RATF Classic: #399 Sandra Tavares - Portugal's Travel Designer

We're looking back to November 2024 and our conversation with Sandra Tavares... ORIGINAL POST:   Sandra Tavares knows the people, places and things that make up a wonderful culinary and wine journey throughout Portugal.  Sandra started her career as a journalist and found herself covering a burgeoning food scene, to the point where she realized she would enjoy developing tours and experiences for people, and taking them to the best Portugal has to offer, rather than just writing about them.  Eventually she met her husband Vitor, and as things happened, eventually they landed in a beautiful vineyard and winery owned by Portugal's benchmark Kopke wines, where Vitor developed a restaurant to serve the local bounty that complemented the wine.  And his deep contacts in the industry in turn, became Sandra's as well.  Sandra is uniquely positioned to be the foremost authority on food and wine in Portugal.  To that end, she designed a wonderful itinerary that our podcast host Chris Angelus' Portland Food Adventures is offering in May of 2025, on which food and wine loving folks can travel with St. Jack chef Aaron Barnett to Porto, the beautiful Douro River Valley and Lisbon to take bites and sips of the varied histories and customs of the beautiful country.  The trip features two hotels and inns from the folks at Kopke as well as dining with solid Michelin-star chefs throughout the region, as well as some pub food curated by expat Don Bourassa, former Portland Yelp Community Director.  This podcast is a fun journey outside of our area, but with Portland connections to keep us grounded!   The Portland Food Adventures Portugal trip is here:  https://www.portlandfoodadventures.com/portugal-with-kopke Sandra is here on Instagram:  @simply_b_sandra  Podcast with Don here, where he talks about moving to Portugal:   https://rightatthefork.com/shows/2024/1/5/374-don-bourassa-international-adulting-and-inaugural-ratf-guest