Porto: Mercado do Bolhão and A Pérola Do Bolhão

After a light breakfast at Confeitaria do Bolhao we headed across the street into Mercado do Bolhão. Like the similar markets we visited in Coimbra and Lisbon, either folks get up pretty late in the day, or these places are slowly fading away…..I'm saying that because the Minipreco across the street seemed quite busy, but this older market still display quite a bit of charm.

Albeit a pretty quiet charm on this morning…..

The busiest area was the second floor where fruit and vegetable vendors were arranging, then rearranging their displays. Many were working the special grinding machines used for kale…..for folks to make caldo verde I assume.

The rest of the place was pretty sedate….not much going on at 9 in the morning.

After stepping out of the market, we decided just to wander around a bit, through Rua Catarina, very quiet on a Saturday morning.

Somehow, we ended up in a little square, which we found out was named Praça da Batalha after a battle that took place between Porto and Moors in the 10th Century…..unfortunately, the Moors won that one.

We ended up chatting with a very nice woman from the Phillipines who was attending a conference……funny who you meet during your travels!

There's a beautiful chruch on the square, decorated in the style of many churches in Porto with Azulejos….beautiful tile work.

This is the Igreja de Santo Ildefonso, built in 1739. I loved the tile work on this one…..and another eye catching chapel, the Capela das Almas de Santa Catarina, The Chapel of the Souls and Saint Catherine.

The tilework on this chapel depict scenes from the "Death of Saint Francis of Assissi" and "The Martyrdom of St. Catherine." Quite stunning. 

The sun was starting to shine brighter and folks were starting to wake and hit the streets…..

It was back to Mercado do Bolhão. We had decided to make use of the kitchen in our apartment for dinner after having a big lunch (think, well, pork of course) and wanted to stop by one of the shops that was not yet opened when we first walked by.

Why did we come back……well, the window display is a carnivore's dream…..

Man do I love the smell of cured meat in the morning! Combined with the "milky-feet" smell of the cheeses and you have my version of Disneyland…..

I guess we'd call this place….a deli? Meat Market? Both??? The folks working here are very friendly, though none of them spoke English. Still, food is the international language.

This was one of those moments where I wish I was one of those television personalities, with "handlers", "fixers" and teams to set everything up so I could learn what everything was……but maybe not. There's nothing like randomly stumbling across a place like this that gives one such joy.

And honestly, cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen, I didn't want anything too challenging……

A Pérola do Bolhão
Rua Formos 279
Porto, Portugal

Meat wrapped up, we headed across the street and had our second espresso of the the day to celebrate…..what, I don't know….joy over buying a sausage in Porto? That's a good enough reason for me.

We stopped by the Minipreco for some water and a couple of other items, then headed back to the apartment. I was enjoying the moment and looking forward to some "pernil de porco" for lunch. But deep inside I just knew that the Missus was going to make me earn that pork leg! The question was….how?

Thanks for reading!