Just had a massage at the spa, sitting in the terrace waiting for the sunset. The colors right now are gorgeous.
And then this bastard swoops in and steals some of my aged cheese!
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Todd is shocked to hear I was wrong about something. I think he finds me to be a font of knowledge!
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Beautiful photos and story.
Love Porto and the Grahams tour and visit.
For my visit, we did the upgrade tasting and were escorted to the library room, with framed invoices to Winston Churchill on the walls between the stacks.
They poured an array of wines and left the bottles and decanters on the table.
Was unsure of how much I could take to refill our glasses. So was a bit conservative. But not too conservative.
Wonderful to compare LBV to a vintage port and the different aged tawnys.
Thank you for sharing.
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Ha! Facts!!
And im late with a reply (brutal travel week at work), but I freaking love all of this! Old/ancient port is such a treat…and undoubtedly way better when you’re actually in Portugal with your wife!
Enjoy my man and keep the notes/pics coming 
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Since my wife and I had a large lunch and after-lunch Tawny Ports, and we were getting up early today to head back to Lisbon, we decided to eat by the hotel. Apparently some of the Port houses, like Taylor’s, have elegant restaurants as well. After jumping in an Uber, we chuckled when we learned Taylor’s was literally right next door to our hotel floor side entry! I’m taking this pic right now out of that side entry on the terrace:
If you come here, I can strongly recommend The Yeatman for accommodations, but not at all, Taylor’s for dinner. It’s smart casual and a really nice venue but the food was very average and bordering on disappointing. The wine list is ok, mostly Taylor-owned products. I did try a few wines made of grapes that I’ve never heard of, that I enjoyed very much. The Somm was quite knowledgeable and attentive, and he recommended given my wine preferences, that I go with the tenderloin, something that I rarely order when I am in Europe. Besides being the most expensive thing on the menu, which is OK if it’s great, it was not good at all. Overly salted and chewy, very chewy, for a tenderloin. And all the accompanying things were mushy. The scallop and prawn appetizer was equally average, actually, rather disappointing. All kinds of sauces all over the plate and the crustaceans, like some chef trying to look like a Michelin chef and totally failing. The prawns were also quite tiny. We decided to skip dessert.
Ended nicely at the hotel bar with some matured brandies (aguadiente). Enjoyed watching the Somm open a 1977 magnum of Port with heated Port tongs. For two guys! Sadly, I was not offered any!
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People need to spend time at the wine bar Bacchus Vini. On the ribeira next to the bridge on the Porto side. Specializing in small, family producers. Fabulous place to people watch as well.
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Great thread @Robert.A.Jr and all, looking forward to my first Porto visit next year
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Love this thread, Robert. Terrific write ups and pictures. Portugal is definitely on my “must visit” list and your thread only reinforced that. I’m not an experienced port drinker by any means, but have found myself quite enjoying 30 year Tawnies when I have a chance to drink them.
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If you like 30 year tawny port, you are in!!
My wife and I go back in May for a wedding. Hopefully my liver is healed by then!
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Because you are doing such a great job of letting it heal?
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Sigh…
I reduced my post-Portugal consumption by exactly 371%
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Words fail me . . . 
Following in the footsteps of famous explorers Henry the Navigator, Vasco de Gama and @Robert.A.Jr, we ran away to Portugal.
Great place; fearsome seagulls in Lisbon, apparently.
No turkey last week, but tentacle soup? Check.
Octo-dog? Double check. At least ONE of these people was thrilled…(Time Out Mkt)
Most exciting event?
Exiting a Portuguese parking garage, everyone driving fast indoors and your credit card doesn’t work at the exit.
In the medieval University town of Coimbra
Stay at Quinta de Lagrimas, an oasis of old-world gardens and quietude and an easy walk to the bustle of the Baixa.
Eat at Devaneio (“reverie”). Our best meal in Portugal, highly recommended. Be guided by Ricardo on wines.
Espumante is Portugal’s answer to Cava. We tried several, and this Rama was the head-and-shoulders winner.
I told Ricardo I preferred tawny Port and he said, "Ah. Wait here"
Oh. Myyyy. Just amazing.
We were headed to Porto and now all I wanted was Madeira.
Madeira PSA: check out Otto’s Madeira Travelogue courtesy of @Otto_Forsberg
Porto: JK Rowling lived and wrote part of the first Harry Potter book here in 1991-93. Also, they apparently make some kind of fermented grape beverage that’s not Madeira.
We stayed at The Yeatman, another oasis, with beautiful views of Porto across the river. Not cheap, worth every penny.
Based on Ricardo’s recommendation, we tasted at Quevedo Port Lodge, small and family-run. It’s sort of like a grower champagne equivalent to the Graham’s, Taylor’s and Fonseca’s of the Port-o-sphere. It was great.
Knowledgeable and exuberantly enthusiastic, Fernando poured us a broad, interesting and delicious selection while we listened to live Fado. By the end we ordered a mixed case of phenomenal 30-year white tawny and 95’ Colheita. Well worth a visit.
Back in Lisbon, we walked the mean streets of the Alfama in search of a light lunch and visited the monastery at Belem, a high point.
We both caught colds there. Fine now, doing what the award-winning author in the house calls, “snot management”.
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Awesome travelogue! Vasco and I are buds!
So glad you stayed at the Yeatman! It’s a pretty special place. The views from our Terrace deck were astonishing great. And the upstairs bar overlooking the city had pretty awesome aged Tawny selections. Really glad you enjoyed it and thanks for sharing!
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Really nice work — if you can call it that, Steve. 
I’m not a Port guy, but your and Robert’s atmospheric and evocative notes and photos make me want to go.
That photo of @Jim_Stewart is hilarious too. He looks like a cat eyeing a songbird, ready to pounce.
I’ve never really seen or heard about white Port. What is it like — flavor, mouthfeel etc?
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Booked my flight to Porto last weekend, blaming @Robert.A.Jr
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I came back with Covid! The land of good wines and unfamiliar viruses . . .
Looks like a wonderful trip. Nice report too.
Wow, fantastic, fun, and entertaining writeup!! Loved it!
Clearly I am not as cunning a linguist as my friend Giant Matt, who said it better:
Appreciate the photos as well, you have an eye for art, and I now want to travel there even more than I did previously
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