Oporto

‘When he’s away, the thing he misses about Porto is the tripe.’ I was talking to Eduarda Sandeman, wife of George Sandeman, chairman of the eponymous port firm. Despite his illustrious name, George Sandeman isn’t from Oporto (as the British call it). His family are from Jerez and he was educated in England. He speaks English and Spanish fluently but he told me that he is still teased by his wife for his imperfect Portuguese. It’s a hard language to pronounce — a bit like Spanish spoken by a Russian. George’s love of tripe, though, marks him out as a true son of Oporto. The inhabitants of the city are known as Tripeiros — tripe eaters.

This name dates back to 1415, when the Portuguese army were trying to take Ceuta in Morocco. To feed the troops, Oporto’s people went without all meat except tripe. Thankfully there is now more to eating here than offal. A highlight on a recent visit was the home-smoked salmon followed by milk-fed lamb at a restaurant called LSD — it stands for Largo de San Domingo — in central Oporto. The wine list is phenomenal too.

Much of Oporto’s wealth was built on the wine trade and a visit isn’t complete without going to one of the port lodges across the river at Vila Nova de Gaia. At LSD we finished the meal with a vintage port, a still sprightly Sandeman ’63, but the wine the Tripeiros enjoy most is a pale tawny, lightly chilled. If you are in the city for longer than a couple of days, go to the railway station, spend a half-hour admiring the tilework showing scenes from Portuguese history, and then take a train up country to the source of these famous wines.