Sunshine and Seafood

Their visit continued with a day at the ocean.  I would say beach, but the only beach where we were was made of concrete, and the ocean filled in lava rocks.  The location is known as Biscoitos and is the village with the wine museum.

The nice thing about this location is that they build free standing vendor booths for produce, baked goods, and crafts to be sold.

 

 

 

Rachel had some more of the local figs.

 

 

This is the concrete “beach”.  We found a nice little spot that was isolated and had a ladder to climb into the ocean. 

 

Chris and I did some snorkeling here.  I must admit, the water was cold and it took me some time to actually get in, but once I was in, it was not bad at all.

 

 

 

As we were getting ready to leave I found these fried dough crispy things with cinnamon and sugar.  It was really good.

 

On the drive home we found ourselves in the middle of a village getting ready for their big festival.  Here they are laying flowers and colored objects into a stencil to create a pattern on the road.

 

 

As we kept driving home, we passed by Setenta’s Place, which is a burger joint, and the guys wanted to get a burger.  It is the closest thing to a McDonald’s but here the food is a tad fresher (and local!).  Plus, it is made to order.

 

 

Both Ryan and Chris enjoyed this burger, which is similar to a big Mac.

 

I had some onion rings.

 

Then we went home and rested for a bit before taking the scenic drive to dinner.  On the way, from Porto Judeo, we stopped to get some pictures of Split Rock.

 

I zoomed in for this shot.

 

 

Now, for some reason, Ryan and I, on occasion, stop for dessert before dinner.  This was one of those times.  Actually, I think my last post may have had something similar too…but I swear this is not something we do ALL the time.  We just happened to have driven by this place known as Boutique do Pao (literally Bread Boutique) and we decided to stop to show my sister and Chris.

 

Once inside, these treats were too good to pass up.  We bought some for later, but we also tried some here.

Ryan and Chris wanted to try the locally made ice cream, and I am glad they did because it turns out that this is really good.  I can’t believe we did not know this existed until just then.

A little further down the road, we finally made it to our destination at Porto Das Pipas, which Ryan and I had only tried out for the first time the week before.

These were our lovely starters:

Chris and I split the Lapas.  In English these are known as Limpets.  I am not sure if you have heard of these, but they are super popular here.  These are grilled/baked, and in a butter sauce.

After a bit of a wait, which is not unusual here because everything is way fresher than you could ever imagine, the food finally came…which was like 2 bottles of wine later!

The server suggested the octopus to my sister.  She ordered it, but when it came I think she was a little startled at first since it was a nice sized piece of octopus, mostly still intact.  But, once she took the first bite, she was very happy with this dish.  I will admit it tasted good, but I can’t handle having the legs intact on my plate.

I ordered the wreck fish, but ended up with this red fish.  The server realized his mistake, and apologized, but in all honesty, I was happy with this fish, and I know this server would never let me order anything I would not like.  I told him I was not bothered by the error at all and I was pleased with this.  I was only really ordering the wreck fish because I was having trouble making up my mind.  Again, this fish is fully intact.  I must say, after some wine, I really do not mind this.  I also think the exposure to the fish served this way time and time again has made me more accepting of this.  I used to really freak out, but not any more.

Both Ryan and Chris ordered the steak.  This comes with amazing fresh potato chips.

 

After this long, but very enjoyable meal, we had some coffees, and then headed home.

 

QUESTIONS:  Have you ever been snorkeling?  Have you ever had dessert before dinner?  Have you ever had a server accidently order the wrong thing, but then you ate the dish because it looked good?