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Here’s a little packing tip for travellers of a certain age going to Portugal — or anywhere, in fact. Make room in your suitcase for a millennial — even if it costs you the money you save on travelling economy class to pay the excess baggage. You’ll save bucket loads on overall travel costs, and the money you fork out feeding them will be worth every cent. (Warning: millennials do tend to eat a lot but they don’t drink much.) Believe me, you’ll have a vastly different experience from the cardboard cutout stops on an organised tour, wearing a neck loop and listening to a guide. Your reward will be a stress-free holiday where all you have to do is roll out of bed, put on walking shoes, and follow your millennial to that day’s destination. I should make that plural because destinations for millennials in one day take in a monastery, a church, a palace AND a castle walking uphill and climbing 164 steps to see the view from the tower. Health benefits are enormous, though. Your fitness ring will be closed by lunchtime when you stop for pasteis de nata and bacalhau (salt cod) in a laneway cafe seating only six people — yes, six — run by a charming husband and wife. You’ll have no worries about how to navigate the public transport system in Lisbon (No.28 tram). No stress about which venue has the least touristy Fado in Porto (Fado Maior) and which port producer offers the most interesting tour and tastings of the barrels (Cockburns). Yes, you might see all of that on an organised coach tour, but you certainly don’t get the bareknuckle thrill of tearing down an autostrada through the picturesque vine-laden hills of the Douro Valley with your son leading the charge in a hire car. Fletcher, our 37-year-old guide, took no prisoners. His planning might have been done on the run through our eight-night Portuguese sojourn which took in Lisbon, Porto, Sintra and the Douro Valley, but it was meticulous. Staying in inner city Airbnbs in Lisbon (64 steps up to the apartment) and Porto (a lift) provided a wonderful vantage point from which to explore both cities’ historic attractions on foot. Pounding up and down cobbled streets was the ideal way to see locals carrying out their daily routines — hanging out colourful arrays of washing on balconies; an elderly woman emerging from her gloomy apartment carrying a wicker basket loaded with fresh sea bass on her way to a restaurant; groups of high-spirited students in academic gowns with chamber pots on their heads participating in the praxe initiation rituals celebrating the end of the academic year. A guitarist busking from a first-floor balcony with a dangling rope attached to a hat for passers by to throw in coins. They were all part of the vibrant parade of daily life providing takeaway memories as significant as the traditional historic sites. The best memories of all, though, were the restaurant experiences you would never get on the main tourist tracks. Our millennial’s weapons? An e-sim and two nimble thumbs, which afforded us a raft of eateries within minutes the moment one of us mentioned hunger pangs, which usually set in after walking kilometres between two monasteries and a church. We were never disappointed with his choices — not only with the excellent, authentic Portuguese food but all were positively overflowing with a spirit of generosity from staff and owners which we had found missing in our UK dining experiences. Fletcher’s go-to blog – among others – was oladaniela.com by Australian Daniela Sunde-Brown, a Lisbon-based former travel writer and restaurant critic. She started her travel blog back in 2021 because she was tired of the formulaic copy-paste itinerary suggestions from other content creators. “I knew I could share deeper ideas and suggestions with curious travellers wishing to explore the real Portugal (no brunch spots included),” she says on her website. Her best suggestion, by far, was O Velho Eurico, tucked away in Lisbon’s historic Alfama district, with young gun chef Ze Paulo Roche serving the freshest produce in modern neo-tasca (tavern) takes on Portuguese food listed on daily blackboard specials. Think duck rice, codfish and octopus with garlic and olive oil and the house favourite, creme brulee. We were devastated when we rocked up at 6pm to find it closed. The charming young chef himself came out to apologise that his five tables were booked out for three months. “It must be good,” we said. “It is,” he replied with no hint of arrogance, before offering a sympathetic “we do have a cancellation list so if you come back when we open at 7pm you might be able to score three seats.” Like about 40 other hopefuls, we did that for three nights in a row before we finally scored three spots at the counter, being the first ones in the queue and announcing we had our millennial’s birthday to celebrate. We felt like we had won the lottery and the staff sang a chorus of Happy Birthday while delivering complimentary shots of brandy. Other lottery win contenders in Lisbon and Porto are the following: The Tavern at Casa do Alentejo in the courtyard of the historic cultural centre devoted to the people of the Alentejo region of Portugal. Once again, you are lucky to get a table, but it helps if you are with a cool millennial with a penchant for Portuguese tapas, aka petiscos, such as chicken gizzards, sheep’s milk cheese, and codfish cakes. The courtyard is also the place to be for live performances of traditional songs from Alentejo. Pasteis de Belem — this one is hardly a secret, but prepare to wait in line for an hour to secure one of the legendary pasteis de nata (Portuguese tarts) made with rich custard the monks used their leftover egg yolks to make. It’s worth the wait to bite into the flaky pastry casing and experience the textural contrast with the custard. Patio 44. Once again, we found ourselves with our noses on the windowpane forlornly hoping for a place at the table at this slick and modern eatery which has an innovative take on traditional Portuguese cuisine. It’s booked out for months. Once again, the owner took pity on us when he recognised we had inquired about a table the night before. Beef cheek with pear and beetroot, and duck breast with celeriac puree were probably the food highlight of our journey. And we were pleasantly surprised when the bill came to just over $100. There’s more, but do yourself a favour and google Daniela’s blog. Or get yourself a millennial to do it for you. Cheers!
