Amarante: Land of the Vinho Verde

We departed Porto late morning on Tuesday and arrived in Amarante about an hour later. Love how small this country is! We would have arrived sooner, except that Parker was fast asleep in the back of the car, so we drove an extra couple of exits so that he could finish a nice long nap.

Upon arrival, we checked into our brilliant hotel, Casa do Calcada, part of the same network of hotels (Relais & Chateaux) where we stayed in Mougin, France outside of Cannes during our honeymoon. Very nice. Very, very nice. And all the more nice because we booked it via a flash sale website at a super deep discount with breakfast included.  Just sayin’ we didn’t get that great of a deal for our honeymoon…

Upon arrival in Amarante, we set out to find a nice late lunch. We keep getting hungry around 4PM, which is incredibly inopportune in Portugal, because lunch ends at 3PM and dinner begins at 7PM. So many places are closed in between. But not our new favorite bar, owned and managed by our new favorite bartender in the entire world. We poked our head inside, he saw Parker, and he basically demanded we come in and sit down. We selected a table, and he whisked Parker away to play while his daughter / sister/ wife (who knows?!) prepared for us the most amazing plate of “typical” snack food we’ve ever seen. A few different types of cured meats, a couple different cheeses, melons, olives, and the crustiest bread ever. Delicious.

Not the Veggie Tray

We also asked for some of the cheap local wine, vinho verde, which literally means “green wine” but translates to “ young wine.” It should be drank within a year of bottling. It has a slight amount of effervescence, indicative of malolactic fermentation, which is usually considered a fault of wine. But here, we love it. In fact, many of the vinho verde growers train their vines to frow up telephone poles, trees, and fences so that the grapes can be grown above other vegetable crops that families often use as a food source. So no tonly is vinho verde is crisp, refreshing, and just what you want to drink at 4PM on a hot day, it’s incredibly efficient!

So as you correctly guessed, we are enjoying ourselves in Amarante. The bars are packed with old men around 4PM, not a woman in sight (unacceptable). Our humongous plate of typical meats and cheese plus a bottle of vinho verde totaled 20 Euros. We later ventured out for an incredible dinner of appetizers, grilled octopus, and salmon plus a carafe of wine that totaled 30 Euros. So cheap! And have we mentioned that everyone here loves babies? No matter where we go, even if Parker is screaming and throwing a fit, someone is eager to pick him up, sway him back and forth, kiss his cheek, and say what I think can only be translated as, “You’re the cutest baby in the entire word.” Obvi. 

The Little Foodie

Today we enjoyed a lot of rest – a trip to the market, some time by the pool. Nothing too exciting to report except that Parker is becoming quite comfortable navigating the water. We had a lovely dinner tonight at a VERY “typical” restaurant, Restaurante Ze do Calcada. Both Jeremy and I ended up ordering cod, but the real surprise was all of the starters that were presented to us before the meal. Mushrooms, egg salad, beans with tuna, and lots of “special” cow and pig parts – ears and intestines, in particular. Both of us tried the ears not knowing what they were. But in hindsight, we should have been able to guess that they were ears. There was a lot of cartilage. But having previously eaten pig feet and nose in Lyon, Frace, we were suckers. We should have known to stay away from these ears. Eek.

Eating Ears from Nicole Bolton on Vimeo.

After eating ears, I have to admit, my appetite went to shit. Parker was also starting to melt, so I was almost grateful that another little boy at a table nearby – two year old Portuguese Miguel – was completely misbehaving. Until Miguel kicked Parker. That was the final straw for both us and Miguel’s parents, who profusely apologized and whisked Miguel away. Parker then enjoyed a delicious chocolate mousse, and then we headed home to the hotel, put him to sleep – rather quickly – and came downstairs to enjoy a little wine on our own. (Seriously! We are hanging out in the hotel bar as we type with our baby upstairs sleeping!)

Tomorrow we drive into the Duroro for a little (lot?) of wine tasting. We cannot wait!