Today we head for the Foz do Douro (the mouth of the Douro River), which really means we're headed to the Atlantic Ocean. As soon as we step out of the uber, we get that cool, fresh, sea air. We walk down to the lighthouse and the long breakwater. Looking out at the ocean, the sky is clear blue; looking back to the river, there is a haze of sun and a halo of radial light.
There is a small stone fort at the turn. It seems like most of the people on the beach and the break are locals; there to exercise and fish. A series of concrete and stone structures holds the sandy corner intact. The area is clean and quiet compared to the area just downriver.
We then walk into the small neighborhood there; here the scale seems intact. It feels like a well kept beach town. We start toward the Serralves, the famous contemporary art museum designed by Alvaro Siza Vieira. We cross out of the older area into a newer area, with a suburban scale and a very expensive feel, just as we approach the park.
The Museum itself is modestly scaled, and super white, that is, it's kept clean and white. There's not even a hint of patina running-off the coping at the roof edge. It's other-worldly.
An afternoon thundershower chases us back to the hotel for a quick respite, but in an hour or two the rain has cleared, and we venture back toward the Atlantic, this time by way of the Parque da Cidade, the big City Park of Porto. The Parque was being transformed for the big fete coming Thursday; big armadillo-like stage hood dotted the lawn areas - it's sponsored by Super Bock.
At the edge of the Parque, we come upon a large - thing. It's red. It's suspended on three large pylons over an extremely busy round-about. Well, here's a picture of it. Luckily it has not filled with garbage, or snared any stray fowl.
And we are back on the sea wall. We've re-joined our morning walk further north, and are headed back to where we started. Actually, we are headed to dinner at Cafeina, which turns out to be very close to where we started this morning.
Our dinner at Cafeina is magnificent. Our starters are simple and well executed: mozzarella, tomato, and rocket salad; chèvre in puff pastry with beets and pickled carrots. Then our mains arrive. Donna orders the largest prawns I have ever seen. They are basically small lobsters, and super tasty. I get a super tender steak with house potato chips. These chips are like a super crunchy potato mesh; I don't know how they cut them like that. And throw in an apple crumble. Finding the "best words" to describe this super-ness is exhausting, so anyway, we enjoyed dinner a whole lot.
We left the restaurant just in time to catch the sunset on the ocean. Another super fine day in Portugal.
All day long we see flags at half staff. Very sad to hear about the fires and the terrible sorrow they've caused. Portugal is certainly feeling it.
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