a big operation in Oporto in northern Portugal. This winery produces both red and white table wines and muscatel, the sweet dessert wine. Our guide was very informative and I won’t bore you with all the information she passed on, just a few things. The vineyard and winery were founded in 1805 and is now operated by the 8th generation. It was the first winery to bottle and label wines in Portugal. Prior to the early Fonseca implementing that wine was kept in barrels and tapped when someone wanted some. If it was put in a bottle there was no printed label; instead it was wrapped in paper and the variety was handwritten on it. Muscatel, the sweet wine is fortified with brandy to stop the fermentation process. Once it has been bottled it doesn’t change or age; hence it can be drunk 100 years later and will still be good. Once a bottle is opened it should be drunk within a year. Oh, one other thing I thought interesting about muscatel. Back in the 19th century Fonseca was shipping muscatel to Brazil where it turned out the Brazilians weren't that fond of it. Consequently several barrels were returned to Portugal. When those barrels were tapped they found that the muscatel had aged much more than the wine in the barrels that had stayed here. Apparently the motion of the ship in the months long voyage plus the salt in the air contributed to aging the muscatel into a richer wine. As with other European countries the vines here died from phylloxera in the 19th century, so the ones here are grafted from American vines which were resistant to the pest. I tasted two whites and two reds at the conclusion of the tour and they were pretty good. I liked the whites better, but then I’m a white wine fan.

The original Señor Fonseca

These were some of the original barrels of muscatel shipped to Brazil and returned. That's when it was discovered that the sea voyage aged the wine faster.

These are several photos of the lovely winery

We left the winery and a short distance away we stopped in a tile atelier. Portugal is famous for its tiles and this place is one where the tiles are all made by hand, no factory production. I was shown the process from forming the clay into shapes, to etching, painting and firing them. There were several artists painting tiles, very painstaking work. Most of the tiles produced here are custom orders. It was fascinating to watch these artisans.

Upon leaving the atelier we drove back to the Fonseca place because it was lunchtime and the winery has a lovely restaurant attached to it as do many in the US. I treated Natalia to lunch and we had a delicious traditional Portuguese seafood lunch. She had toasted bacalhau (cod) and I had pan-fried choco (cuttlefish). I don’t think I’d ever had my fish so I thought I should try it. It’s a relative of octopus and squid, but it wasn’t rubbery and chewy. It was really tasty and I washed it down with a very nice glass of white wine from Fonseca. It was a very enjoyable meal.

We went to our last stop, another winery, Quinta da Bacalhao. There I was shown around the production in a small group, all of us from the US. The couple from Nebraska that I met earlier in the day was there and two sisters, one from Virginia Beach and the other from New Hampshire. What a small world it is! Anyway, our guide Jorge showed us around from where the grapes are pressed, to the aging in tanks and then barrels, and then to the bottling itself. Of course the best part was the end when we sat in a lovely arbor and sampled four wines and a muscatel. To accompany the wine we had samples of a local soft cheese with local apricot preserves. The wine was good, but the cheese and preserves were heaven! I have no idea what the name of the cheese is, but it evidently won 3rd place in a worldwide cheese competition. I can only say that all of us thought it was divine.

Jorge, our guide

The grape press

The first stainless steel tanks the wine goes in

French and American oak barrels are the next stop to age

Part of the wine bottling line

Then it was time to go. Natalia and I headed back to Lisbon, over the bridge and through the rush hour traffic. As we crossed the river I could see two cruise ships sailing away. That will be me tomorrow. It was an absolutely wonderful day.

Back at my hotel I went to the wine bar and sat in the outdoor courtyard and had a gin and tonic and tapas for dinner. After all the other things I consumed today, the cocktail and tapas (tuna tartare mini-tacos) hit the spot.