Barca de Alva, Captain's Dinner, and Notes on Books about Portugal Wednesday 12/18/2013

note:  Since we visited Barca de Alva twice, it was hard to separate those experiences and probably unimportant as well. So some of what is reported in only one day may have happened different days.

BARCA DE ALVA

 



We skipped the crowds today and had time on the ship and a brief, more isolated encounter with Portugal that did not require a bus. 

We were late to breakfast and so without company. I tried an omelet and the chef is good at cooking that as well.  I ate too many of the tasty fried potatoes that  taste like potato chips but are much thicker. At 7 am the boat had set sail from Pinhao to Barca D'Alva

While in the room, we passed into a small town that had a fisherman on the shore, a factory pumping some awful smoke into the air, a bridge and another lock.  I realize that the more populated areas will have bridges.  It is a way to tell them from the wilderness.  This lock must also generate electricity.  I see the huge electrical fenced in areas with insulate posts and large wires. 

I spent much of the time after breakfast on the Sundeck, usually alone.  It was warmer than my last time, but still frigid and I did just plop behind the Captain's steerage area to stay out of the wind.  The best thing I bought for this trip was my hat that is very warm and has flaps that snap under my chin. 

I photographed some of what passed me by, but I just sat for a long while with my leg up on a chair and enjoyed the passing of the scenery.  One day of this would be amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 The scenery from the sundeck was incredible. 

I photographed some of it, but I just sat for a long while with my leg up on a chair and enjoyed the passing of the scenery.  One day of this would be amazing.  The fact that we are half way through a trip and will travel all this scenery again is overwhelming.  Really, this is a trip to remember until I die as unique.

 

 

 

 

  

We docked at Barca de Alva

 Right off the boat and on the pier is this fellow

AGOSTINHO da SILVA

 

QUOTATIONS FROM THIS GREAT THINKER

AUGUSTINHO DE SILVA

We skipped the crowds today and had time on the ship and a brief, more isolated encounter with Portugal that did not require a bus.

 

We docked at Barca de Alva and so are now at the farthest docking on the Douro.  When we head to Salamanca tomorrow, we will go by bus. 

We read until the rain stopped and then we just walked down the nearest road past some very small and downscale shops. 

We are now at the farthest docking on the Douro.  When we head to Salamanca tomorrow, we will go by bus. 

There was a trip to Castelo  Rodrigo,  some old town up the hill, but we  just hung out here waiting for the rain to stop and reading in the lounge.  We had the place to ourselves.  Nice!  I grabbed a half dozen books and read pieces that applied to things we have seen.  One I'd like to buy. 

OPORTO  and Northern Portugal a Golden Book published by Casa Editrice Bonech.  This included lots of photos, including photos of that Livraria Lello bookstore where we were not allowed to use our camera.  Casa Orienta was described as an “old establishment in the Cordoaria District” and there was a photo with fewer handing bacalau.  

I learned also that the train station I liked in Porto takes its name from Convento de S. Rento da Ave Maria. 

A note on Pinhao

“What Pinhao lost in river traffic it made up for in rail frieght and when wine began to be transported by road, Pinhao adapted to the new situation.”

And so while at first it was shrinking in population, it then began to boom. 

Portugal's Wines and Wine makers was a great book on the subject by Richard Mayson, but I don't think I'll buy it.  I learned that crushing the grapes is best done by human foot, but the area is depleted of people willing to do that work.  So Sandeman has that robot foot machine we saw.  And there are many systems for crushing the grapes that have been developed.

Movimosto  crushed grapes are tapped into legares to ferment, but it does not work so well.

Algerians developed the Ducellier system that uses “autovinification vats” and many of the wineries use that system.

Tawny that is less than 10 years aged is really not very tawny and that might explain the port we tasted last at Sandeman which I think had aged 8 years.  I think it is still more Ruby at that point. 

That fascist dictator no one here likes, Facist Salazar and prime minister (1932-1968) said,

“If Portugal exported rock, it would be the richest country in the world.”  That sure fits this area of Portugal.

Shistous rock 

The Rooster legend was explained.  There are many versions.  But all have a tourist convicted of robbery (or murder) who is arrested and supposed to die.  He asserts his innocence and finally is taken to the judge.  The judge is eating his chicken dinner.  The accused man (with St. James help) says that he is so clearly innocent that the rooster in the dish of the judge will stand up and crow, and that happens.  So it is a symbol of Portuguese justice, especially in North Portugal. 

In a cookbook I found mention of breads.  Pao caseiro seems like what we are eating that is much like pan. 

Kale

At least two kinds:   couve talo bravo -  White stalk Kale good for soup.  However Caldo Verde soup uses Galega, a taller kale.  One of these we saw growing in a yard here in Barca.

 Cavoloverde vates is closer to the kale I eat at home.

The cookbooks said that they don't cut it, they tear it, but not why.

For the cabbage soup used a Savoy cabbage with sweeter leaves.  I want to find that for all my cabbabe dishes.

This from “Portugese Homestyle Cooking” by Ana Tatulea Ortive.  Too much of this is meat and rice for me to buy the book. 

Later in the day we would see the kale mentioned growing in Barca de Alva.

I guess we are both done with Catholic churches.  It has been great fun to see them, and that last one I saw was just fantastic, but it doesn't really speak religiously to either of us, so we don't get what a pios Catholic might get our of the experiences.

Still, we are having a good time and there is much beauty all around.  I can't imagine being able to be so out in the middle of nowhere as we are while sailing on this river and still being so comfortable.  To me it seems the best of both worlds.

I think Elizabeth would like to be more in a richer natural place, especially one with varieties of birds.  And I like that as long as it is not the concentrated birding where one waits for some uncommon small bit of bird to poke his head around a tree trunk, records the sighting in a chart, and then moves on to the next sighting of something yet unseen.  I could see the same bird everyday if the that bird has some character.  Anhingas are nice.  I loved seeing them this morning flapping their wet wings close to the surface of the river, flying with those long necks and yellow beaks extended, or diving and never surfacing in our sight.  They have a good bit of character, and yet no bird watcher would seek them out. 

 

We read until the rain stopped and then we just walked down the nearest road past some very small and downscale shops. 

There were few people here in the town and I think that family was overjoyed at making such a huge sale to Elizabeth.
We loved these little run down homes and gardens and walls and such. 

There were quite a few opportunity for found art photos of dilapidation in walls and wood and even one old half of a truck used as a trailer.  There was a garden of kale and oranges.  And we took a good view of the bridge from here.

WALK THROUGH THE TOWN

 Check the variety of stone in this little glimpse up a walkway to a house.

This was a working trailer built from what seems to be the back end of an old truck.  It was pretty cool.

We stopped at a little cafe bar and bought a Portuguese brandy and sat and watched three men enjoy each other's company and have a drink.  They ordered coca-cola and Sprite poured from a liter bottle in a wine glass.  It was very odd.  They were very entertaining although we followed little.  At one point one of the dogs roaming the street wandered into the back room and a man looked for it.  The owner was annoyed at the dog.

Here are the dogs resting from the adventure

 

On the TV was an afternoon talk show and they had a dog that looked almost like Luna and were trying to get viewers to adopt an animal.  Then they announced the lottery and then a woman who did small handcrafts showed her wares.  The show was called “Boa Tarde” which I took for Good afternoon, but that is Bom Tarde.  We noticed the locals who greeted us all shortened the Tarde to Tard.

I felt like we were the kind of tourists I used to be when I could easily walk and would be isolated in the midst of the population rather than in a group with guides and a timetable.

Elizabeth is thinking that she wants a different kind of trip in the future.  I'm thinking that I'd like to go back to the old days of individual travel in low cost, down scale places with the common folks.  But I don't really want to do the tourist work of that, and I do have trouble keeping my things in order.  I don't want to go to buses for travel, but I might like trains.  Or I might just like staying in just one place for a long while and walking a bit each day and not to the more typical tourist spots.

I guess we are both done with Catholic churches.  It has been great fun to see them, and that last one I saw was just fantastic, but it doesn't really speak religiously to either of us, so we don't get what a pios Catholic might get our of the experiences.

Still, we are having a good time and there is much beauty all around.  I can't imagine being able to be so out in the middle of nowhere as we are while sailing on this river and still being so comfortable.  To me it seems the best of both worlds.

I think Elizabeth would like to be more in a richer natural place, especially one with varieties of birds. 

One chickadee is just not enough for her

 And I might like that as long as it is not the concentrated birding where one waits for some uncommon small bit of bird to poke his head around a tree trunk, records the sighting in a chart, and then moves on to the next sighting of something yet unseen.  I could see the same bird everyday if the that bird has some character.  Anhingas are nice.  I loved seeing them this morning flapping their wet wings close to the surface of the river, flying with those long necks and yellow beaks extended, or diving and never surfacing in our sight.  They have a good bit of character, and yet no bird watcher would seek them out.

But of course it would be ideal if we could find a place with birds in the daytime and poker at night.

 

CAPTAIN'S DINNER

In the evening we went to the Captain's dinner and had a fine time.  It was fine food. I actually had steak and it was fantastic.  The wine and brandy loosened up my arthritis so that it was more than tolerable;   I actually was almost pain free.

 

Here we are in what now has become one of our classic shots.  It instantly caught the attention of our Facebook friends and when it was put up again, son Peter found it and sent us a fine reproduction.  So thoughtful.  Thank you Peter.  And thank you fellow traveler Shirley for taking this photo at the Captain's dinner.

Oddly, we get at a table with a fellow who is an expert on fracking for oil and gas.  He goes on and on in support of his ideas.

Finally, I tell him that I look forward to fracking because it will save so much on electricity if we can light up our house by just turning on the water tap and  setting it on blaze.

Well, he begins to get it.

He tells me that has nothing to do with fracking and is just a natural process. 

Yeah, John, like those Pennsylvania folks could always light their water faucets.  I think this, but I don't say it.

Then he made an argument for our grandchildren.

Well, I tell him I am hoping by my grandchildren's time that a radical green way of thinking will create a totally new revolution and change the way we think and do everything.

I tell him I don't understand why we don't just invest in solar where there are no chances that anything will go wrong.

He tells me about the smart people and how if the fracking is done smart, then it will be okay. 
However, he is really in favor of nuclear.

Well, I say, the nuclear option really went well for the Japanese, didn't it. 

And then I tell him that I don't worry so much about the smart people, but that always it seems that decisions are made by the dumb people and that bothers me. 
I want to protect us from dumb people. 
I don't continue, but in my thoughts, I also want to be protected from the immoral smart people who want to take the money and run.  Our last economic crisis was caused by a union of smart money grabbers and dumb people who could be convinced into overextending their resources.  Here in Portugal there were smart people who went around to dumb people and told them that they would exchange their old currency for the new Euros at the bank and help them out.  The dumb people never saw their money again.

And he starts talking about how we should not discuss politics on a cruise, and so perhaps we should not discuss energy. 

I laugh and tell him it is fine.  No one is offended really ,but we have marked out our political territory.  I don't tell him all that I am thinking, that I am afraid of the dumb people who start a war over weapons of mass destruction that don't exist. And even when he explains why he did not have to go to Vietnam although he did have to join the Navy, I don't tell him about the dumb people who led us into that war for no reason whatsoever. 
The other fellow next to me fought in that war.  He remembers “Hello, Vietnam.”

It turns out this fellow John was a parachute packer and so I tell him about the two Monk episodes that dealt with parachutes.  He is not very interested, even though one has Johnny Cash as a star. 
He may have packed a shoot for John McCain. 

***********************************************************************
At the wine tasting, they talked about the thermal technique.  They heated tongs and put them along the cork.  Then they put ice water along the same cork area and the glass broke so the cork could be removed without any chance of bits of it crumbling into the wine.

They decanted the wine, let it breathe and avoiding sediment poured gently.  They did not use any coffee filters.  They let us smell the sediment. 

 This overwhelms me. It is such and expensive taste.  A bottle  cost about 50 dollars.  It was a great taste of wine.  I understand the love of port. Before tasting we were told how the wine was kept.  This port was one with the sediments and so it was kept on its side to keep the cork wet and then it stood for a day to let the sediments settle until finally it could be poured.  Perhaps the sediments were strained as well, but I did not see that.  The fellow at the winery said that they used coffee filters finally to catch the last of the sediment.

Afterward we went to the lounge for dancing. No one joined us at our seating place near the front.  Elizabeth thinks very little of that,  but it makes me sad. She tired easily anyway, so it was no bother.  We went to bed. 

Tomorrow Spain.  I'm really excited. Paella for lunch.

Here is the bridge at Barca de Alva, in the daytime and after dark 

Barca de Alva bridge

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponte_Almirante_Sarmento_Rodrigues