The other side of the Douro River was today’s destination. Requiring crossing the Luis I bridge…on foot. The warning – if you have vertigo, don’t try this at home. We don’t, so we did. Reminded us of getting married on the catwalk 5 stories above the soundstage at the Albuquerque Studios (now owned by Netflix). Little did we know that our friends Dave and Susan (our esteemed and brave witnesses) and our friend Bill, the judge, were all inclined to bouts of vertigo.
Anyhow…210 steps up to the bridge were no match for these two Albuquerque kids.
What’s on the other side of the Douro River? WOW. No really. WOW! World Of Wine. A bit of a tourist thing but what we really wanted to see was Planet Cork. Yes, yes…all about cork and how amazing it is.
- Portugal exports 50% of the world’s cork.
- No cork tree need be felled to harvest the cork. The cork is the underside of the bark.
- Cork trees regenerate their bark and can be harvested every 9 years.
- I weigh 11,000 or so wine corks. Less if it’s sparkling wine corks.
By the time we were done with cork, downed our second cappuccino of the day (it wasn’t Delta coffee and now we are Delta snobs so not as good), had some gelato (cream with pumpkin for me, mundane Oreo cookie for Grubb), took in the Half Rabbit, retraced our steps back across the bridge and caught the number 500 bus riding it along the river front, ALL the way to the end, it was time for a meal.
Eventually we came to Antonio’s. The menu seemed as good as any other. We started with octopus salad (oh my…the most tender and flavorful ever) and moved on to the mixed sea food grill for two (forgot the picture but trust me, it was a huge platter of bream, cod, salmon, monkfish, sardines, mackerel, lobster). I thought I’d try a red wine. Esteva. I still prefer the Vinho Verde but one must try different things, mustn’t one?
We love, love, love our cork floors (in three rooms).
We were thinking cork flooring would be great to have!