Penafiel

Lat Saturday Ann and I made a trip south a bit to a nice town called Penafiel.  Part business part pleasure, it was a way for us to make one final trip before our household goods get delivered and so much of our free time is occupied by setting up house.  As it is with most adventures, not everything went the way we’d hoped it would, but it was a fine day (so to speak) nonetheless!

As with many of our adventures, there was a reason for the trip.  This one was a bench.  Our entry-way is pretty barren and although we’ve added a fancy coat rack on the wall what was missing was a little bench where people could sit down and take their shoes off if they so desired.  Yes, we’re not getting a lot of visitors yet  due to the corona virus, but that will hopefully change, so we might as well plan for it.  

We hadn’t seen anything suitable in any of the shops we’ve visited in town, so Ann started browsing the internet and found a nice bench on Esty.  Even more appealing, it’s made in Portugal.  After a bit of research on the Etsy site, we realized that their shop is in Penafiel, a town a bit south of Guimarães about an hour or so away, so Ann contacted the seller to see if we could stop by.  Sure!  So we made plans for this past Saturday and off we went. 

Now, I honestly can’t imagine how anyone found anyone else (at least not in Portugal) before GPS was invented because, to be quite frank, we never would have found this place otherwise.  As it was, we had GPS coordinates instead of an address, and when I turned onto this road, one look down this steep, narrow and obviously winding road had me immediately pulling over at a nice open area by some recycling bins.  I accidentally drove down a street like this once before and barely was able to turn around at the end of it (which was a good lesson for when we get the Bimobil - no blind alley drives).  I wasn’t about to do that again!

We texted from the car and the shop worker, David, came out to meet us from the house on the left.

I should have taken some images from the shop, and I’m sure I will when we pick up the bench (what?  We were going to have them deliver it?  Why miss a trip to Penafiel?).  So apologies for the lack of images.  Let’s just say they’re a small three person shop that gets some manufactured parts from other shops, and then stains them and pieces them together before shipping them out.  100% Portuguese made, which is what we wanted.  We also got to meet some of their pets.  In their free time they rescue dogs and cats, and their back yard is turning into quite the cat and dog sanctuary/playground.  Let’s just say the furniture business supports the rescue operation.  Quite an amazing operation that I suspect we’ll be supporting with numerous purchases.

After paying for our bench and looking at some of the other pieces, we decided to walk down the narrow road because, well  that’s what we do.  As you can see, it twisted and turned as it worked its way downhill.

And yes, the road is as narrow as it looks.  At one point Ann asked, “Would our car even fit through that?”

But the hillside overlooks a lovely valley that’s full of vineyards and farmed terraces and walking down for the view was worth it.

When David asked us if we had any other questions, I asked my usual one.  “What’s your favorite restaurant in Penafiel?  Ann and I will want lunch soon.”  “O Casanova” David responded, “In downtown near the public square.”  So off we went into Penafiel.

That in itself was an adventure because we drove by an open air market, which we wanted to visit but couldn’t find parking for, and then through a maze of streets after we gave up on finding parking for the market (our stomachs won out), and swung by the same road 3 time where the GPS was telling us that the restaurant was “off to your left”, “off to your right”, “off to your left” and there was nothing there but a stone wall (what GPS giveth, it also taketh away).  Given the elite intellectuals Ann and I are, we eventually realized that the GPS was correct, we were only 20 feet from the restaurant, but the restaurant was on the top of the wall and you had to get to it from a street that was on the other side of it.  After defying our GPS instructions, we drove up a side street that took us uphill and the next time it said “off to your left” it was actually there!

Again, finding parking was a chore but we finally did on the other side of a big church.  And off we walked down to the restaurant.    Our timing was a few minutes early so we wandered around for just a bit and you can see how intimate the downtown can be.

Looking back up the hill, you can see the main church (which was having a wedding) that we parked behind. 

David was right, O Casanova was definitely worth eating at!

And dessert . . . well.  Ann sometimes says that she’s not particularly fond of cheesecake (or maybe it’s that it’s not her favorite . . . well something like that).  But I must say, when she says she thinks the cheesecake will be good, she’s usually right.

As you can see.

Anyway, we’d hoped to walk around downtown a bit, but by the time we left the restaurant (yes, we’d taken our time and it was now a bit past 2:00), it was raining.  And while we had an umbrella, the rain was spraying in the wind and we hadn’t brought jackets.  So we figured the wandering of the town would have to wait.  And given that clouds had filled the valleys, it wasn’t even like we could enjoy a slow drive home - we wouldn’t be able to see anything.

So we stopped by a local market that had some incredible vegetables (with vegetables like these, one really doesn’t have to go to the farmer’s market for anything but the experience).

And as we made our way back to the car, I managed to stop and take a photograph in the rain.

By the time we got back to the car, half my body was soaked and both of our lower legs were drenched.  Despite the umbrella.

Still, it had been a good day and, hey, we’ll get another chance to wander Penafiel in 4-6 weeks when our bench is ready to pick up!