Fly into Lisbon from Sao Miguel, get the car I’ve rented for the week and mish it up the coast to Porto. There’s swell in the water today but the wind is bad up until the Porto area so I have to rush to make sure I get in before nightfall. It’s the only thing on my mind. Right around sunset I make it to Espinho, it has a nice right but it’s not working. About to feel skunked, but down the beach are punchy, peely, almost windswelly lefts in offshore winds. The water is pretty brown, must be dirty from the rainstorm. Get in on the blue dolphin and it’s actually bigger and more powerful than it looks from the beach. Have a really fun 45min session into the dark. So great to get some good ones after not only not surfing for several days but also those big travel hours. Feels good to stretch the body out in the surf and move after so much sitting. The water up here is cold, first time I’ve felt a chill on entering the water on this whole trip.
Got into Porto at night, chill at the airbnb a little, and head out to a restaurant closeby to eat and watch Brazil put on a clinic against South Korea. I ordered a big Brazilian meal in their honor. Feijoa, farofa, carne enough to feed two but I eat it all, I’m ravenous, I haven’t eaten since breakfast.
Today is one of the few sunny days here while I’m in Porto, so out I go to see the town and make the most of it. The area my airbnb is in is kinda young, kinda seedy, I think there’s a university nearby because I’m seeing a lot of young weirdos, cheaper, and like a 15min walk to the historic center of Porto by the river. Once you get into that zone it really cleans up and everything’s polished. Plenty of tourists. Walked through the little alleys, restaurant strips, past the beautiful old churches, across the famous bridge. The views from on the bridge is sweet because you have a unique perspective of looking down into a charming town and river at the same time. Walked and walked seeing the town how I like to, head in the direction of something that catches your eye and see what’s up, back in solo mode, full freedom.
Park it at a spot to watch Spain get eliminated by Morocco in penalties and suffer alongside several other Spaniards. Later on I stumbled into a FC Porto bar, nearby my apt, to watch the Portugal game. FC Porto posters and jerseys and all kinds of memorabilia all over the walls, tons of young people drinking beer by the bottle and smoking cigarettes inside. Everyone glued to the game on the big screen. They had rigged up a nice bleachers setup in the back with 4 levels so the place was totally packed. They dominated the game and all were in good spirits. This was a Portuguese soccer experience I’m glad to have.
Cruised out in search of a francesinha and found one not too far away at a shitty little diner. It’s a typical Porto dish that consists of a sandwich in white bimbo bread, a steak, ham and sausage inside, melted cheese all over it, and it sits in a little puddle of tomato broth with garlic, paprika, and onion. To my surprise it kind of rocked, as much as I don’t want to admit it. I got it as a fuck it I’ll try it once kind of thing and I thought it’d be revolting like the cachopo in Asturias but this hit. Almost all the dudes at the bar were eating one. Always helps to be hungry. Today felt like a great Porto experience complete with walking around town, Portuguese soccer, and a francesinha. Classic!
Dec 7
Real, real mellow day, chilly. Walked to the river and sat and people watched in the afternoon drinking Port wine and catching up on the journal. Had another francesinha for dinner in a tiny hole in the wall, only locals, a cash only spot, but this one was on a bed of french fries within the tomato broth and a fried egg ontop.
Pulled trigger on one of those Moroccan all inclusive surf camps where everything is accounted for, all you have to do is show up and surf. They feed you, take you to waves, you rest in a riad with other guests who are also there to surf. I hope it doesn't suck. It was a hard decision. Do I keep exploring and look for waves on my own terms and rent a car how I’ve done this whole trip? Or do I go full baby mode and have everything taken care of and just score the big swell that’s forecasted? I pulled trigger on baby mode because maybe I meet some cool people and also because I’m tired of the constant exploration and in a place I don’t know the language, I figured it’s fine to get carted around. At the very least there will be waves for the final surf mission of the trip.
Portugal has been a little bit of a bust, wavewise, during the month I’ve been here. Looking back on it I’ve only scored 4 days of high quality surf: the session in Ericeira with John, the 2 back to back at Carcavelos and Guincho, and the sick left point in the Azores with Jake. Sure there have been other fun surfs but we’ve gotten unlucky with the winds. Of course the wave height never dipped below head high, which is incredible, but the storms and wind direction were often not in our favor. Compared with the two weeks in France where we got 8 or so high quality days, felt like everyday in Hossegor had perfect offshore beach break conditions. Or our month in Spain where we did get skunked but we also had several Mundaka days, that insane Laredo day, Getxo going off during the XL swell, even some of the Zurriola surfs were sick. While we were in France and Spain and it was going off so was Portugal no doubt. I know it pumps around here, we just got a little unlucky. Hoping to score some fat Moroccan surf and turn my luck around with this surf camp.
Dec 8
Rainy, windy, no surf today. It’s pouring when I wake up and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon. I wanna go out and do something, see new stuff, probably should’ve stayed in Porto at a museum but end up taking a day trip one hour south to the town of Aveiro. Aveiro is in an industrial part that’s really not that pretty but its historic downtown is cute with all its shops and canals. The canals have little boats kind of like gondolas so people call this little area the Venice of Portugal. The “Venice of Portugal” peaked my interest so I decided to spend some time there. I feel like that doesn't really do that good of a comparison because it’s really very small and only a few canals. Never been to Venice but we have more canals in Venice Beach California.
On arrival the town is in full Christmas shopping mode all the stores are lit up and there are people everywhere. I throw my hat in the ring trying to find some socks or underwear but don't find any I like. After a quick lap in the rain I’ve seen the whole town and so I sit in a cafe and write and chill for several hours. Super mellow and nice to people watch. Much like yesterday but in a new setting. Cruise west to the small community of Costa Nova, praying for surf, still none, and watch a chilly sunset over the water in a nice beachfront bar.
Wake up today, still a little rainy but there’s waves and wind is good. Go check Matosinhos which is the big beach break towards the north of Porto, it’s surfing in the city like Santa Monica. Typically filled with surf schools, not today it’s 8-10ft on the beach breaks and offshore. Hugged up against the massive sea wall to the north the waves are much smaller and progressively get bigger as you head south and lose the protection of the sea wall. Alongside the sea wall is a sandbar delivering kinda wedgy fun shoulder-head high rights and only like 4 guys on it. I foolishly go check a couple other beaches before realizing that right was the only surfable break I’ve seen and rush back.
When I return there’s now 15 guys on it, paddle out, and get a couple amongst the crowd. Pretty soon it’s too crowded to surf there as the waves are less and less as the tide comes up. Had it for like an hour and as I’m leaving the sun comes out. Now it’s glorious surfing conditions, sunny and offshore, I am not done surfing.
I drive up the coast about 30 minutes to Azurara, a weird little coastal town, not nice at all, and find a polluted harbor with a sea wall with almost the exact same setup as Matosinhos. In front of a jetty is a bowly little, rippable, shoulder high right with not a person in sight. Immediately out there on the shortboard and enjoy that all to myself for 2 hours. Great surf session battling the current, figuring out which ones to go on, getting fun repetitions on the shortboard. Afterwards I float down south a bit where the beach break is heavier and bigger. Caught an amazing left in the offshore. Stood up and hollow, must’ve been slightly overhead. I make the drop and try stalling with my arm as the wave breaks over my head and around my back and shoulders. I’m sure a great surfer could’ve gotten deep in that barrel, mine was more of a pocket ride but rode through it pretty frickin clean and felt great. Paddled back out and got smoked over and over and over. After about 15 duck dives, exhausted, I conceded that I’d been denied and called it a day. What I should’ve done is just paddle out where I had previously and then float over with the current to where the left was, oh well. Really cool final surf on the European continent for me. No one in sight and to wrap it up with a hollow left no less, really happy. I’d heard that you can get good waves in the north of Portugal all to yourself and I’m glad to have discovered that it’s true.
Race back to Porto because I realize Brazil v Croatia is starting and I do not want to miss that. I’m starving so I order a francesinha with fries and a beer at the spot close to home and watch Brazil blow it. Super close game but at the end Neymar scores and they’ve all but won. On the last play of the game Croatia ties it up, sends it to penalties, and wins on penalties. Heartbreaking.
Somehow walked right up to the one Argentine bar in Porto and got to watch the quarterfinal of Arg v Netherlands with a bunch of screaming and singing Argentinians. First time since Spain where the only language I’m hearing is Spanish. It’s a terrific game. Arg is comfortably up 2-0 most game. NED ties it in the 10th minute of a bullshit 10 minute stoppage time on a set piece play and everyone is in shambles. The penalties rock and Arg wins. They are the only Latin American team left and surely I’d be cheering for them and Messi over anyone else but I was won over by this group of people. Being in that environment with about 100 singing Argentinians and hearing their comments and slang with their accent “concha de tu madre” actually made me love this team. I’ll always cheer for the Latinos but sometimes I find it hard to cheer for Arg with their arrogance and floppiness. This experience won me over. So much singing and joy, this means so much to them.
Dec 10
Drive to Lisbon, flight to Agadir, get picked up at the airport by a man with a sign with my name on it, and make it to the riad in Tamraght 30 min north. Total travel day. Did have a nice lunch/dinner at a family restaurant in Lisbon, fish and potatoes, while Portugal loses to Morocco in the quarterfinals. Everyone’s sad except me and I can’t believe that literally hours later I’ll be in the land of semifinalist Morocco!
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