Restaurante Rosa dos Ventos and Nazare, Portugal

Nazare, Portuguese for Nazareth, is on the Silver Coast of Portugal. It is also the "capital of big wave surfing," a new designation granted since 2011 when a surfer rode a 78 foot wave right off its coast and in the short time since then five of the six biggest waves ever surfed were there (the most recent wave record, set at Nazare, was in 2020 when an 86 foot wave was surfed there). The large waves are due to the deepest sea canyon in Europe, over 5,000 meters, located just off the coast. The big waves have always been there, it just took until 2011 to find someone brave (or crazy) enough to surf them. 

Fort St. Michael the Archangel (Fort of Sao Miguel Arcanjo) was built on a cliff in 1577 right where the big waves come in and is where the big waves are filmed. In 1903 a lighthouse was also built there, to assist local fishermen, including a museum (which also includes surfboards and tributes to the big wave surfers that now go there from all over the world). 

The point with the lighthouse. 

About a half mile up the hill from the Fort, set back from the cliff a ways, is the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Nazare, built on the site of a small grotto where the monk, Romano, accompanied by the last Visigoth king of Portugal, Roderic, came to live as a hermit in 711, bringing a fourth century wooden statute of the Virgin Mary. After his death Romano was buried in the grotto and the wooden statue remained on an altar. In 1182 the knight Dom Fuas Roupinho who was hunting deer in a dense fog had his life saved by the Virgin Mary, as I understand it, by bringing him to the grotto. So he had a small chapel built over the grotto. In 1377 King Fernando I of Portugal built a new church over the grotto, the Sanctuario de Nossa Senora da Nazare), a baroque building and interior.

Sanctuary of Our Lady of Nazare.

The chapel over the grotto.

The wooden statue of the Virgin is normally in the middle window in the chapel. It was out for examination when we visited. We were able to go up where those people are by paying a small fee. 

Two paintings in a different chapel. I'm guessing that the one on the left is Romano and Roderic and the one on the right is the hunter. 

Beautiful window and Portuguese tile wall. 

Floor tile design. 

Floor, wall and ceiling tiles. 

The top of the hill (mountain) where the grotto/church is located is known as the neighborhood of Sitio. The ocean below the mountain, which includes the fort, smashes against cliffs. But just to the south, along a beautiful sandy beach, is the neighborhood of Praia. 

The neighborhood of Priaia and the lower beach. 

The water along the cliff. 

The other side of the point and lighthouse where the large waves crash. 

We spent the night in a hotel there and ate at Restaurante Rosa dos Ventos, just a few blocks off the beach, rated the no. 3 restaurant in Nazare (out of 159) on Trip Advisor. The restaurant was just a short walk from our hotel. 

The restaurant has been in the proprietors family for years, a family of fishermen, and they catch much of the fish that are served in the restaurant. The proprietor mentioned that the first surfer to surf the big waves of Nazare has eaten in his restaurant on a number of occasions. He brought us a big plate of whole fish and asked us which one we wanted. We shared a big grouper and it was cooked perfectly, per our instructions. We also got clams in a butter broth that were delicious. A small salad and bread and butter were starters to the meal. 

Plate of available fish. 

A grouper, like the one we ate.

Our cooked grouper. 

Clams

Salad fixings and potatoes.

Afterwards we walked down to the beach and Judy put her feet in the water. The beach is hard on bare feet as it is not fine sand, but much larger pebbles. 

Nazare is a beautiful town and Rosa dos Ventos is a wonderful restaurant for enjoying the fish off its coast. 

Tulhas Restaurante - Sintra, Portugal

Sintra, Portugal is northwest of Lisbon near the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the biggest tourist destinations in Portugal with large palaces and beautiful gardens. Our guide gave us an hour for lunch and suggested several restaurants. One she suggested was Tulhas Restaurante, down a little narrow side street. She specifically mentioned two dishes, the octopus and the cod prepared in a unique way, with garbanzo beans. 

Another couple from our group went there and we were the only people in the restuarant after a couple there when we arrived left shortly afterward. Other restaurants in the center of town were mobbed, while we had a wonderful quiet lunch.  

I'd read that octopus is popular in Portugal and decided to try it as often as I could. The octopus was a large and thick arm, plus some (I'm not sure from what part of the octopus the "some" came from) and it was marvelous, perhaps the best I've ever had. It was soft, not rubbery at all, and had marvelous flavor. The owner said it was boiled, then grilled. It came with boiled vegetables, including beans, carrots and potatoes. 

Bacalhau is the Portuguese word for cod and it is a very popular dish in Portugal. It is usually dried and salted. We had it quite a few times and this was by far the best. It was mixed with garbanzo beans and was quite fluffy, moist and tasty, almost like a fluffy bread dressing.  

Finally, for dessert we had a cherry cheese cake. Portuguese cheese cake is much more fluffy than U.S. cheese cake, and I like mine thick and substantial, but this was the best we had there and I liked it quite a bit. 

Francesinha - Portuguese Sandwich

The francesinha is a "sandwich" developed in Porto, Portugal which has its own Wikipedia page. As I was planning our trip to Portugal, Judy came up with a list of Portuguese foods and I decided that the francesinha was something I had to try and scheduled a lunch visit in Porto to eat one. It is no surprise that we selected the Francesinha Cafe which one article said had one of the two best francesinha's in Porto. It conjured images in my mind of the giant and wonderful torta Cubana I ate in Mexico City and was something I was really looking forward to. 

The francesinha was a creation of Daniel David de Silva based on the French "croque monsieur," a hot sandwich made with boiled ham and Gruyere cheese, whipped eggs, butter and bread. De Silva first served it in 1953 at his restaurant in Porto. It usually has two slices of bread, as in a regular sandwich, filled with thin slices of wet-cured ham, linguica, sausage, steak or roast meat, covered in melted cheese, then smothered in a thick gravy made with spiced tomato sauce and beer. It is usually eaten with French fries and accompanied by a beer. There is no standard francesinha. The Wikipedia article mentions variations made with prawns and shrimp; roast pork; mushrooms and cream; an egg on top (often called a special francesinha); pastrami, tuna, cod and vegetarian. 

This francesinha in Aveiro had little sausages in it that I really liked. It came with French fries on the side and a fried egg on top. 

We ended up having a francesinha twice, once in Aveiro, the Venice of Portugal, in an English pub we stopped in on our way to our car. The second was at the Francesinha Cafe in Porto.

This francesinha in Porto was less complicated, but perhaps melded together better. It also included a fried egg on top.  

This additional dish basically had some of the franceshina ingredients, but was not as warm and was not covered in sauce. 

I had an opportunity to try at least one more francesinha and passed on it. By comparison to another big sandwich, I would give the torta Cubana  priority. 

Taberna Tipica Quarta Feira - Evora, Portugal

In planning our trip to Portugal one of the things I was most excited about was an evening at Taberna Tipica Quarta Feira, a small restaurant in Evora, Portugal (about an hour east of Lisbon).  It was rated as the no. 2 restaurant in Evora (out of 229) on Trip Advisor. It has only one seating a night and it is a fixed menu, you don't know what you are getting. Reservations are a must. We had reservations for 7:30 (made more than two months in advance) and got there a little early. It had been a very warm day and they were setting up tables and chairs in the street in front of the restaurant. We were the first ones there and Jaoa Dias, the owner, greeted us and reiterated that we don't pick the food, we get what we get. What's more, they don't tell you what you are eating until you've eaten (he acknowledged later that some people hearing it is something they don't think they like, they stop eating or refuse to eat). 

We got the pick of seat, right inside the front door where we could see the kitchen and catch a bit of a fan that was blowing. It was us and one other couple at 7:30 p.m. People started arriving in fits and starts, they must stagger the arrival times by about 15 minutes. By the time we left at 9:15 p.m. there were 38 guests, 25 inside and 13 outside. It was 39 Euros each, a real deal for what we got. 

First we got a serving of green olives, a cucumber and cream dip, some sliced bread with home-made jam and a drink that I don't recall. 

Then they just kept adding to it. Some smoked pork, some fried mushrooms,  cooked carrots, balsamic vinaigrette and greens. 

The first real distinctive dish was a small ice cream cone in a marble stand with bits of rabbit and pigs ear. It was good. I heard several people freaking out about that when they found out. 

The next dish was a sandwich made of cow tongue. It was marvelous: moist and tasty. Joao asked me what I thought it was and I guessed it right. 

Next dish was black pork neck. I've had lamb neck several times, but never pork neck. Delicious. 

This was followed by black pork cheeks, another delicious dish. 

This was followed by a dish of grilled tomato slices, cucumber and a burrito shaped green thing that I don't recall.  

Finally, we were so stuffed that we could hardly eat any of the last courses: cheese cake, fresh cherries (some of the best I've ever eaten), white drink and some sort of pudding, I believe. 

One of the best value meals I've ever had, huge number of courses, some real fun dishes. Another highlight of Portugal. 

Parador de Santiago de Compostela - Spain

A combination destination, hotel and restaurant, in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, provided one of my favorite experiences ever. 

James and John, sons of Zebedee, and their fisherman partner, Peter, became disciples of Jesus of Nazareth. Acts 12:1-2 says that James was later beheaded by order of King Agrippa in Jerusalem. According to legend, James was a missionary to Spain and after his martyrdom, his disciples took his body by sea to Padron and then carried it inland where it was buried at Santiago de Compostela (the English translation of Santiago is St. James). His body was discovered during the time of King Alfonso, between 791 to 842 and eventually a church was built over the tomb of St. James. 

The western side of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

The Cathedral from the side of the Parador.

The scallop shell is a symbol of St. James and of the pilgrimage. 

The tomb and later the cathedral became a pilgrimage site and currently over 300,000 pilgrims arrive there each year after traveling as far as 500 mile.

Pilgrims in the Plaza del Obrodoiro (viewed from the cathedral)

In 1499 a Royal Hospital was built for pilgrims making the pilgrimage along the Way of St. James next to the cathedral. It has been converted to a five star hotel and is considered the oldest hotel in the world. The west side of the cathedral and the Parador each take a side of Obradoiro Plaza, where many of the pilgrims stop and rest following their pilgrimage. 

The Parador viewed from the cathedral. 

Our bedroom at the Parador.

A scallop shell pattern on the back of a chair.

In a courtyard.

The hotel also has a restaurant, the Parador de Santiago, located in the cellar, which serves Galician food. We ate there twice and had some wonderful food. 

Bread and olive oil. 

Borscht with sheep cheese and oil.

Stewed broad beans with octopus and cockles.

Baked suckling lamb shoulder with fried peppers. I got it one meal and Judy got it at our next meal. 

Hake and mussels stewed Galician style.

I don't recall what this dish was. 

Galician claims sautéed in their juice. 

Roasted suckling pig with baked potatoes.

Roasted suckling pig.