Gaia Port Houses, a Francesinha, and a Panda on Bass

A panda was playing bass on the main street outside our hotel in Porto. We'll get to the port houses in Vila Nova de Gaia and the famous sandwich, but you should know about the panda first.

We were walking up into town in late November, and there they were: a person in a panda mask, a striped sweater, and a pink tutu, playing bass guitar over a heavy metal soundtrack. It was just funny. We've been all over the world together and we've never seen anything like it.

If you eat one famous thing in Porto, it's the francesinha, and the place everybody names is Café Santiago. So of course we went.

The name means "little French girl," which is hilarious once you see it. It's bread stacked with steak, ham, and sausage, buried in melted cheese and drowned in a spiced tomato and beer sauce, with a fried egg on top and a pile of fries around it. You need a knife and fork. The usual story says a man named Daniel Silva, who'd been living in France, first made it in Porto in 1953 as a local take on the croque monsieur.

Time Out warns you to "prepare to wait (and wait, and wait)" for a seat. We went around 4 in the afternoon and got lucky: about 10 minutes, then two seats at the counter. That's a nice thing about Porto in late November.

It's super rich and heavy. We split one and each had a Super Bock, which was the smartest call of the trip. That much cheese and sauce needs something cold and crisp, and a Portuguese lager cuts right through it. The sauce already has beer in it, so you're staying on theme.

Split it, and order the beer. I'd 100% send you there. It's easily worth the hype.

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Vila Nova de Gaia, which everyone shortens to Gaia, is right across the Douro from Porto, and it's where the port houses keep their cellars. We walked over on the top deck of the Dom Luís I Bridge. Yes, I know what I said about Clérigos Tower. I don't have a good answer.

It was a crisp, clear, gorgeous day, and the views over Porto were amazing.

On a corner in Gaia, we came across a giant rabbit on the side of a building. It's called Half Rabbit, by the Portuguese artist Bordalo II, and it's built from trash collected around the city: metal, street signs, plastic containers. One half is painted, and the other half keeps the junk's original colors. It was so cool.

We toured three, and they couldn't have been more different.

Cálem has been on the waterfront since 1859, and our guide was amazing. She walked us through the history between Spain and Portugal and talked about how nice and gracious the Portuguese people are. The owners in our shrimp alley would back her up.

Then there are the barrels. Giant wooden vats stand on stone legs against the granite walls, far bigger than you'd picture. Size matters here. In a vat that big, the wine gets little contact with wood or air, so port houses generally use them to keep rubies dark and fruity. Tawnies go into much smaller casks, where all that contact slowly turns them amber and nutty.

Then I had a glass of 20-year tawny, and that was that. The 20 on the label is an average: it's a blend of ports aged around 20 years in those small casks, which brings out dried fruit and wood. I've been hooked ever since. There's always a bottle of 20-year from someone in our house now.

It's pronounced "Co-burn." Robert Cockburn founded it in 1815, and what stuck with us was the cellar and the history of a British port house. These are the largest cellars in Gaia's old quarter, with thousands of oak barrels, and they've kept their own cooperage, where the barrels get built and repaired. Down in the cellar, old bottles sit under chalkboards marked 1924, 1927, and 1947.

The British have been making port here for more than 200 years. After the last post, it's only fair I say something nice about them.

World of Wine, or WOW, is the modern one. It's a whole complex of museums, restaurants, and bars in renovated port warehouses, opened in 2020, and it's interactive and fun. It's a good change of pace from the lodges.

If you only have time for one, go to Cálem.

What we’re drinking this week:

Quinta das Carvalhas 20-year tawny, from Real Companhia Velha. It's the bottle in our house right now. It's amber with golden edges, with oak, dried fruit, and a long finish. The producer suggests serving it a little cool, around 16°C (61°F), with caramel pudding or dry citrus. Where to find it? Try your local wine shop. Cheers!

See you at the table,

Brian & Alicia

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