Latest / Rittener Reflections / 21: Pathways to Portugal
Transcript
- Jeff Rittener (00:00) Welcome to Ritner Reflections. I am Jeff Ritner and you are listening to episode 21 ⁓ called Pathways in Portugal. Now, Portugal has become one of the world's most popular destinations, a place people are visiting, revisiting, and in many cases, choosing to call home. After hearing so much about it, especially from my daughter who traveled there last year, I finally had the chance to explore it. for myself. Her insights shaped how I planned the trip and how I approached each day. And in many ways, this episode continues that conversation. Jeff Rittener (00:54) Hello and welcome back to Rittner Reflections. This is episode 21. I am Jeff Rittner and happy to be... speaking with you again. This episode follows my episode 20 victory in Valencia and is a continuation of my trip ⁓ here in Europe. ⁓ In this episode I will focus less on running and more on international travel. Today is the ⁓ 11th of December and I happen to be sitting in the kitchen ⁓ area of an Airbnb that I rented in Lisbon, Portugal. And this particular Airbnb has a glass ⁓ door and large window that looks out across the city of Lisbon, the older part of the city of Lisbon called Alfama. And the view is spectacular. I am staring at a castle up on a hill. And then just beyond that castle is the river with a beautiful bridge that reminds me of the Golden Gate Bridge. You can just look out and see ⁓ this incredible skyline filled with very unique and ⁓ common ⁓ Portuguese architecture in a very, very old city of Lisbon. What I intend to do in this ⁓ episode is to just again chronicle my journey from here to back home in a week. And I will be spending some time here in Lisbon and also some time in Porto, Portugal. And so I plan to record most days and just kind of share with you some of my reflections and experiences along the way. So I left Valencia with just some very fond memories of a beautiful city, ⁓ of a really vibrant culture, a lot of memories of just some good times there. And I definitely would. go back to Valencia, I would highly encourage you to explore this city if you ever get a chance to come to Spain. Now I left on the train early in the morning and took the train to Madrid so that I could go to the airport there and catch a flight to Lisbon, Portugal. I will say, you know, being Swiss as I am and living in Switzerland and being very, very punctual person, it was very surprising to me when the train was scheduled to leave at 6 57 a.m. and of course I was there you know early and got my seat sat down and was ready to go and it was very surprising to me when we finally pulled out of the train station 30 minutes later and believe it or not the last five minutes before we took off there were at least a dozen people that showed up so I don't know if ⁓ if this train normally does that and so people have gotten used to I ⁓ just need to show up before the 30 minute marker and I'll be okay I'm not sure but I was very strange to me to ⁓ to to leave 30 minutes late but we did arrive you know just it must have caught up some time because we did arrive not too much later than we were scheduled to anyway I flew out of Spain on TAP Airlines, which is the Portuguese Airlines, National Airlines, and I flew into Lisbon. a beautiful sunny afternoon and made my way to my Airbnb, and as I just shared earlier, just a beautiful little spot that I've got here for the next several days to enjoy this wonderful city. Jeff Rittener (04:52) I'll share with you a travel story as I left Lisbon on the Portuguese Airlines. You know, I'm a world traveler. have, through my profession, working for Intel, responsible for international trade, through my own personal journeys, I have traveled the world. And I have kind of... worked out the details of how to travel most efficiently and lightly, etc. And for this particular, you know, trip, I was, as always, you know, prepared to carry my luggage with me on the plane. So I travel light, not a very large suitcase, and a backpack. And, and so I never really checked my luggage. And in fact, I don't think I've checked in luggage probably for years. But In this particular instance, as I shared with you in the last episode, I received a birthday gift back in Barcelona of a beautiful bottle of champagne. And you took that bottle with me on the train to Valencia, and my intention was to open it to celebrate my... Boston qualifier time at the Valencia Marathon, which as you all know by now did not happen. So I never really drank the champagne. ⁓ And as I was leaving Valencia to go to Lisbon and knew I was going to get on an airplane, I had to make a decision. Do I just abandon the bottle of champagne or should I take it with me? I made it kind of a last minute call. I thought, you know, I'm on vacation. I'm not really in a hurry. I could probably just pack this bottle in my suitcase and check in my bag. So I very carefully carefully packed the bottle in my suitcase. Made sure it was well wrapped and protected and of course I was very nervous, you know what will happen. But assured through all the things I read online that it would be fine. So I went ahead to the airport and for the first time in years I checked in my bag and it did feel strange walking through the airport with only my backpack and nothing else. I felt a little naked. Where was my bag? But anyway, I got on the flight. I flew. I arrived. at the airport in Lisbon and then I had to remember don't forget to go get your bag so I went down to baggage claim to wait for my bag and you know this is not something I have done much in my life stand there and wait for a bag so it was a little bit ⁓ strange to me and I waited and the bag started coming out of the carousel and moving around and people collected our bags and I waited and I waited And I waited. And then I thought, my gosh, I hope something didn't happen with the bottle. Then I remembered that when I checked in the bag, because of my ⁓ airline status, they had put a tag on my bag that had a big, big orange sticker that said priority. And so then I thought, well, my bag should have been one of the first ones out because I had the priority sticker. So needless to say, I stood there and worried and the bags stopped coming out, but there were still probably about seven or eight of us standing around. And so I knew that there must still be more bags. So I waited and I waited and some more bags came out. Still my bag didn't come out. And I was beginning to wonder, my goodness, did they not send it? Is it going to get lost? You know, all the fears that you have. Well, eventually the bag popped out of the carousel area and came down and I grabbed my bag and everything was fine. So everything was good. But the interesting thing was, I asked myself, again, what is the value of all this priority? Because if I had this big priority sticker, orange sticker, that I assumed meant that my bag should be one of the first ones out, it looked like it was one of the last ones out. So anyway, I'm still questioning and scratching my head about the value of these priority status that you are given. I am excited to explore the city of Lisbon starting today and have a few days to do so. And there's probably a lot to learn. I looked up some things about Lisbon just so I had an idea. And there are some interesting facts that I'll share with you that you may know or may not know. But Lisbon is a very old city. In fact, it is older than Rome and considered maybe one of the oldest cities in Western Europe. ⁓ know, it's whenever you think of Portugal and you ask yourself, I wonder what the capital of Portugal is, know, first thing that comes to mind is Lisbon. And Lisbon, is not the capital of Portugal, which is quite interesting. If you've ever wondered what is, you know, every city has a symbol, what is the symbol of Lisbon? Well, it's a raven. And so that's kind of interesting. And then finally, I thought this was a really interesting fact. There's a bridge, it looks like the Golden Gate Bridge. It goes across the river here. the bridge is apparently, 11 miles long, which is amazing. It's called the Vasco da Gama Bridge and it actually is the holder of the world record for having the most people eat dinner on it. And when it opened in 1998, 15,000 people dined on the bridge. So that's a fun fact for you ⁓ on Lisbon. I'm sure I will learn a lot more as I spend the next few days here and I will share some of those learnings with you. Jeff Rittener (10:42) Hello again. Today is the 12th of December and it is a nice, wet, drippy, dreary day here in Lisbon. ⁓ As I sit here in the kitchen on the counter looking out this beautiful view. I see a city that is, it's been raining for a while all night and the city looks wet, drenched and just a completely different view than it was the last two days when it was sunny and slightly cloudy. Yesterday was my first full day in Lisbon and as I said, it was a beautiful day, a little bit cool and I had the opportunity to do what I actually love. doing the most when I go and visit a city and that is ⁓ just wander around and soak in the culture, the vibe, the atmosphere, the just the way that the city sort of just ⁓ hums along and the feel of just the flow of how things go. It was an unusual day yesterday because it was the day of Portugal's national strike. And this, I guess they called it a general strike. It was the first one in 12 years. And so it was fairly quiet for most of the day. I did notice a number of ⁓ stores and restaurants were closed. But a good portion of the city was alive and well and functioning and as the day moved on it picked up and more and more people were out and about and what I'm finding here in this part of the world is that mornings are slow and afternoons and evenings are vibrant and very different than the world I live in in Silicon Valley where ⁓ you know, you can be caught in a traffic jam at 6 a.m. ⁓ and ⁓ it ⁓ stays busy the entire day, most of us going to and fro in our cars. But anyway, I had a great time yesterday. I actually, at the end of the day, I looked back at my watch and I actually had walked 10 miles throughout the day and just exploring the different neighborhoods. ⁓ Late morning, or early morning, actually mid-morning I you know stopped in one of the hundreds and hundreds of local little coffee shops to get a coffee. A bit later for lunch I stopped at a little small little restaurant I guess you call it was kind of nestled under this huge vine. the table sitting outside and was able to have like a sandwich. ⁓ Later on in the afternoon, I stopped at a ⁓ corner, kind of another sandwich shop, guess, coffee sandwich shop on the corner and the... ⁓ the person behind the counter was very friendly and ⁓ wanted to make sure that I tried this one particular Portuguese wine, not wine, beer that was famous in Portugal called Superbac. And so of course I did and that was kind of nice just to sit and relax for a bit. And then I think probably the most surprising thing that happened shortly thereafter is I stumbled upon a massive protest. And yes, there was this was probably late in the afternoon, three o'clock. And I came up this hill and to kind of a park. And then to the right of the park, I could hear a person giving a speech, very loud speaker. And I could hear kind of the applause and the roar of the crowd. I thought, oh, something's going on here. So I wandered over and sure enough, it was I mean, there were I mean, I'm not a good cat. gauge of how many people are in an area, but these are not big areas, right? They're small streets and there's little courtyards and plazas and so on. But I just looking at what I could see, there were easily a thousand, maybe several thousand, I'm not really sure. But what was really fascinating as I walked up is the presence of the police. ⁓ The police were there with their riot gear. the shields and their helmets. But they were very quiet and just prepared. And up a hill that came up to this plaza area, could hear music, drums, chanting. ⁓ And I looked down this long downhill street and all I could see was just a mass of people. And so I stopped with my camera, took pictures and what it was, was it was a parade of groups. ⁓ All of them had their own slogan. There were people that held like a banner across, you know, 25 feet. And it said something, I don't know, it was in Portuguese. And then there were people with flags, as I said, drums, loudspeakers, all sorts of noisemakers. I mean, was, these folks were definitely there to make their presence known and to protest. the government at this point. So it was just fascinating to run. I stood there for quite a long time watching the dynamics, the people flood in, hearing the people all of a sudden shout ⁓ out a ⁓ slogan over and over. And then to watch, also to watch and just ⁓ see how the police were handling this. And they... This was in front of the government building. I assume it's the equivalent of a parliament building and so on. And they were clearly drawing a line so that people would not go up along the side of this parliament house. And I think it was blocked that street going forward. And they were creating a line. if you wanted to lead the crowd, you had to go in front of the police to the side. And then I noticed to the side, people started piling up. And at one point, I was standing there and the crowd was... was growing so much that it wouldn't have taken much for that crowd to press in and they would have completely surrounded the police. Because we were all standing behind the backs of the police and I thought to myself, this is not good. And sure enough, within minutes, ⁓ one of the... ⁓ Policeman very loud and just this intense was just ordering the policeman to reposition themselves and to then push the crowd back so and create, you know, an opening so there was, you know, the backs of the police were not covered. just fascinating watching how this whole thing played out. At one point, I walked down this street where the parade of people were coming and I stood outside of a little shop and there was a gentleman and he was clearly a journalist and he was just sitting there watching it all and enjoying a glass of wine. And the person next to him, I got to know afterwards a bit, was someone from the United States who was on a five month ⁓ holiday just spending some time in Spain, Portugal, Morocco, et cetera. And so we had a nice little conversation about what was going on. Of course it led into discussions on politics and the American had some some very strong views that, for example, his point, what he kept making was that there were two most dangerous people in the world today are President Trump and Putin. And so there was a lot of discussion. And you can imagine in a political protest that it raises all sorts of information. But just so you know, have some context, these protests. ⁓ were part of, as I said, Portugal's first nationwide general strike in 12 years. And ⁓ the people really were ⁓ trying to voice their opposition to some government-proposed labor law reforms. And so these were workers, unions, and they were clearly ⁓ not happy with some of the measures and rules that had been put in place or are proposed to be in place. that would make it easier to ⁓ fire workers, would make it ⁓ some rules about what workers could do and not do. ⁓ And we'll go into those details, but if you look it up, it's quite fascinating. And so this was ⁓ a large protest. And basically, ⁓ and I knew this because originally I was supposed to fly into Lisbon on the 11th. And I got word through social media several days prior that there was going to be this general strike. And so I changed my travel plans and I came into Lisbon a day early. That's why I came in on the 10th. And it was a good thing I made that change because apparently the train stations were empty because no trains were running. National Airlines TAP, Air Portugal, had canceled two-thirds of their flights. So not sure I would have made it here. And the metros had very few trains running. And so it was a good move I made to come in here and also gave me an opportunity to witness ⁓ what's going on. know, experiencing this brought back some really vivid memories ⁓ for me. I tend to, when I travel, occasionally I tend to run into these sorts of things. I'll give you two examples. Back in the very late 80s, 89, 90, I went to Russia with a friend and we were in Moscow and having dinner with some other friends and there was clearly some political... discourse and disruption going on, but that very evening ⁓ someone bombed the Russian White House, it's called. And of course the military reacted and we could hear the tanks. you know, going down the large boulevards in Moscow. And so we made some quick decisions and decided that maybe we should leave Moscow. We were going to go to St. Petersburg anyway. And so we we went down to the train station and got ourselves some tickets. The only ones we could get were leaving. The train was leaving at midnight and wouldn't get into St. Petersburg till the next morning. So it was the long overnight slow train that stopped at every stop. And in that that train station, you know, I was just wide-eyed and amazed because there were, again, crowds of people, you know, not protesting like I saw here in Lisbon, but just mingling around, nervous, wondering what was going to happen. given this situation there were bonfires, you know, it was cold and there were bonfires and people just mingling around. I'll never forget that image. We got on the train and we were on our way to St. Petersburg and when we arrived in St. Petersburg we were notified that the borders had been sealed, closed, the embassy in the U.S. was also closed. which was also a very ⁓ unsettling feeling. But I was there for 10 days. So by the time it was time for me to come home, things had settled down quite a bit. And I was able to get a Swiss Air flight out back out to Switzerland where my family was. ⁓ This situation here reminded me of that one. And then I'll share one more with you. This happened in 2019. I took a business trip to Hong Kong. I was gonna spend a day in our office in Hong Kong and then go on to China. And I arrived in Hong Kong at the airport on August 31st, which happened to be the day that ⁓ the protesters in Hong Kong had marked as their day to protest. and there was a name for it I think it was called the umbrella day I think I'm not sure but anyway it was a day of full-blown protest in Hong Kong and again I arrived and... Got a text from a colleague saying, there's the protests are right down where your hotel is. I don't know if you can get down there. had another colleague text me or on WhatsApp and said, hey, my husband and I will meet you at the metro station. And there was a bit of a debate. Should I go to the metro station? Should I not? I did. I met my colleagues there and we were I was clearly in the middle of the protest. In fact, we were we got. took the Metro to. the stop that was closest to the hotel. And at that very moment, that is exactly where the the core protest was occurring with the riot police and so on. And ⁓ as we were trying, there were crowds of people in that metro and we were trying to decide which exit to go, which would be the safest way to get to the hotel. And a woman handed us some some masks and said, you should put these on. And sure enough, within minutes, they were firing tear gas up. above the metro and people were flooding into the metro and as they flooded down into the metro, of course they brought all that tear gas air with them. And I recall standing there and my throat began to feel, you know, scratchy and tight. it was clear there was something in the air. So anyway, to make a long story short, we eventually made our way out of that metro and there was these... bridges that cross over main roads to the hotels and we stood on that bridge and I took pictures I could see down below me the riot gear with big plastic shields and they were moving the crowds away from that particular area. And so got into the hotel and everything was fine but I had heard that was a very ugly night towards the end of the protest. I think shortly thereafter China began to exert its control and so you have what you have today. I share those with you because it seems like I have a tendency to run into these things. And yesterday's though, I have to say yesterday's protest was really inspiring because what I saw was a peaceful protest. I saw people, ⁓ you know, making their voices heard. ⁓ you know, and they had that opportunity to do so. I also, you know, know that these living in this country, individuals also have the ability to vote. And that is what, you know, making their voices heard through their vote. So it was exciting to see democracy in action. There was no violence. was no, you know, nothing that was ⁓ dangerous. It was more just ⁓ people, you know, coming out and saying, hey, we're not happy with these programs. that you're putting forward and we would like to make our voice heard. So I thought that was inspiring to see that. And eventually I left and carried on with my journey and wrapped up my night in a nice, very small wine bar where I was able to ⁓ enjoy some Portuguese tapas and a glass of... ⁓ green, they call it green wine. It's not green, it's kind of what they call green in Portuguese means young. And so it's a young wine, it's fresh, it's almost sparkly a little bit and very nice. And so that's how I ended my day, a day of wandering, a day of reflection, a day of just soaking in the cultural aspects of this great city and looking forward to continuing my exploration and thanks again for listening. Jeff Rittener (27:37) I'm back. Today is Saturday, the 13th of December. It is a lovely ⁓ sunny but cool day here in Lisbon. I actually was able to complete my first run since the marathon in Valencia. ⁓ Things did not go as planned. I found yesterday a running group on the Meetup app. and it's a running group called Founders. ⁓ Actually it's located around the world. It was started in San Francisco 10 or so years ago. there's a group here that meets on Saturdays at 9 a.m. and I thought this is great. I can run with others and not get lost ⁓ and meet some, hopefully some local folks. ⁓ were signed up, there were I think 10 people including myself signed up. So I got up this morning and it was very cold and I mean very cold and windy so dressed appropriately walked the one mile down to the Place de Comerce. It's a huge ⁓ square where the meetup said the group meets and so I went down there was five minutes early I was looking at every corner at every spot to see if I could find a group of runners. And needless to say, 30 minutes went by and I never identified the group. ⁓ I saw runners, no, never more than two. ⁓ Usually a group of 10 runners is pretty obvious. ⁓ And that they just didn't surface and there was no clear indication at where in this massive, you know, probably a quarter of a mile by a quarter of a mile square. ⁓ of a running group. at some point I had to give up the group and just run. So I ran along the river ⁓ on the cobblestone and ⁓ it was really really nice to to just do that at a casual pace. Although I have to say my legs are still a fair amount sore from last Sunday's marathon. Yesterday was a fun day. ⁓ Woke up to rain and ⁓ went to bed last night with rain. It rained the entire day. And when I say rain, there were times it was just drippy. You kind of wanted an umbrella. Other times it came down pretty hard. ⁓ My main event for yesterday was I had signed up for a food tour. This was going to be a tour in the old section of Lisbon called Alfama and it was going to go to a handful of restaurants and allow you to sample some of the very unique cuisine here in Portugal. So when it was time to walk the mile, maybe almost a mile down to where the meeting point was, of course, that's when it started to really rain. And so by the time I got to the meeting point, I was already wet and ⁓ I met up with the group. Unfortunately, it wasn't a large group there were two other people a father-daughter combo from Philadelphia in the US and our guide his name was friend Francisco anyway he took us on this tour and it really was ⁓ just a great experience for a couple reasons one because we were able to you know get the the explanations of the different foods. ⁓ But we also were able to kind of walk through the, you know, the very small tightly, you know. passageways in the old town while it was raining and lights were on and just the ambience was really special. In fact, there was one little walkway that he took us down, steps down, and it was so narrow. I think he said it was the narrow, most narrow passageway in the city and we couldn't have our umbrellas open. It was so narrow. Anyway, we went down that path to a restaurant and I just walked through a couple of things I learned through this experience. ⁓ starting with the food, you know, we actually had 18 pairings, a combination of food and drink. And the beginning, we started with what is really ⁓ a famous dish called a rosse. ⁓ areate which is the we would typically call it Spanish rice but you wouldn't do that here it's Portuguese rice but it was very nice rice with onion garlic and some tomatoes. We had a cod croquettes which were almost like a deep-fried fish stick if you will and this was all joined with the green wine that I spoke about before and then we finished that up with a piece of bread with a sardine which was very tasty. ⁓ The following place that we went to to the unique part of that experience was the actual restaurant brewed their own beer and they did it seasonally. This was a pumpkin beer. It was very, very tasty and fresh and it was nice to eat what was, I don't know the name of the dish, but it was a unique dish of fish and. egg and ⁓ cream and ⁓ french fries all mixed together and made kind of like a lasagna and it was absolutely delicious. ⁓ We then followed up with another restaurant which ⁓ was interesting because it was purchased by a gentleman and renovated and they had one of the original beams that was kind of half rotten hanging up because this place had been there for I think it was going back to the 11th or 12th century and so this was a very nice kind of dark like a a cave type place. And we sat there and enjoyed. ⁓ cheese and a specially baked chorizo and a an item that's very famous here called a Bifana and a Bifana is a typical Portuguese roll and in between the roll is very nicely stewed meat and ⁓ Very very tasty. The other unique part of this meal was they had what was called a tomato jelly and kind of tomato flavor like ketchup, but also sweet. And you put that on the chorizo and wow, what a difference that made. I think the highlight of my experience was at this place because with the cheese, the Francisco introduced us to a cheese that won in 2024, the first time ever a Portuguese made cheese won the best cheese in the world in that world contest. And so that was kind of special. The cheese is called the Amantegado de Ovelha. And I'm sure I didn't pronounce that in good Portuguese, but anyway, it was from up in an area north. West of Portugal known for sheep and this was a sheep based cheese and I have to tell you it was probably the thing I enjoyed the most because it was a creamy cheese and when you spread it on your piece of bread or toast it just tasted like a fondue and it was that that creaminess and just I can see why it won the award for best cheese, you know in 2025 Portugal they didn't win the overall best cheese in the world It went to the Swiss Gruyere, which is a wonderful cheese and which is one of the base cheeses you use for fondue. And but it did earn 28 medals and one of the cheeses won the best Portuguese cheese. So Portugal is obviously advancing in their ability to make cheese. And I have to say, I enjoyed the sample that we had of the cheese that won in 2024 best cheese in the world. For dessert, we went to another place and enjoyed two very unique Portuguese items. First is a, it's called a cherry gin jar, gin jar. This is a liqueur made of cherries and we had a chance to sample that in a chocolate cup. And then the second was a pastry that's very famous here. It's basically called the pastel de nada. And it is a round cream pastry with cinnamon and eggs and so on. And just really a nice way to kind of wrap up that great meal that we had at a number of restaurants here in the old Alfama district of Lisbon. know, Francisco was our guide. And I have to say, and Francisco did a wonderful job of just helping us navigate the, I would say somewhat treacherous paths where, because everything, everything on the ground is ⁓ made of stone. And some of the stones, you know, with rain can be a little slippery. so he helped us, worked us through. And then of course he did a wonderful job explaining everything to us. you know, Francisco, if you are listening to this, I would just want to say to you, thank you very much for a wonderful tour and just spending a great evening with us. So enjoyed the time. And I say that to Francisco because we talked a bit about my podcast and he was highly interested in listening to it. And so just want to make sure I call out Francisco for the great job. You know, there's a couple of things he taught us. Just to kind of conclude here, I'll just share, know, he taught us that the difference in saying thank you. Now, saying thank you, you have to be careful of the tense because if you say, abrigado, ⁓ which is thank you and use in use a ever got a near a female you would be using the wrong tense you would say i forgot out and if you are a male you see every goto and so it really follows the person that's saying thanks we also learned that when you sh say you know cheers in america we say cheers in some european countries salu socks on the or something but in in portuguese they they take the salu they take the l and sound so when you actually give a cheer you say so ⁓ i asked Francisco, I was just curious from a trade perspective. He wanted to know what I did for living and I told him about international trade and I asked him, so what's the number one export out of Portugal? What do you export most? And he said that our number one export is clearly cork. It's one of the things that we sell all over the world. But he also had an interesting take. He also said, you know, the other thing we export is Portuguese people. ⁓ I asked him why is that? And he said, well, explain that in the country there's not a lot of opportunity for young people. ⁓ There's a very low birth rate in Portugal and housing is extremely expensive like most places. And so for young people to kind of get ahead, they go to other countries in the EU and they find work and are able to kind of get by a bit better than if they stayed here. And that's a problem for Portugal. ⁓ you know, I asked him if he had any ideas how to solve it. And, you know, he talked a bit about the housing and I'm not sure what the answers there are. anyway, that was an interesting discussion about, you know, Portugal and what how things really work. know, Francisco is a 27 year old. He and his girlfriend are trying to figure out what do they do. Again, I really appreciated Francisco and he did a great job explaining Jeff Rittener (39:02) Today I leave Lisbon after a four day ⁓ experience here that's just been amazing. ⁓ I will take the train to Porto, which is north of Lisbon, along the coast and looking forward to ⁓ exploring a new town. My time here in Lisbon has just been amazing. I have met so many just really nice and interesting people. I have had a chance to see so many amazing sights, experience, just the culture, ⁓ the language, the food, and the people as I said. ⁓ Yesterday I decided to get out of Lisbon and so I took a train to a place called Sintra. Now Sintra ⁓ is a fascinating ⁓ place to spend a day because it is ⁓ contains architecture and buildings that span kind of the entire history of Portugal, ⁓ know, from kind of prehistoric settlements. Then you have the Moors and the Moorish fortifications, castle in particular, to a number of royal palaces where you can actually see 19th century romantic architecture. And in fact, the site is ⁓ recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. so it was a really glad I took that trip out of the city to go see that. Most of the time I spent hiking up along beautiful gardens, very high up. I forget how many. ⁓ kilometers or meters up it was but to the Moorish Castle and had a chance to just walk around that castle which is is offers an amazing view of 360 degrees around you can basically look down on Lisbon you can look the opposite direction to the Atlantic Ocean and then you can look at another direction and see a ⁓ palace that is just ⁓ a beautiful palace. you know, this Moorish castle was built in the eighth and ninth centuries by the Moors and it really was designed to be a strategic fortress and definitely you could tell it was the highest point. It looked down on everything and allowed, I think, was in those times to be able to really monitor the city and ⁓ the approach from the Atlantic Ocean. You know, it was constructed under Islamic rule and kind of like I said, to really guard the entrance to Lisbon. And then it transitioned in the 1100s and became a Christian settlement. And from there you had your medieval life. And then, you know, eventually when you get into the 19th century, then it becomes kind of revived and becomes sort of the place for the kings to settle. And so just a very, very fascinating time. the, towards the end of the afternoon, after I wandered through the city a bit, got myself something to eat, I wanted to see the gardens, which were okay. But what was interesting was there was another palace that you could tour that costs, I just didn't really feel like doing that. But there was a sign that says, know, medieval pub 500 meters away and it was down this road and you know when you look at something like that so that should I go see it or should I not you know 500 meters there and 500 meters back that's a kilometer I know about kilometers And what if it's no good? You you kind of waste the energy and the time. But I decided, hey, let's go see. And I'm glad I did because it was this very unique old building that was turned into a pub, but it had this medieval theme to it, you know? And it was a little chilly outside, so I inside and they had a fire going and candles lit and things on the walls. And they played kind of this Celtic, you know, music while you sat there. Very, very nice. way to just kind of wrap up the day and ⁓ and relax there before heading back to Lisbon. Jeff Rittener (43:28) I am now in Porto, Portugal, having a ride via train from Lisbon, about a two hour ride. The scenery was okay, primarily because it rained the entire trip. So it was hard to see much of anything and I did arrive in Porto in the late afternoon and it was just pouring rain and kind of a cold, windy rain as well. You know, when you travel, things always seem to take a lot longer than you plan and you expect. So unfortunately, by the time the train arrived, you know, you... find your way out of the station to where you can get a taxi or an Uber in my case. ⁓ Then because of the rain and the traffic, ⁓ took forever to get an Uber, took forever for the Uber driver to navigate through town from the airport to get to the actual Airbnb that I'm staying in. But I did finally arrive. It was dark, it was rainy, and I was welcomed by the host here at the Airbnb I'm staying on. And this is on what's called Rue Claragos, 82 it is an Airbnb and it is spectacular. It's a very simple one large room ⁓ unit ⁓ on the fourth floor on the corner of a building and so incredibly designed. ⁓ There's ⁓ three major ⁓ windows, or actually one is a window and two are doors, and they're the kind of doors that you step out onto this patio that's a like a square patio. on corner of the building and you stand on that patio you can look down at the city down the main street all lit up with the holiday lights ⁓ and just an amazing ⁓ place to kind of build an Airbnb I have to say the nicest I've stayed at and very comfortable so glad to get here and ⁓ did get a nice dinner my first night here in Porto I met the maitre d she is from Brazil her name is Priscilla but she goes by pre and she was so nice ⁓ she gave me a nice list of two places to go for coffee two places to go for lunch, two places to go for wine or dinner, and two places for drinks. So I had a nice set of recommendations for my stay here in Porto. ⁓ The food that I ate there was fabulous. ⁓ I will probably talk some more about it in a later segment. All this to say is my arrival in Porto was great. Looking forward to explore the next two days. Thank you. Jeff Rittener (46:32) This morning I was able to get out and run here in Porto, which was just fabulous, beautiful, cold morning. And it was just nice to be out in the fresh air. As I took the run this morning, I went across the Dom Lewis. bridge ⁓ with the Douro River kind of flowing below. And it really reminded me, you know, why Porto is such a beautiful and soulful city. ⁓ I don't know if you knew, but Porto actually gave Portugal its name. The ancient settlement of Portas, Calais, evolved into Portucale, which became Portugal. You know, interesting fact I learned here today, locals are nickname triperos. I don't know if I pronounced that right, but it's a word that means tripe eaters. And because, know, centuries ago, there's a story where they donated all of their meat to sailors who were, you know, going off to the lands far away and the only thing they left behind was tripe. And so this turned into a signature dish. You know, Porto is also called Invicta. This is this means the unconquered city and with a story around withstanding a year-long siege in the 19th century. And ⁓ it was given that name. ⁓ If you've ever admired the Eiffel Tower, you've already seen Porto's influence because Gustav Eiffel, he designed the Maria Pia Bridge here before his Paris landmark was built. From Laveria Lello, one of the world's most beautiful bookstores to the Sal Bento station with its 20,000 azulejo tiles. Porto is a city where history, art and wine flow together. And then of course everyone knows that port wine is produced here in the Douro Valley. It's aged and exported from the cellars right across from where I'm staying across the river in a section called Gaia. And I am looking forward to actually taking a tour of one of the ⁓ wineries across the river here, which will be wonderful to be able to learn how they make this drink and to be able to get a chance to taste as well. Jeff Rittener (49:12) The port wine tour did not disappoint. I had the opportunity to visit one of the oldest wine houses in, or port houses, they call it, here in Porto. This was the Ferrera family-owned port house. It was founded in 1751. And I happened to just... Wander by it stepped inside their door realized they had a tour that was pretty reasonably priced and I could get in within an hour versus many of these larger Poor houses that you have to book online a day or two in advance and they're very expensive So this actually worked out perfect and I took the tour they took us through The caves with all the barrels they explained the whole history of the company ⁓ you know, it's always been Portuguese owned. It's a family owned business. ⁓ And it there was a woman who was probably the most influential in its history. Her name was Donna Antonia Ferreira. And ⁓ she's the one that really left a mark in creating this this very well known ⁓ port house. The the nice part of the tour was at the end, you get to sample three different versions. the port wine and of course through the tour you learn about how they make the wine but also just the differences in the different wines and so lots of learning I do enjoy a port wine and so it was kind of nice to ⁓ to have that that tour I at the end during the tasting I was fortunate enough to meet ⁓ two Americans who were part of the tour and Couture was in English and they happened to be from Charlotte, North Carolina and their names Tiffany and I believe it was either Dan or Brad, I can't remember but if you're listening Tiffany and Dan it was great to meet you at this tour and it was nice to share Glassport wine. ⁓ So from the tour I ⁓ went down to the river and I had booked myself a ticket on a river cruise and this is a short one-hour ride on a boat that goes you know along the river the Duro River. And I think what's most impressive ⁓ with this tour was that you go under several of the bridges here in Porto. There are numerous bridges because it ⁓ is a ⁓ large river and to get across from one side to the other they've built these beautiful bridges over history. It was just nice ⁓ and I really enjoyed that tour because I happened to be fortunate enough to have a group of Portuguese ⁓ men and women who were on some sort of ⁓ a group event and they were just having a blast ⁓ singing and ⁓ just taking photos and just enjoying themselves. It was kind of fun to be in that environment as we went up and down the river. The only part of that tour that was a bit difficult is it was cold. wind was blowing and so that was a little tough but it was a beautiful way to see the city of Porto from the river and I enjoyed that very much. Jeff Rittener (52:45) Today is ⁓ Thursday December 18th and it is my final day on this long journey here in Spain and Portugal. Today's the day I will head back and get on that long flight back to the United States and to the Bay Area. But first I thought I'd describe my day yesterday because it was probably my favorite day. I was able to do some of the things that I enjoy the most and it started with a very early, before the sun came up, run in Porto and I was fortunate enough to to get up and get myself out the door as it was just beginning to get light and the lights were still shining on the buildings on both sides of the river and what was really fortunate about this run is I had already mapped out a wonderful running path that follows the river towards the Atlantic Ocean and so as I wound myself down the cobblestone streets to the river and then crossed the foot bridge down Louis bridge to the other side called Gaia where I'd spent most of my time yesterday. And then I ran along the river and they have a beautiful running path. I guess you'd say it's it's a it's right up against the river. So it's in some cases, it's kind of above the water and in some cases it kind of comes in. But you wind around the contours of the the terrain there and you work your way towards the Atlantic. Now, I wish I had a bit more time and energy and I would have liked to have kept going but I did turn around and as I came back the sun came up and it was a very cold and brisk morning but it was felt so good to just be out running once again. The rest of the day I did one of the things that I just enjoy the most and that is I had no agenda. I basically was able to wander through the many parts of Porto to see some of the iconic sites. For example, I did come up to what's called the Sao Bento station. And it's ⁓ a train station that's ⁓ iconic. And basically, when you walk into the front of it, it just feels like a normal train station, just kind of people moving to and fro. But it's also like a living museum, because you're surrounded by more than 20,000 blue and white azulejo. tiles and that these tiles on all the way up to a very, very tall ceiling and across all four of the sides tell the story of Portugal. there's tile pictures, if you will, of kings and battles and some of the rural life and just how transportation it kind of has kind of evolved. I mean, the whole hall just kind of glowed in this soft white and there was just the homo travelers moving to and fro if you've been in a train station and ⁓ it was one of those places that you kind of pause and you just look up and I spent quite a while taking pictures of course and just kind of feeling the weight and the beauty of the country's past kind of just wrapped up around you so it was really a fun ⁓ place to visit. ⁓ You know from there I wandered across the same bridge, the footbridge, but on the very top of the footbridge, which is incredibly high up, connects the two sides via the train, but there's also pedestrian pathway across. as you go across that bridge, occasionally you have the trains coming back and forth and looking from that vantage point, you can see both sides of Porto and ⁓ the Meandering River and the beautiful sloping hills and the old old buildings so colorful kind of as they they work their way down towards that river bank and just just beautiful stunning views and then I think just again wandering just giving the feel the vibe the hub the atmosphere of the city and one of the things that I wanted to do because most people said you have to experience this is speaking of the So the fado is Portugal's most iconic musical tradition. And it's a deeply emotional style of singing built around themes of longing and fate and sacerdade that uniquely Portuguese blend of nostalgia and yearning. It's performed with a vocalist and it's accompanied by a 12 string Portuguese guitar and a classical guitar, which creates a sound that's both kind of delicate and it's also kind of Hursting. Historically, know, Fado grew out of the working class neighborhoods, taverns and waterfront communities and shaped by sailors, bohemians and people living on the margins of society. Now, experiencing this ⁓ for me was very powerful. mean, just the nature of the music and the style. You know, it's more than just music. It just really is a cultural ritual. You know, when I walked in, it's a very, it's a small gathering. I signed up for one that was very small and it was very short, an hour. And we walk in a very dark, lily-lit room with lights and you sit and you wait for the performance, right? the, you know, the room eventually quiets, the lights kind of dim, and then the singer comes out and delivers this raw and intimate ⁓ emotional ⁓ the first song, the singer afterwards, told us it was one of the more sadder songs in this Portuguese fada. even though you don't understand any of the words, as I did, just the sense of music was quite moving. And so ⁓ I was so glad that I was able to experience that. ⁓ was definitely worth taking the time that evening. ⁓ The photo for me was followed by dinner, last kind of dinner in Portugal. during that dinner, as a solo traveler, it's sometimes hard because the restaurant's trying to figure out where they put you. And I ended up getting a seat between two couples. ⁓ One couple was a Portuguese woman married to a Dutch man and they lived in Netherlands. And the other couple were Americans and ⁓ got a chance to really get to know them. And I will talk more about them later. podcast. But anyway, just that was a wonderful final evening dinner and ⁓ wrapping up just what has been an incredible trip to Portugal. Jeff Rittener (59:27) I am back home now here in Campbell, California after a very long trip from Porto to Frankfurt and then from Frankfurt all the way back to San Francisco. A very uneventful and easy trip and it was good to be back home. after so long. I've been home now for a day or two and have had a chance to reflect on my trip and look at all of the photos that I took, talk to family and some friends and just share some of the stories that happened over time. recall ⁓ the days in Lisbon and the days of Porto. You know, the movement, the stillness and ⁓ many of the moments that surprised me. ⁓ The first part of my trip to Spain was all about you know, my marathon and as I described it in episode 20, ⁓ you know, leaving Spain behind with all of the emotion, you know, the energy, the intensity of that visit, you know, I was gladly entered Portugal where ⁓ this part of the trip would allow me to slow down and kind of soak in life. And it was an opportunity to really experience the culture and the uniqueness of another country and, know, two very different cities. know, Lisbon, you know, met me with movement. You there were long walks through the Alfama alleys. ⁓ There were the steep climbs, you know, up the Miraduros and where my Airbnb was with its beautiful view. And then the tiny restaurants with the memorable food and meals that I had. And, course, the masses that I saw as they made their voices heard in protest. You know, Lisbon really reminded me of my visits to the beautiful city here by the bay here in California where life is always moving. You know and then you know I went to Porto and this shifted the pace entirely. know, Porto really didn't ask me to move. It asked me to listen. You know, my morning run, I'll never forget, along the Douro River as the sun was coming up, you know, the details of how poor wine is made and, you know, and stored for decades. The discovery of the Sao Bento Azulejos, the tiles, the historical tiles in the train station, you know, had an emotional gravity of the Fado and in its dim room where everything was just, you focused on this very emotional ⁓ music and singing. ⁓ Porto and its stunning views from the top of the bridges and from the boat ride below really gave me a sense of calm and relaxation and peace. So together Lisbon and Porto created really, I kind of think of it like creating a conversation, emotion and stillness and discovery and reflection. Now, these recordings capture the places, the rhythms, the textures of my journey, but they're really only half the story. Because when you travel, for me, it's not just about where you go and what you see, but it's about who you meet along the way. And Portugal introduced me to some remarkable people. And during the trip, I began to really focus on... ⁓ learning and dialoguing with the people around me that I met in all sorts of different ways. And these people really shaped my days in ways I didn't expect. People whose stories, their generosity, their humor, and their small acts of connection, they're going to stay with me long after this trip. So that's where I'll leave this first chapter, what I'm calling Pathways in Portugal. You know, these days in Lisbon and Porto, know, the movement, the stillness, some of the surprises, the moments, you know, that asked me to kind of slow down and pay attention. That's what I call the journey. But next week, I'm going to shift the focus because the real heart of this trip wasn't just the pathways. It was the people. So part two, I'll be ⁓ publishing hopefully in a week or so. It will be called The People in Portugal and it'll be a shorter episode about the industry. who I met and who really kind of turned the trip into something a bit more human and more memorable. So for now, I'd like to thank you for walking these pathways with me. I will ⁓ see you next week for the people behind the places.