For a brief moment today, I thought I was home in Florida because man-oh-man was it HOT! About three weeks ago we were in Lisbon, Portugal overnight but never got around to tasting any Port wine which is something everyone has to do while in Portugal! When Steve and I were walking around a few weeks prior, we had come across a place simply called “Port Wine Bar”. Unfortunately, time did not allow for us to visit it last time with all the other fun things we did, BUT this week I was determined. We decided to make it a girls afternoon and enjoy our day together.
Amye, myself, Teleya, Brandi & Katie all walked in and placed our order of port. They had a big board with 4 or 5 different ports (tawny, ruby, rose, blanco as well as ports strictly designated by how old they were (the older they got, the pricier they got as well!).
Katie and I both ordered the Ruby (sweeter), Amye and Brandy ordered the Tawny (balanced – not too dry, not too sweet). Teleya ordered WATER! Oh my goodness. Eventually we convinced her to order a glass because you HAVE to have some while in Portugal. Each glass came with a piece of solid (not creamy, like we typically eat it in the states) goat cheese. The gentleman working there told us that it would soak up some of the port and then when you finish drinking, it’s ready to eat at the end.
The ruby was delightful and so nice and smooth. Of course, you know the long running theme in this blog has always been food, therefore – we ordered a plate with two different kinds of fresh chorizo & cheese drizzled with a fresh olive oil, as well as a large bowl of green olives (YUCK!). Amye and Brandy took care of those for us though.
The way this store was organized was pretty neat – it had all the different types organized on each wall as well as different years were organized into neat rows on the top shelf. They had 1984! So, here’s me with my bottle of port made just for me with a VERY pricy sticker on it - 234 Euros!!!
The guy that worked there (I really wished I would have gotten his name!) started to show us these really expensive bottles – some of them up to 4,500 Euros. There was one bottle of “Ginja”liqueur that I was tempted to try because the other girls tried it the last time we were in Lisbon. I ordered a glass of this cherry-flavored liqueur which was poured out of a tall slender bottled filled with cherries that had been sitting inside of this bottle imparting flavor into the syrupy liquid that resided inside. It was SO thick but an incredible flavor and taste, but so sweet that I could only take a few sips before passing it around the table encouraging everyone to please drink it.
Lesson of the Day: When in Portugal – enjoy your friends, enjoy your free time and enjoy Port wine.
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