Snowbirds Tackle Europe

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Snowbirds Tackle Europe Traveler
Angra do Heroismo
12 febbraio 2018, Portogallo ⛅ 15 °C
We had to walk a km into town to catch the public bus to Angra but weren’t sure what side of the street to catch the bus so we each took a side of the street to cover all our bases. Our luck that Marco would drive by and guide us even though I’m sure he told us 5 times how the system worked! This bus is once every hour; whereas the bus going to the other main city was only every 2 hours. The fare was an unusual amount....€2,31.

Angra is a Historic World Heritage Site as for centuries it was a port of call for the sea routes between Europe, America and Africa. The main attractions here are all the well maintained historic buildings and Duque Da Terceira Garden. But first we had to have lunch. The server recommended a local specialty, barnacles! She explained that you eat the snails inside. No thanks! We stuck with grilled tuna and hake, both reasonably priced as we are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean after all.

We had an enjoyable stroll through the gardens and to the ocean front, then John decided to sit and have coffee & dessert while I explored the historic area.Read more
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Angra's Historical Buildings
12 febbraio 2018, Portogallo ☀️ 15 °C
My walking tour took about 40 minutes as the historic centre is quite small. We knew exactly where to catch the bus home and I dare not be late getting to our meeting spot. I too did not want to wait another hour for the next bus.Read more
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Carnival
12 febbraio 2018, Portogallo 🌙 13 °C
Marco and his parents recommended we experience Carnival Terceira-style. There are no parades or dancing in the streets. For 4 days before Lent the people gather in their local community centres. Non-professional theatre groups practice for weeks and then they travel to each community to perform their act, kind of like a Fringe Festival act that comes to you.. On our way home from Angra we stopped at the community centre to judge for ourselves. An unusual combination of brightly dressed musicians played and marched around the stage and the female band leader sang. This was followed by a 30 minute one act play, all in Portuguese of course, wrapping up with more band music and singing. These plays are usually comedy or political satire and we think this one was comedy with very few laughs from the audience of maybe 200 people. Before the next act performs, they shoot off a large and very loud firecracker to notify everyone of the next show, which can mean waiting anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. The people take this very seriously as this goes on until 4 in the morning and then they start all over again around 5 pm. They do this for 4 straight days. Only in Terceira!Read more
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Praia da Vitoria
14 febbraio 2018, Portogallo ⛅ 18 °C
Mateus dropped us off in the centre of town which is about 4 km from our house. It’s a very pretty town with a population of 21,000, making it the second largest on the island. We walked throughout town but when we got to the Church of Santa Cruz the minister had just arrived. He welcomed us in, turned on the music and all the lights. He gave us a short tour and explained all the damage that was done in the 1980 earthquake....7.2 on the Richter Scale, killing 61, and injuring over 400. We left a donation. Quite the contrast to the church lady in Angra who wouldn’t allow us in if we didn’t pay, which didn’t seem like a godly approach. Every community has small churches, called Imperio, scattered throughout town for a quick prayer at any time of day. Some are prettier than others.

I stopped at a small local handicraft shop and bought myself a cork necklace with a small flower made of fish scales. Sounds atrocious but it is actually very delicate. We ended our day trip at a pizza restaurant that had wifi hoping to connect with the world but it wouldn’t connect, which was disappointing. It was a quick 80 cent bus ride home.Read more
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Cabo da Praia
15 febbraio 2018, Portogallo ⛅ 14 °C
Our house was located at the top of a hill (seems to be a trend here!) about 1 km from Cabo, with a population of about 700. We had to walk to Cabo to catch the bus. I was always nervous to walk along the main road as the cars drove fast. It also seemed that almost every home had a large, vicious looking dog, some chained and some free. I learned to cross the road to avoid their frightening barking. The village also had free wifi and on our last two days I walked to town and sat on a bench to work on my blog. One day I made a new friend....a 9 year old boy who was sitting on his trike in the middle of the road facing on-coming traffic. The cars were just driving around him! I waved him over and I tried to have a conversation but he spoke no English. So I showed him photos on my iPad, which he was very interested in. When he left at least he didn’t return to the roadway. I felt sad for him.

We had very good weather all week. Drizzled one day for about 5 minutes and it rained at night. It was 15-21 during the day with calm winds and 11-14 at night. Most days were partly sunny/cloudy. We dressed appropriately and were never cold. Now inside the house was another story. We estimated that the house temperature was at least 5 degrees colder than outside. Add the humidity and it was bone-chilling cold every evening. I would wrap myself in a lightweight, stuff-able down blanket I had brought with me just in case. With no TV (it stopped working on day 4) and no internet, we found our focus was on keeping warm. Actually the only time we were warm inside the house was when we were in bed, covered in multiple blankets. When I got up in the morning around 8 I would open the screened back door to let the warmth in. Mateus explained that none of their houses have heating but just every day cooking warms the house to about 18 degrees. Our home had been closed up for 6 months.

I was warned by the owner that I may encounter the occasional cockroach, mouse or rat. I was so relieved that the only things I had to kill in the morning were 4 slugs and 1 cricket. We had to refrigerate all our food because of the high humidity in the house. For the first few days there was a very strong mildew smell. The humidity inside was so high that our towels never dried so I would hang them on the clothesline outside. It was so humid that it dissolved my vitamin pill, even though I had it in a sealed plastic container. In the evenings I made John the herbal tea that had been left for us. It wasn’t until the 4th evening that I discovered the tea inside the gauze pouches was full of mold! It’s a good thing that John doesn’t get too worried about things like that.

On the positive side, every morning Mateus would be in the back yard working in his garden and would supply us with all the lettuce and cabbage that we wanted. I like the experience of staying in a community to see how the locals live day-to-day. If we hadn’t rented this house we never would have met Mateus, Lucinda and Marc who took us under their wings and treated us like family. . At $30 per night, the rental price was definitely a bonus. Would I stay there again? No thank you!Read more
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Island Tour - Day 2.2
16 febbraio 2018, Portogallo ⛅ 13 °C
We continued along the coastline, arriving home at dusk. What a tour it was! In addition to all the sightseeing, Marco took me to buy a SIM card at the electronics store; to the airport to purchase our inter-island flight tickets; and to the supermarket which he said was their version of Walmart. We certainly got our money’s worth.

Marco is a buyer for a 16 store grocery chain on the island and his wife works full-time at the grocery store. They have two young children. He does tours on the side to make ends meet and his Dad provides them with produce from his garden. He’s considered moving to Winnipeg where he still has family but Terceira is his home and he wouldn’t survive the winters. It was apparent over the past two days that he is very proud of Terceira. I offered to do a Trip Advisor review of his tour so that he might get more customers.Read more
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Ah-Chooo!!
16 febbraio 2018, Portogallo ⛅ 14 °C
On our first day in Terceira I had an irritating cough. I thought it was an allergic reaction to the mildewy smell in the house. By day 3 I had a full-blown cold. Two days after that John caught it. I was feverish, which made the house seem that much colder. Marc said he had heard there was a bad virus going around the island but I’m sure I got mine on the plane ride over. Airplanes are just a cesspool of germs. So our last 2 days were spent with me going into Cabo to use the internet and John sitting on the front landing, warming up in the sunshine.

Terceira was beautiful and we were glad we included it in our itinerary.Read more
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Travel Day - Terceira to Sao Miguel
17 febbraio 2018, Portogallo ☀️ 16 °C
Marc provided the taxi service for our 11:20 flight. It is a small airport with even smaller airplanes that you board on the tarmac. The 80 seat flight was full and there is no preassigned seating but we had no problem sitting together since we had arrived so early. It was a quick 30 minute flight south of Terceira. Got a taxi for €10, the only option, and within 10 minutes we were at our new place, Solmar Gardens, in a very upscale neighbourhood similar to Wellington Crescent.

Our modern, one bedroom apartment was gorgeous and it had central heating! As a bonus we also had internet and a TV with English channels! It is about 1000 sq ft. The manager explained that they owned the house and created an apartment for his son and wife but then they decided they didn’t want to live so close to the parents. Kids!! They sold the home to an agency who further divided the large house into more apartments. The manager, Carlos, lives on one side of the house. It was at one time an American consulate. I couldn’t believe that I only paid €60 (about $95) a night when it would normally rent for €150 during the summer.

Things kind of went downhill from here. By late afternoon, after a 2 hour nap, I realized I was really sick having had experience with pneumonia in the past. I didn’t want this to get that bad so we made the 20 minute uphill trek to the hospital emergency room. I think I was given preferential treatment as a tourist because I got to see the doctor and pay my bill all within 1 1/2 hours, despite an almost full waiting room. My temperature was 38 and I was diagnosed with upper bronchitis. I was given a prescription for an antibiotic that could be filled at the Farmacia in the large shopping mall 2 blocks away. The cost of the consultation was €118 and the antibiotics were €9. I’m thankful for travel health insurance which we haven’t had to claim since Garrett at age 16 sprained his wrist at Giant’s Ridge during his first snowboarding experience!

It has not been a good beginning of our 6 day stay in this part of the Azores!Read more
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A Bump in the Road
21 febbraio 2018, Portogallo ⛅ 16 °C
It’s been a rough week. On day 4 of my antibiotics, it was clear that my respiratory infection was worsening. The congestion had moved deeper into my lungs and I was coughing so hard that I strained a muscle on my side. So I went back to the ER planning to get a different antibiotic as that is what the ER doctor had advised. This time I got a different doctor who did an X-ray, ekg, and blood work. I was given steroids IV and bronchodilators by face mask but she refused to change the antibiotics. This time the diagnosis was worsening bronchitis with bronchospasm. My blood work showed a high inflammatory level. Now I have an Atrovent puffer and an unusual medication to help me clear my lungs easier. I haven’t taken it because I have concerns from my research. Today I feel things are improving somewhat but the harsh cough persists. It’s been so nice out that one day I walked around town and picked up more ingredients for homemade soup as that is all we’ve been eating this week

John too hasn’t had a good week. He’s been in bed more than he’s been upright and wouldn’t leave the house. He doesn’t have any signs of infection but has the same nasty cough and is very lethargic. I tried to tell him that lying in bed was the worst thing he could do for his lungs but this is how he handles illness normally. He was always complaining of being cold even though we had the heat on and he wasn’t feverish. So on my way home from the hospital I stopped at the large shopping mall which was across the street from the hospital. I needed to go to the Farmacia there anyway. I was able to find him a puffy vest at Zara even though I was annoyed that the one I bought him was at home because he refused to pack it! The doctor told me that this has hit us hard because there are different viruses here than at home.

They mustn’t pay health care employees very well here. The ekg cost €6,50 and the X-ray €5,00, about $18 for both tests. My total bill for both visits was $460. I can only imagine how much that would have cost in Canada! Everyone was so kind in the ER, including the other patients. I had some of them come to me to wish me well. On my way out one of the patient’s daughter warned me “frio” (cold) and motioned to me to zip my jacket and put my hood up! It was kinda cute because she was much younger than me.

I’m hoping that once we get to Southern Portugal the humidity won’t be as high (75-80% here). Warm and dry would be ideal. The hardest part has been missing the 3 days of beautiful sunny weather with a temperature of 18. Winter is generally cooler with lots of rain so this week would have been perfect to explore the island, of which we have seen none.

Tomorrow is going to be a better day!Read more
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Hope you both are feeling better. Blaine and I both are just getting over colds too, but not as severe. Take care of yourself! KJ
23/02/18Reply
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Self-Guided Island Tour
22 febbraio 2018, Portogallo 🌫 12 °C
This was our last day in the Azores and my stubbornness kicked in as there was no way I was leaving without seeing something of the island. Full-day guided tours were €160 ($250). Group tours were slightly less but we didn’t feel it would be very nice to be hacking away in a mini-bus. So we rented a Ford Fiesta diesel car for €65 with arrangements to return it to the airport so we wouldn’t have to hire a taxi the next morning. It was raining heavily when we picked up the car at 9. Fortunately the rain didn’t last too long.

Our first stop was Lagoa das Sete Cidade. This was the area that I had seen in travel magazines and websites that initially beckoned me to the Azores. But it was overcast and drizzly when we arrived. The driver took the position that it was best to move on. I wasn’t giving up that easily and remembered passing a tea house just up the road. Good locally grown tea and home baking kept us occupied for about an hour. The rain clouds cleared and the sun was shining! I asked the very nice server if she could recommend a good place to view the lake and got directions. The driver complained about having to backtrack about 25 km up the mountainside and more than once threatened to turn around. The short 1 km uphill hike was a challenge for me as I was short of breath and could hear my congested lungs. But I made it and it was all worthwhile as this was the exact location of the promotional photos. Awesome! Even the driver admitted that he was glad I persisted.

After the highlight of my day we continued our way down to the coast taking a narrow secondary highway with great views. One long section of the road had a continuous hedge of blue hydrangeas past their bloom. They grow wild here and would be amazing to see in season. We drove through small towns and made a couple of stops at the ocean. We had a late lunch and the two servers were anxious to tell us their stories about going to Toronto in February, having never seen snow before. Unfortunately they had trouble with their credit card machine and I later found out I was double-billed. The same thing has happened with our recent apartment rental. Such a nuisance.Read more
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Garrett Samm Nice view!
26/02/18Reply
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More Road Tour
22 febbraio 2018, Portogallo ☀️ 16 °C
We covered approximately 2/3rds of the island, not making it to the east coast. The farmlands are so very green and the coast is a contrast of black volcanic rock with the turquoise blue swirling water. Our tour lasted about 8 hours and we got back to the apartment just before dark. We were both happy to see some of Sao Miguel. I thought both islands had a lot to offer but John preferred Terceira. It’s difficult when you are comparing a 2 day guided tour of Terceira with a self-guided 8 hour road trip.

Despite the challenges we’ve had in the Azores, we are both glad that we went.Read more
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...then it was a great investment!
28/02/18Reply
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Travel Day - Azores to The Algarve
23 febbraio 2018, Portogallo ☀️ 15 °C
Travel days are always stressful. Today was catastrophic. We packed last night and planned to get up and go this morning. We had a 7 am flight and had to return our rental car at the airport so I set the clock for 5, double checking the settings. I woke up once at 3 am and promptly fell asleep as we’ve had really sleepless nights with all the coughing between us. The next time I awoke it was 6:50!! I found John in the living room and yelled, “We missed our flight”!! For someone who is a very anxious traveller, he didn’t seem too concerned. John is usually my back up plan as he normally gets up to pee very early in the morning. On a travel day he would always check the clock and wake me up even before the alarm went off. This morning he went right back to bed without checking the time. So we had a malfunctioning travel clock that eventually went off at 5 pm even though the alarm was clearly set for 5 am and my usual human backup also failed. We’ve taken many early morning flights and have never had an issue. This was the absolute worse place for this to happen I would soon find out.

We had to return the car before 9 so we headed straight for the airport and returned the car without any issues thankfully. Then my nightmare began. There are only 3 airlines that fly to the mainland. The 2 cheapest, Azores Air and Ryan Air, told me all flights for the day were sold out. For security reasons they no longer sell stand-by tickets. I made 3 phone calls to Air Portugal seeking solutions and was informed that my original flight had been cancelled so I would have to purchase new tickets. She then said she can’t sell tickets over the phone but was unaware that they had no ticket office at this airport. I explained that we were both sick and needed to get to the mainland. After some pleading she got special approval to sell us the last 2 tickets on the 13:20 flight. The cost was $990!!! Ouch.....that hurt my cost-conscious brain, not to mention our bank account. I had already paid $320 for our original tickets which came with no refund. Our only other option would have been to stay another night and get a cheaper flight the next day. But our accommodation in the Algarve was pre-paid and it was too late to cancel, plus we would have the cost of a hotel in Ponta Delgada. We were sick the whole time we were in the Azores and we just needed to get to a drier climate.

We had a 6 hour layover in Lisbon and fortunately were able to use our last two lounge passes. We couldn’t even take advantage of the free wine and beer as I was on antibiotics and John wasn’t interested, so you know he had to be sick. We finally got to our resort at 12:30 am and I was glad I had arranged a van transfer directly from the airport to the resort, a 30 minute drive. Our early morning flight had been planned to avoid this very late arrival. I’m trying very hard to put my nightmarish day behind me.

So we are now at the Four Seasons Resort in Vilamoura for 8 days. This was one of my timeshare deals...less than $400 per week. Vilamoura is a purpose-built resort community started in the 70’s. It’s known for it’s golf courses and marina. Our resort is full of mostly British people and a lot of the condos in the area are owned by Brits, as well as Irish, as they try to escape their wet winter weather. We have more English TV channels than I have at home. It certainly is lacking any Portuguese charm but that is not important right now. I think we are going to take this opportunity to relax and get better. We’re both sick of being sick.Read more
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Vilamoura Convalescent Home for Seniors
28 febbraio 2018, Portogallo 🌧 15 °C
Also known as the Four Seasons Vilamoura! We enjoyed our first two days here as it was a warm 20 degrees and the sun felt so good. The first day we walked into the main village to buy food at the supermercado as we planned to make use of our well-equipped kitchen. The next day we walked to the marina which is lined with shops, bars and different ethnic restaurants. I had finished my antibiotics so I could resume my self-guided Portuguese wine tasting tour. The 8 days of Clarithromycin left a metallic taste in my mouth and killed my appetite so my first glass of wine tasted horrible. We really enjoyed our relaxing afternoon in the sunshine.

Then the “Beast from the East” arrived, which is what the news people are calling the cold front that is affecting all of Europe. We have had 3 days of temperatures around 17, grey clouds and light drizzle. It seems to clear a bit around 3 or 4 so we’ve walked to the village to pick up supplies and, more importantly, just to get some exercise and fresh air. It is a 4 km round trip. Then it rains again in the evening. They are predicting this weather pattern is going to persist until next week. Portugal has had drought conditions for months and we were told they lost 80% of their forests to wildfires. So they need the rain more desperately than I need sunshine, or at least that’s what I keep telling myself.

John has made an almost full recovery from his bronchitis, although he still has a strong exercise-induced cough. It doesn’t help that our resort is at the top of a hill again! Two days ago I thought I was almost back to normal but today my cough has been worse. My chest is sore from nearly 3 weeks of coughing and I can tell when I’m due for my puffer. There’s not much to do here, particularly in this weather, so it’s a good time to rest. The car rental clerk in Ponta Delgada said the humid weather is hard on tourists. So when we went to pick up our car the next day he gave me a little bag of eucalyptus leaves with instructions to pour boiling water over them, cover my head with a towel, and inhale the vapour. I don’t know if it will cure me but it sure feels soothing just before bedtime. I was very impressed with his thoughtfulness.Read more
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Garrett Samm So many freckles!
04/03/18Reply
Garrett Samm That looks like a nice walk!
04/03/18Reply
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Wild Waves
1 marzo 2018, Portogallo 🌧 15 °C
Clouds and rain persisted throughout the week. Today we walked beyond the village and marina to the beach. I have never seen such wave action where the huge waves rolled in to shore one after another, affected by strong winds, high tide and a full moon. Even the locals were out taking photos so the ocean must have been acting unusually wild this day.

When it started to rain heavily we went to the casino that was situated ocean front. It was a small, typical and smoky casino so we didn’t stay very long. Between us we lost a whopping €5 and by then the rain had stopped so we carried on our way, making it back home just before the next downpour. We walked over 11 km and that final uphill stretch was a challenge, with both of us feeling that we had overdone it today!Read more
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Travel Day - Vilamoura to Carvoeiro
3 marzo 2018, Portogallo ⛅ 15 °C
On occasion I have felt reluctance to move on to our next destination because I have enjoyed where we were. This was not one of those occasions. Our resort catered to the mostly well-to-do Brits and the Vilamoura area lacked any character. We could have been at a resort community in Puerto Vallarta or Fort Lauderdale, as there was very little Portuguese influence to be seen anywhere.

Since our arrival in Portugal, I quickly learned that the public transportation system pales in comparison to Spain. It is particularly poor in the off-season. Our options to get to our next resort, which was 50 km West, was to take a rickety train requiring an expensive taxi trip at both ends, or to take 3 buses, none of which had convenient connections. So our best choice, and the most expensive at €35, was to arrange a private transfer, a common practise here. We were picked up in a minivan at one resort and dropped off at the door of our next resort, all within an hour. Costly but oh so convenient.

Our unit wasn’t ready so we walked into town looking for a supermarket. One was closed for the winter season and the other was similar to a 7-Eleven. I convinced John that we had to walk to the large supermarket that we had passed on the way into town. On our way we stopped at a roadside fruit stand and bought a 3 kg bag of clementine oranges for €2. We have about 40 oranges to eat but I couldn’t resist a good deal and they are so fresh and delicious! As it turned out, we walked 8 km to the large supermarket. We stocked up on a full week’s worth of food and beverages, then took a €10 taxi back to the resort.

We are now staying in a very large 2 storey, 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom villa. It cost a bit more at $625 for the week but we are going to enjoy the luxury. Typical of most European timeshares, we have to pay an extra €35 in cash for utilities. Last week we had to pay what we consumed, which was €31. Electricity is very expensive here. Our resort is called Monte Carvoeiro and I learned that Monte in Portuguese means mountain. So once again we are situated at the top of a hill. We must be in better physical condition as we didn’t find the climb too difficult, although I’m still fighting with my bronchitis and can’t seem to get rid of the hoarse voice, cough and pain from the muscle strain. Nasty bugs they have here! John feels he’s made a full recovery finally.Read more
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Carvoeiro
4 marzo 2018, Portogallo 🌧 16 °C
We are enjoying Carvoeiro as it is more like what I had expected of the Algarve. The population of the town is only 2700 but that number increases dramatically from April to October, peak tourism season. In off-season it is a fishing village with some of the shops and restaurants closed. There are no high rises or mega resorts but a lot of self-catering rental properties. It doesn’t seem as deserted as Vilamoura because it is an active town with a permanent local population, not just a resort town.

The cloudy, rainy weather has continued but we have been able to walk into town every day, avoiding any serious downpours. The temperature has been 15-17. We certainly were hoping for better weather but it is out of our control.Read more
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A Rugged Coastline
5 marzo 2018, Portogallo 🌬 15 °C
Yesterday we walked downhill into town, crossed the beach, and then up a hill on the other side. Our destination was the 1 km Clifftop Boardwalk. We got to the top of the hill where the boardwalk started and it started to rain. The wind picked up and we could see dark clouds coming our way across the ocean, so we had to turn back. Today we had somewhat better luck although there were 50 km wind gusts. I certainly give credit to the government for building the boardwalk as it is accessible to all. There are bleacher type areas where you can sit and watch the sunset. The boardwalk is lit up at night for a safe walk back to town. The views of the rugged coastline were pretty amazing.Read more
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Historical Algarve Bus Tour
8 marzo 2018, Portogallo 🌧 15 °C
We wanted to see more of this area of the Algarve and weighed our options of a car rental for the day vs an organized bus tour. We opted for the stress-free bus tour for €39 each, which was about the same as the car rental. Gas is expensive here...about $2 a litre. It was a dreary, drizzly morning when were picked up at our resort and joined 48 other passengers, all from the UK except for four other Canadians. Our first stop was the historic town of Silves where there is a 12th century castle. We didn’t pay to go inside as we had read that the exterior was more interesting than the interior. We wandered through the town and got back to the bus early.

Next stop was the peak of Monchique Mountain, a range 20 km inland. The peak is almost 3,000 feet and the whole drive up the mountain was in fog and drizzle. Naturally we could see nothing at the top but were reassured by the tour guide that there were beautiful views hiding beneath the fog and low lying cloud. We were invited into a gift shop where they were giving free samples of the local liqueurs, which John described as tasting like shellac (although I doubt that he has ever tasted shellac!).Read more
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To the End of the World
8 marzo 2018, Portogallo 🌧 17 °C
After a mediocre expensive lunch, not included, we headed to the southwesternmost point of Europe....Cape St. Vincent. In the 14th century Prince Henry the Navigator founded his navigators’ school here and sent off small wooden ships at a time when superstitious sailors believed that the world was flat. No sailor had dared to cross the Strait of Gibraltar or to venture beyond the known end of the world. Magellan, Columbus and da Gama were some of Henry’s students and the world was opened up to exploration, discovery and overseas settlements by Portugal and other countries. We were standing in a very significant historical spot, which I remembered very little of from high school history. John, forever the teacher, remembered all the details.

The cliffs are 250 feet high and we saw one monument where a German tourist had died, likely trying to take a great selfie. The wind gusts are strong and our tour guide had warned us about safety and selfies. The scenery was spectacular.Read more
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Lagos
8 marzo 2018, Portogallo ⛅ 16 °C
Our final stop of the tour was the seaport town of Lagos. We liked this town the best as it was lively and interesting, although we did see more homeless people here than anywhere else in Portugal. We were only allowed 1 1/4 hours so we went our separate ways, with plans to meet where John had plunked himself down with a cold beer at a sidewalk cafe. He was being entertained by a group of 5 street musicians, hippie types with dreadlocks who were not Portuguese. John said the police came shortly after and broke up the party. Meanwhile, I explored the winding streets, taking photos and stopping in two artisan shops. When I returned to our agreed upon meeting place a half hour later, John was nowhere to be found. I eventually found him sitting at the bus stop, fearful that I would be late and we’d miss the bus. Now why would he ever think that?!

Although the morning portion of our tour was a bit boring and the weather didn’t cooperate, we did enjoy the afternoon. At lunch, we sat with 2 British couples and had interesting conversations. Overall, we were glad we went and felt that the 10 hour tour was good value.Read more
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Rain, rain go away!
9 marzo 2018, Portogallo 🌧 16 °C
It was our last day in the Algarve and I was really hoping for a little sunshine but we woke up to another dreary day. The rain paused briefly in the early afternoon so we headed out to do a couple of errands. A Portuguese woman stopped to tell me that a bad storm was coming and that it was going to “rain like cats and sardines”! I hadn’t heard that version before. On the Main Street we came across a small bakery/cafe and enjoyed the most delicious pastries....tea, Americano coffee (not espresso), and two pastries cost only €4. Now we had to walk off all those calories so I found a different, longer walk back. Although I heard some grumbling, John did enjoy the new uphill challenge with beautiful coastal scenery. We did get some showers during our walk and the “cats and sardines” came later in the evening along with some lightning but no worse than usual.Read more
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Garrett SammAn Americano is usually espresso mixed with hot water to dilute it. Really tasty!
24/03/18Reply
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Travel Day - Carvoeiro to Evora
10 marzo 2018, Portogallo 🌧 14 °C
Because of logistics, once again we had to rely on a private transfer from our Carvoeiro resort to the bus station in Albufeira, 35 km east. For €13 each we would travel 200 km on a smooth, high floor bus in front row seats. It was an enjoyable ride with interesting scenery, in contrast to the Algarve which had a lot of scrub land between towns and not much to look at. We saw lots of trees....olive, almond and cork....as well as vineyards and farmyards with sheep not cattle. Although there was partial sun at the coast, as soon as we turned north we were heading directly into black clouds and scattered showers. Three hours later we arrived in Evora. It was less than a km to our hotel so we lugged our suitcases down the cobble stoned street with difficulty. I have already lost the rubber on one of the wheels making it that much more difficult to pull. Cobble stones and wheeled luggage aren’t compatible!

I had been making all our meals for the last two weeks in an attempt to compensate in a small way for the huge Air Portugal bill. I made a reservation at the highly rated, moderately priced restaurant in our hotel and was looking forward to a nice meal. I had forgotten that meat dominates Portuguese dining. So I ordered a vegetarian lasagna that surprisingly came with no noodles and no cheese, which made me wonder how they could call it lasagna. It was topped with curried almonds. I couldn’t eat it and was so disappointed. At least John enjoyed his regional pork dish.Read more
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Garrett Samm What was in it? Looks like slices of eggplant?
24/03/18Reply
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Travel Day - Evora to Lisbon
11 marzo 2018, Portogallo 🌬 13 °C
We stored our luggage at the hotel and went to explore the walled town, which was a 5 minute walk. The historic centre of Evora is a Unesco World Heritage site. It was a Roman town in the 2nd to 4th centuries and there are still some well preserved Roman ruins. It only took us an hour to do a self-guided walking tour of the town. The most bizarre thing we saw was the Church of St. Francis and the Chapel of Bones. The church itself was very ornate but the adjoining Chapel was eerie. Three monks decided to unearth bodies from Evora churchyards and cemented the bones and skulls to the walls of the Chapel. Evora was a wealthy town in the 16th century so the Franciscan monks thought this would provide a place to meditate about material things in the presence of death. I wondered if this macabre place really had an effect on the townsfolk shopping habits. The other thing that was odd was the professional photographer who stood at the entrance and offered to take your photo in the Chapel. I don’t know what she was charging but everyone but us was getting a souvenir photo taken.

The weather today was very unusual. We started out with sunshine which quickly turned to heavy rain and strong winds. Ten minutes later there would be blue skies again. The clouds were just flying by and we could almost predict when the next downpour would happen. Eventually we just had continuous showers.

John’s mood soured and he refused to walk another step on cobble stoned streets so we had to take a taxi to the train station less than a km away from the hotel. The train to Lisbon was an older train and not one of the high speed ones we were used to in Spain. In 1 1/2 hours we arrived in Lisbon. Just as I was about to step off the train onto the platform, the train started moving. I was the last one to get off and fortunately the conductor was nearby so I yelled at him to stop the train, avoiding disaster. After a bit of confusion we walked a short distance to find the Lisbon Metro station and when we surfaced we were relieved to see our hotel, the Turim Av Liberdade, across the street. The most difficulty we had was the several flights of steps in the Metro station. I heard a lot of foul words from the sourpuss bouncing his 46 pound luggage first down, then up the steps!Read more
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Lisboa - Alfama District
12 marzo 2018, Portogallo ⛅ 15 °C
The hotel we are staying at is a 15 minute downhill walk to the centre of historic Lisbon. Although I would have preferred staying in an apartment, they were more expensive than this 4* hotel that came with a full breakfast buffet. Metropolitan Lisbon has a population of nearly 3 million people, which is about 27% of the country’s population. The city centre is surprisingly easy to navigate and very compact. Around every corner is another treed plaza and monument. In 1755 the Great Lisbon earthquake occurred, equivalent to an 8.5-9 on today’s Richter scale. The city was almost totally destroyed by the quake and the subsequent fires and tsunami. We did a self-guided walking tour using Rick Steve’s travel book, exploring the Alfama District that suffered very little damage. Lisbon is extremely hilly but the guide book directed us to an elevator that took us partially up one very steep hill. There are park-like viewpoints at the top that overlook the city. Then we gradually weaved our way down very narrow streets and stairways back to the river front.

After 14 consecutive days of rain we were very happy to have a beautiful, 17 degree, mostly sunny day. We ate lunch at a patio restaurant, sipped on wine, and watched all the people. It’s unfortunate that there are so many smokers in Portugal, mostly young people, that interfered with our enjoyment of the outdoor patio.Read more
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Lisboa - Bairro Alto & Chiado Stroll
13 marzo 2018, Portogallo ⛅ 16 °C
I was excited to see sunshine when we woke up this morning, later turning to partially cloudy. It would be a good day to explore another historic Lisbon neighbourhood. Yesterday we walked 11 km but today’s stroll would only be 8 km, although much of it was uphill. We headed downhill to the centre where we got help getting uphill to Bairro Alto, or “High Town”, by taking the funicular. It was a very steep hill and the funicular provided a noisy, rough ride to the top. There was a park-like viewpoint of the city below. We used Rick Steve’s tour book again to do an interesting self-guided tour.

One of our stops was at Sao Roque Church, one of Portugal’s first Jesuit churches. There are numbered panels on the floor that were tombs for plague victims. In the 19th century, parishioners complained about the idea of having rotting victims under their feet and the tombs were emptied. One of the more ornate chapels, the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, was taken from the Vatican and reassembled here. We walked through the busy neighbourhood admiring the architecture while dodging cars and trolleys. We ended up on Rua Garrett in the upscale Chiado district where we enjoyed lunch at a patio restaurant. Our son, Garrett, didn’t know he was named after a Portugal poet, a Romanticist, and neither did we!

One last gradual uphill climb, about 2 km, and we were back at our hotel. It was a great day!Read more
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Garrett Samm Sounds like my kind of place.
24/03/18Reply
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