Saturday, October 30, 2010

Our Days in Portugal

We have acclimated to our life here in Portugal, and it is a life that has become very comfortable to us. We have become accustomed to the nightlife-often times just beginning our dinner at 9:00 p.m. so that having to get up before 10:00 in the morning for breakfast feels hurried. For those of you that know me and never thought I could get out of the 4:00 A.M. “lets begin our day routine”; I have.


We have a leisurely breakfast of coffee, toast (sometimes with cheese and ham), jams, cereals, and juice. While meager by some standards, for the Portuguese this is the norm. After breakfast we walk to the retaining wall of our fortress where we sit in the tower in a small enclave and talk about our plans for the day.We watch the boats leave the harbor and often daydream about owning a sailing yacht. If we could find one to hold you all we would do it in a heartbeat.


We never tire of mandering to some of the coastal towns and the exploration along the way . We saw a sign on the road the other day that had a picture of horse drawn carriages so we followed the road up through the mountains where we met the lovely owners of a horse ranch. Here you could get a horse or donkey driven carriage and explore the wilderness of the region. This was
the season in which you would get the best sightings of the eagles as they migrate. At lunchtime, a home cooked Portuguese meal would be waiting for you and after you could continue your exploring. It was quaint and we considered coming back to do this.We found a local market that will make a sandwich for us along with some fruit and chocolate croissants we have a ready-made picnic lunch. The beach is so very close that we take advantage of the ease in eating in such a beautiful spot.

The only modern facility on the base is the Internet cafĂ©. It is perched high on the mountainside and is all glass. The views are spectacular and this is where we catch up with you. We get a cup of coffee or sometimes a beer (best price in town here .65 euro) and take care of any business that we have. We look things up on the Internet, things we’ve seen or places that we may want to go.

We stroll through town before dinner. We have met some lovely people and often times this is where we run into them. We found a pub that is infamous for it’s breakfast menu and soups at night. Yvonne runs it and she is from Ireland. Sometimes we will stop by for a bowl of soup and share travel stories (she too is smitten with wanderlust) and she often recommends places for us to try. She told us about Trinidad’s, a place the locals go and that they are infamous for their steak- on- a-stone dish.

Here you are served chateaubriand raw on a very hot stone with garlic and olive oil. You slice your own meat and it cooks on the stone at your table. You are given a little bowl of olive oil and garlic to dip it into and eat it hot off the stone. It was fabulous! We ate outside in the warm evening while a group of local men were playing cards behind us. We all had a marvelous time.

Soon we will head for Spain again. I think we will be in either Cordoba or Granada for Tom’s birthday. We have found a farmhouse in the countryside, which is between the two cities. We find we like to be off the beaten path for the most part but we are considering staying in a Parador in the Alhambra!

We are off for now. We thank God for His continued goodness to us and we love and miss you.

No comments: