2026-10-31 These boots were made for walking and don't touch my hat

 

In a town about 45min away from Porto by bus (covered by our Porto Metro card) is what was the industrial center of Portugal, São João de Medeira. Some/most of the factories that produced textiles are gone, but some remain and these lovely museums continue the history of those that keep us in comfy, and not so comfy, clothing. BONUS - we were the only ones there for the most part at both museums.

Calçado is the Portuguese word for shoes, but the more umbrella term for it; shoe, footwear. shod, shoewear, shoe-making .  Sapatos (shoes,heels, footwear, loafers, pumps, shoelaces) refer to the article of clothing more often in speaking. Kinda like the Aves/Pássaro discussion.

Stacey recruited her friend Janet and they had a lovely day enjoying the museums, buildings, food and beverages of the town, while JR stayed in Porto and participated in an Urban Sketchers event.

This bronze of a shoemaker is in the foreground for the building that used to be the hat factory.

The museums are well curated and speak to not only the process but also the tenacity of the people, the horrible conditions in which they worked, and their participation in protests and change. It's what you would anticipate of the time - dangerous chemicals used with no protection, child labor, women's labor during the war(s), not enough pay, etc.

Interesting types of shoes and their history; zoom in to read the text next to them.  

Also, the story of someone who sold shoes door-to-door.

This is the sewing machine for shoes; the ones for hats is below with that museum description.

I really enjoyed the creative side of the shoe art.  The other image is probably my favorite one as there is a horse in the heel ;)

The building that houses the Shoe Museum also houses the Museum of Arte which we didn't get a chance to peruse.  All 3 museums were reasonably priced - €5 for all 3. However, they close at noon and reopen at 14:30, so we had to pass on the art.  All the more reason to go back ;)

That being said, there also are several factories there, most notably the pencil factory.  You all know we can't pass up a factory tour.  The other reason to go back.  However, these benches are lining the entry to the museum building as well as in the entryway.  We can't wait to go back and see the factory.

This is the section on protests, etc.  If that's not your jam, skip ahead ;)

This was one of the reasons why protesting was important. I've made this one pretty big as it was hard to read in smaller version. Slide the button to the right to see it in English.

     

On to the Hat Museum

This bronze was gorgeous and had the backdrop of the shoe and art museum.

I love, love, love that they used the perimeter of a hat to identify the WC

The machinery was really fun to see.  They were really big pieces.  Also note the silver/grey lines and dots on the floor.  It helps to indicate flow of the exhibits, but the dots also show where there are braille explanations and/or a tactile exhibit.

Lots of visual and tactile opportunities to see the history of the styles of hats. I would love to make a puzzle out of this one.

For the exit/entry to the parking garage, these lovely murals helped define the space.

The town is adorable and we passed this beautiful ironwork window on our way to get a snackie.

All-in-all, a great day trip which we will take again so that we can do the factory tours as they are only open on weekdays.

The Time has Come...

There's always new art in the Terminals

For inquiring minds, the Uber did come at 12:30pm and Kat and Cleo came over earlier and we visited and said our 'goodbye for now'. They ensured all our things made it into the Uber and then final hugs and tears (well not final tears) and we were on our way.  Our driver was fantastic and got us right in front of the outside check in for United.  Bags checked - check. 

At this time, there had been a government shutdown and tales of hours long security lines were being reported. Two days before, "extra personel" (trying not to get flagged here) had been sent to major airports. We had the usual angst turned up a notch so had gotten to the airport 4 hours before our flight.  We have Clear+ and TSAPre and boy were those handy. From what we could see, the wait for all the other lines was appx 15 minutes. We walked over to Clear+TSA Precheck - which is its own line separate from TSAPRE and CLEAR - and five minutes later were through and walking to Terminal A.

Since it was lunchtime, we sat and had a leisurely lunch, read our books and checked about 500 times to ensure we had our Passports with the Visas. Then it was time to board. we had chosen the last row near the galley as there were only 2 seats instead of 3 and we could sit together and not have to worry about other people in the row.  It was the right move.  The plane left on time and arrived at our first stop - FRANKFURT GERMANY. We read and did something we rarely do, sleep on the plane.  Made the time fly right by (see what I did there). 

None the worse for wear, we followed the signs - well, the few we could find. Frankfurt doesn't have the best signage sometimes. Border Control wasn't very busy and we passed through in about 15 minutes, without issue and received our stamps on the page adjacent to our fresh new Visas indicating our Visa time had been begun along with our 4 hour layover. Planes like to serve either egg and cheese or some other unsatisfying breakfast, so as soon as we could we hit the coffee & pastry near our gate. Freshly caffeinated JR decided to do some sketching.

 

We moseyed over to the gate and realized that while our boarding passes had seats on them, they didn't have a boarding group.  No problem. Waited for the gate attendant and asked for paper boarding passes and she happily printed them out.  She also offered to gate check our Rick Steve's bags, so that was super helpful...right up until JRs bag started to vibrate. I should have known - my waterpic buttons were prone to be triggered when the bag got jostled, so the bag would start buzzing. FINALLY, I opened the bag, pulled half my stuff out, found the waterpic and stuffed it in a shoe. 

The flight was quick - 2 hours - and we landed in Porto where it was 60 degrees and sunny.  The baggage claim wasn't too far and we waited with our newest, best friends to see who won the lottery.  Well, apparently, we did. All 4 blue bags, the pink and black roller bags and both Rick Steve's bags came off the belt pretty quickly. Dig the yellow Aussie bag tags provided by our friends over at Outback Solutions - our friends Eva and John Lisle; for all your web design and internet solution needs.

We took the elevator up and waited near where our driver - the Fabulous Flavio - at North Travel Solutions met us and gave us the royal treatment. He was joyful and welcoming and reasonably priced ;)   The street on which we live is pedestrian only, so parking on adjacent streets is..challenging. Not for Flavio - zipped right into a space at the corner and unloaded what we could all comfortably carry. He also called our Portugal the Place contact, Francisco, who also came to help. Flavio took two of the 45lb bags, Francisco took one and JR and I navigated with our backpacks and a blue bag between us. They then went back to get the rolling bags.

Flavio said his goodbyes and Francisco showed us how everything worked, handed us the keys, and all of a sudden, we were alone - in our apartment!

Immediately after this picture, we did a 360 around the apartment and high-fived each other - WE MADE IT.

Welcome to Porto - Results Please!

 And the winner is:

CEDOFEITA/SANTA CATARINA Neighborhoods

They are a little trendy, bohemian neighborhoods known for their art galleries, independent shops, and diverse dining options. Both of these streets have pedestrian only areas and that is where we are aiming. They have residential over retail with mostly 3-4 story buildings. They are close to, well, everything. The Old Town on the Duoro River is a 20ish minute walk. Museums, activities, parks, and the beach are all within reach. The public transportation system is plentiful. Buses, trams, funicular and metro are all within a few minutes walk. Trains to access most of Portugal are available through one of two major stations: São Bento and Campahna.

The cons are: It's rainy season is a bit unicloudesque. It's pricier but not as pricey as Lisbon. It is somewhat touristy.

Here are some videos to show you the charm of these neighborhoods

Rua de Santa Caterina                               Rua de Cedofeita

Why we didn't choose:

BRAGA - We actually liked Braga quite a bit. If there comes a time where we are not as active as we are now, we would consider it. The lack of ability to walk out your door and go 'do' something is pretty limited.  It's lovely and we can take day trips there.

COIMBRA - JR described it best - the neighborhoods we would want to live in don't align with the services for which we are looking. There are very few flat areas and for the most part, the streets are pretty steep. The Old Town was lovely and again, we will probably visit there to hear some Fado and enjoy the touristy part of Coimbra.

SÃO MARTINHO DE PORTO - This lovely beach town would be great if you one was looking for a super quiet place that was mostly flat. In order to take part in most larger services - grocery, etc. - one would need to go to Caldas da Rainha (many do) or one of the other larger cities adjacent. Like the Portuguese, I would also vacation here for a few days.

CALDAS DA RAINHA - We had high hopes for this artsy town. Like Braga, it's just a little too small for us. It is lovely tho. Also, there was not a lot of apartment inventory and most don't have any type of heat exchange system other than open windows. It doesn't get as hot here, but since I'm allergic to the heat, we can't take a chance that it will be cool enough in addition to the size of the town.

For our VISA appointment, we must have a 1 year lease with a registered property/owner. That appointment is January 15th. Chances are our lease will probably start before we are able to go,but that's part of the process.

Next:  Obtaining a D7 (passive income) VISA and learning Portuguese

Welcome to Portugal - São Martinho do Porto and Caldas da Rainha

After have almost 2 weeks of rain, the sun came out and blessed us as we travelled southwest to São Martinho (pronounced Sow Martinyo) do Porto for a brief stop to see some of the silver coast and meet some expats. The city is lovely. Around 3-5,000 permanent residents live here and it is a hotspot for Portuguese vacations. It has a bay area so the roiling Atlantic sounds are not as active here as in Faz do Duoro. It's flat, has some services, an active art community and a beach vibe.

Sandee and Lloyd, the expat artist couple we met, showed us a lovely cafe for brunch. It was very delicious and I had two cups of  Garoto. They shared their experience of moving to Portugal and life in a small town. It was a wonderful morning.  Fortified with information on Caldas, caffeine and a tummy full of yummy food, we set out for Caldas.

São Martinho is about 10 miles away from Caldas da Rainha, so we called an Uber rather than wait for a train/bus as being Saturday, the schedule was reduced. The ride, including tip, was €10.

Caldas is a small town of about 60,000 people near the Silver Coast. It's quaint Old Town area is adorned with Christmas decorations, art installations and murals. They also have a mall where in we stopped for a snack and some beer. There's also at least one large park and multiple green areas.

Although Caldas has a train station, the bus station is the hub of travel. You can get to pretty much anywhere you need via clean, sturdy, new buses.

There is a history of birds/swallows here and they have several art installations paying homage.  They also have a several installations of different sculptures.  My favorite is this black cat.

One of the restaurants had converted the front of a Vespa into a menu/host stand and it was super cute.

Caldas is a nice town with services albeit a bit closed down - even the restaurants - on Sundays. It has quite the personality.

Caldas also affords the opportunity to take a less than an hour bus ride to Lisbon. It hadn't been on our radar, but we did talk to some expats who live there (friends of friends) and they thought we should check it out.

Our hotel had a wonderful breakfast included. What we did find a little interesting was the decoration that included the dead field animals on a plate that hung over the bread section. At least they weren't field dressed?

Since we took a cab in, we hadn't seen this adorable frog water fountain until later in the day. It adorns traffic circle outside the train station .

Next Up: Lisbon