Another travel day. The past few days in Modena were nice because we had time to settle in a city. Oppose to some cities, especially last summer we would only spend 1 to 2 days, barely scratching the surface of the town. We think with our next big trip, we will attempt to stay at least 3 days at each destination. Four days would be ideal. We prefer not to stay too long at one place, particularly in Europe where all the countries are so close together. It would be unfortunate not to take advantage of all the variety of cultures and cities you can explore...sometimes just a train ride away.
Before we ventured to our last destination, there were a couple places in Modena we needed to visit...Bar Tiffany being one of them. This cafe has some of the biggest, most fluffy gnocco frittos we have seen. We did like the locals and dunked the pillow sized pastries in our cappuccinos. It's like Italian donuts and coffee. The gnocco fritto sandwiches stuffed with mortadella and prosciutto is another thing not to be missed!
We finally got to try our gelato with a few drips of balsamic vinegar. It's easy to see why this pairing works. The acidity of the vinegar compliments the creamy, sweet ice cream very nicely. We learned the highest quality vinegars have to be sold in the specific glass bottles created by Ferrari; the same man known for the fast sport cars. The lowest priced bottle is 55 euros and can go as high as 300 euros. At the moment we were happy with our samples but we took a business card, just in case we wanted a fancy bottle of the good stuff shipped to us back at home.
After a 2.5 hour flight we arrived to Porto, a city we first visited winter 2017. At that time, we probably only stayed a half day, as it was a layover to Madrid. It was just enough time to visit their famous bridge, try a couple of snacks and take a short nap. This time around we did our research on what dishes we must try and places to see.
There is a metro you can take from the airport to the center of Porto, in about 30 minutes for 2 euros. The purple line takes you all the way to the neighborhood of Trindade and from there you transfer to any of other lines to reach the station, 24 campo Agosto. After a short walk from the station, we finally met our host Pedro, a gentleman originally from Africa but moved to Portugal at a very young age. Like many Europeans particularly in tourism, he is able to speak multiple languages including French, Spanish and conversational German. We climbed to the top floor, where he revealed a lovely, clean duplex. Though it is very modern, it still retains the Portuguese character with it's beautiful window shutters, decor and some original interior architecture. It is easily one of the most stunning airbnbs we have stayed at thus far,
Pedro was kind enough to show us some key spots of interest. He pointed out where you can get the best francesinha, a typical Porto sandwich we will discuss more detail in a different day entry. There was also Gazela, the bar where Bourdain ate another local favorite dish called cachorro. He showed us the closest grocery store, the local bakery and pastry shop. We really appreciated his kindness and hospitality. Never have we met an airbnb host so passionate about this city. His energy was so contagious, we almost felt like we could conquer the night and visit all those recommended eateries. We said almost, because we were feeling the exhaustion starting to sink in.
We ended up eating at Casa Ribeiro, one of Pedro's recommendation just down the street from our place. They had a wood fire oven that looked to good to pass. Our starter was a tasty croquette with honey mustard dressing. It reminded us of a chicken nugget but tastier. The pizza we ordered had some really interesting notes of black garlic and truffle oil. We just wish it had a little less cheese, so that we can actually taste the other toppings. The main star was their pork sandwich. To our amazement, we thought it was better than the suckling pigs we had in Rome. The seasoning was spot on and they had a black pepper gravy on the side you can add to the sandwich. It was so addicting. Jackie finally got her Sangria that she was craving, which she enjoyed to her surprise.
It was a cool night, about mid 60's. We looked around at our table and to our amusement, all the locals were bundled up as if it was fall or early spring. What a huge contrast from the high temperatures in Modena. But hey, we did not complain. We actually got to enjoy the night without the need of air conditioning. Not to mention, no pesky mosquitoes eating us alive that evening.
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