Favourite 2019 travel photos. Tokyo, Japan. October 2019.
Master at work
Food
My Tokyo omakase experience
While I was in the process of planning my trip to Japan, the most common question I received was along the lines of “Are you planning any big sushi meals?” My answer to that was always a resounding yes, and while I was in Japan, I did indeed enjoy quite a bit of sushi over my two weeks there. One thing I spent an inordinate amount of time researching for my trip was where to have one blowout omakase experience. I wanted something very high quality, but not super formal or regimented. I wanted something where I would feel welcomed as a foreigner, but where I’d be dining with mostly locals.
I hit the jackpot. Sushi Saisho in the Ginza neighbourhood of Tokyo ticked all those boxes. And it did, mostly because of the sushi master himself, Saisho.
A change of plans
When my wife was unexpectedly able to join me on my trip to Chicago, it turned a baseball trip into a restaurant exploration trip pretty quickly. My original plans called for a lot of ballpark food and craft beer, but I was thrilled to spin those plans on a dime and make each evening about heading out on the town in search of deliciousness.
With the last minute nature of our new plans, we used points to get my wife into Chicago flying a different route and airline than was I. When we parted ways at the Saskatoon airport, she didn’t yet have a seat assignment, so we weren’t sure if we’d actually meet up in Chicago. In light of that, we kept our dinner plans simple – at Fisk & Co, a hotel bar in the loop, for some seafood and (surprise, surprise) craft beer for me. It ended up being a great choice. She did make it into Chicago, and our first order of business was crushing some oysters. Delicious!
A mostly East Austin visit
Luckily for me, this was my second visit to Austin. On my first a few years back, I had plenty of time to check out all that Austin has to offer. I had seen and experienced enough to know where I’d focus my very limited time on this past visit – food and craft beer. While I’ll need a third visit to Austin to make my first pilgrimage to Franklin Barbecue, I did manage to get to another of the city’s best reviewed barbecue joints. In East Austin, about a fifteen minute walk from where I was staying sat La Barbecue, a perfect amalgamation of restaurant, craft beer store and tap room. A real slice of heaven for someone like me.
The famous Porto sandwich (and more)
I’ll remember Portugal for a lot of things. The coastal vibe of Nazaré. The beauty of Lisbon, especially as seen from atop one of its many hills. The old world charm of Coimbra. But most of all, I’ll remember Portugal for its food and drink. This trip ended up being one of the best in terms of eating that my wife and I have ever taken.
The three days we spent in Porto at the end of the trip capped off our eating adventures in a wonderful fashion. On night one, we saddled up to the bar at Cantinho do Avillez and let the bartender do his magic with cocktail creations through the evening. This was a very wise choice.
A day in Coimbra
On our journey north through Portugal toward our final destination of Porto, we stopped for a lovely twenty four hour stay in Coimbra. The main draw was to wander around its medieval old town and to explore the University of Coimbra. I’m glad we decided to spend a night here rather than just making it a day trip spot as we ended up having our favourite meal of the trip (and that’s saying something).
Our luck with the weather in Portugal continued unabated for our day in Coimbra. It is a beautiful town from any angle, but especially so from the point of view of the Mondego River.
Delicacies in Lisbon
In thinking back on the close to one week we spent in Lisbon last fall, the first thing that comes to mind is the food. While we did not explicitly plan for Lisbon to be a dominant foodie experience, we had a host of amazing meals, dishes and drinks scattered around the city. One meal was so good, I even just wrote about it separately so I could attempt to do it justice.
So, here goes for a tour through our Lisbon eating experiences…
Night one, slightly jet legged and craving an early to bed evening, we arrived at Cantinho do Avillez at the almost ridiculous hour (for Portugal, or for anyone under the age of 73) of 4:30 for dinner. What a great start to our stay in Lisbon. Olives, a baked cheese dish and some local pork sausage got us off to an amazing start.
Giddy for seafood in Lisbon
I’ll set the stage. It was early afternoon and we were standing in Sintra and at that point were making our plans on the fly for the rest of our day. Rather than having a late lunch there, we decided to hop an earlier train back to Lisbon to make a beeline to a restaurant that was on our “must visit” list.
In my mind, Cervejaria Ramiro, a down to earth seafood restaurant, had reached almost mythical proportions. As a former coastal dweller now landlocked in Saskatchewan, I was drooling at suddenly having unfettered access to fresh seafood for the first time in ages. I had read reviews of this place and had seen it on a Netflix special about six months earlier. It was love before first sight.
Looking back on 2018
For a host of reasons, I’ll be glad to put 2018 to bed and move on to 2019. Life threw quite a few curveballs this year, and throughout 2018, travel was a nice escape and respite. Like most years, many of my favourite moments came while I was away and exploring. Whether it be on a couple of baseball trips (New York, Philadelphia), a few first time adventures (Portugal, Calgary), some return visits to favourite places (Vancouver, Austin, Alberta’s Rocky Mountains), family-related travel (northern New Brunswick, Halifax, Edmonton, even here in Saskatoon), or the annual pilgrimage to a Riders game in Regina…. travel made me laugh, feel alive, and filled my heart and mind with memories that I’ll cherish forever.
In no particular order, here are my favourite travel memories from the past year.
1. The day brought to you by the letter M (part 1, mountains and Maize) – On a spectacular road trip into the mountains in June, I had a chance encounter with one of my favourite musicians, Andy Maize, from the band Skydiggers. He was gracious, charming, and I enjoyed the time we spent together chatting about one of my favourite bars in Canada, the Carleton, back in my old hometown of Halifax.
My kind of town
On my previous visits to New York City, I never made it across the East River to Brooklyn. When I started planning my most recent short visit, that was something I wanted to rectify. For my first foray into Brooklyn, a grey, dreary and humid Saturday morning, I hopped a subway to lower Manhattan, then popped above ground and headed for the Brooklyn Bridge. Sometimes when you travel, experiences don’t live up to the hype, but walking across this span over the East River was everything I hoped for. Crowds of joggers, families and tourists like me. All of us (except the joggers) stopping every few steps to take pictures and to take in the Manhattan skyline. The bridge itself is also spectacularly beautiful.
Bluenose Traveler 