This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)

Drinking port in Porto was one of my lifelong dreams. My first time in Portugal was as a couple on an 8-day touring trip in July 2023. These were the main destinations

• Port
• Aveiro
• Coimbra
• Tomar
• Batalha
• Alcobaca
• Nazaré
• Lisbon
• Sintra

We moved around a little by car and a little by public transportation, arriving in Porto and returning from Lisbon. This is the map on my Google maps link.

For friends who read me in English, the title contains a double entendre. But also a quote from a famous Italian comedian. “Bella figueira” would mean beautiful woman. But figueira is also the name of a square in Lisbon and what the ‘actress in a famous scene was called. I will explain this later.

Why “perfecto,” a Spanish word for a trip to Portugal?

It was my first time in the Lusitanian country. After the many in Spain, and it may be because the 2 languages have enough in common; it may be because of the many Spaniards among the tourists; the fact that in public places those who do not speak in English do so in Spanish; or perhaps because of the direction the plane took, I often found myself using the little Spanish I know.

For me, traveling as a couple, at least until 2023, has been quite unusual, and in such cases I get to create a kind of shared language specific to the trip, with catchphrases, puns, and expressions to be repeated from time to time.

For example, on the 2008 trip to Egypt with my ex-girlfriend we would occasionally hum commesi bello a cavallo a stu camello.

In Portugal Perfecto because it really ran pretty much smoothly.

The other catchphrase was SSSSuper Bock! The name of the most popular beer and prominently displayed everywhere on billboards, shop windows and umbrellas.

Compagna perfecta

I had known my traveling companion for a couple of years in which we had occasionally exchanged visits (she stays in Veneto) and we had already experimented in something more structured such as a 4-day tour of Lake Garda. This time the days of cohabitation would be twice as long, but I was confident of a good outcome, which is not a given for a usually solitary traveler like me who occasionally needs his own space and time.

I am aware that I turn out to be unpalatable especially as a meal approaches and I have no certainty about what and where I will eat. But other than that I would say it went well and above all we saw and experienced everything we wanted and had agreed upon beforehand. At the various set-ups, even impromptu ones or ones that happened randomly as a result of mishaps, we always commented with Perfecto. Emblematic of this was when we realized that in Lisbon we were staying just 2 steps from the central and convenient Praca de la Figueira. Speaking of Figueira, of course walking around and sharing the thrills but also the breaks of a good trip with a beautiful and nice woman while also getting along with her, is pretty much the high point of life.

In Portuguese figueira is fig tree, but for us it was the catchphrase of the Marchesini-Solenghi-Lopez trio.

I finally get to drink port in Porto

After stopping in Fermo and toasting in Brindisi, except that Icared to leave for Portugal, I opened theairport door and was takento the port of Porto to drink port.

This is what I wrote in the caption of the photo I posted on my Facebook profile. It was an early summer full of short rides, where I managed to make several geographical puns that I enjoy so much. But the idea of drinking port in Porto had been in my head for twenty years.

We found ourselves in Verona after we both woke up at dawn to begin our adventure in Porto. Just enough time to leave our luggage in the apartment, and we headed to the riverfront and crossed the Dom Luis I bridge and participated in the guided tour with tasting of Porto.

All the old wineries offer this service; we booked one well in advance at Burmeister ‘s, which turned out to be very interesting.

Next Stage Drinking in Portugal and also sleeping and eating

Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent

Countries visited in my travel stories

Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives

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Fabio Viroli

Ho sempre avuto tante passioni, ma da sempre più o meno latenti, le principali sono viaggiare e scrivere. Tra le altre cose ho una laurea in psicologia; ho fatto per più di 30 anni l’allenatore di basket; leggo tanti libri; sono stato molto appassionato di sport e di musica rock; e faccio improvvisazione teatrale. IL mio primo romanzo, che non parla di viaggi, si chiama LE TUE GAMBE SONO BELLE COME LE TAGLIATELLE

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