Porto

We decided to head north for the Christmas break. 

Two hundred miles north. 

To Porto.

Porto is the second largest city in Portugal, one of the oldest in Europe. There are so many amazing and fantastic things to see in Porto.

We spent two days walking up and down and all around the city and we had a wonderful time. 

We stayed in a cute little place in the middle of old town. Bolhão Apartments.

The main train station are usually not a tourist attraction but the one in Porto is an exception. The walls of the Porto Sao Bento train station are decorated with approximately 20,000 azulejo tiles, dating back to 1905, all of which form beautiful murals on 3 sides of the building's walls. 

This is truly a town of churches - many, many churches!

 Livraria Lello is no ordinary bookstore. Despite it being one of the oldest bookstores in Portugal, it is also the bookstore that inspired Harry Potter’s author JK Rowling to visualize and create the Harry Potter’s library in Hogwarts. 

And...Who knew?!

And, yes, we did eat there.😋

But we also ate here.

The city was all decked out for Christmas.

So much stuff to see!

We were back home again on Christmas Day, had dinner with Kay and Larry, and, of course, the best part of all - loved talking with the children and grandchildren!!

Feliz Natal

At this most wonderful time of the year, we find that, no matter where you are, some Christmas traditions are just universal!

For example...

Santa Claus may be called Pai Natal here in Portugal, but his "HO-HO-HO" is the same in any language.

Christmas trees are everywhere! 

This is our little tree!

You've got to love the malls!

Everyone's excited to count down the days until Christmas...

...and anything else to add merriment to the season.

Called Presépios, the Portuguese love their Nativity scenes. 

This is the little one our friend Filipa gave us. It's made out of cork.

But there are a couple of traditions that are unique to Portugal.

The traditional Christmas meal in Portugal is called Consoada and is eaten during the evening of Christmas Eve. It consists of salted cod simply boiled with potatoes, cabbage, collard greens, carrots and hard-boiled eggs and then drizzled with olive oil.

The fish is Bacalhau.

They say there are more than 365 different recipes for bacalhau. I've tried maybe three. This must truly be an acquired taste.

This is how you buy it in the grocery store - dry slabs of the fish and very very smelly. It then must be soaked in water for 12-24 hours to get all the salt out. And then i guess you're free to try one of those 365 recipes!

If you can chock down that all that bacalhau concoction, then you can move on to the sweets, lots and lots of sweets!

A must have is the Bolo Rei (king cake). 
It's a little bit like a fruit cake but not as dense.

The king cake is present on every table at Christmas and symbolizes the gifts offered by the Magi to the Baby Jesus. The crust symbolizes the gold, the dried and crystallized fruits the myrrh and the aroma of the cake the incense.

This is the one we bought from our little bakery across the street.

Portugal has so many delicious desserts that it’s hard to name them all. These are some of them: 



And, instead of stockings, the children in Portugal use their shoes. They put them out on Christmas Eve near the fireplace or under the tree for Santa (or Baby Jesus) to fill with goodies.

Every year, the Praça do Comércio, one of the main squares in Lisbon, lights up with a giant Christmas tree.
This is the 2019 tree! 

But then, of course, the whole town is in lights! We even braved the rain to get these pictures - so - enjoy!!

 

No matter where you are, this really IS the most wonderful time of the year. We are so grateful for friends, family, and especially our Savior.
As another song of the season reminds us - There's no place like home for the holidays.
Although we can't be physically home, know that you are in our thoughts, hearts, and prayers.
Feliz Natal, Ya'll!!!!