Settling in and Looking back

 Home for 3 days now and our sleep is still off.  Kirk was up early one day, me the next and now me again.  Although I do love being up before the sun.  The stars are kick ass right now. 

So looking back at our trip there’s so much to digest, relive and decided what was best for our next trip. The people were just amazing.  Relaxed, kind, open and very interesting.  Barely any in your face consumerism.  We saw 2 freaks with so much filler it was hilarious but that was it.  2 girls with fake eyelashes. If we saw fancy bags it was on an American. 

The food was TO DIE FOR.  I was most sad to leave b/c of this.  While I don’t really like to cook I discovered I do love to eat extremely delicious, simple, fresh food - mostly fish.  It is hard to describe the wine and how accessible, lovely and every bit as delicious as the wine we get in the states, maybe even more so.  And the price, while obviously commiserate with the living wage there, is still mind blowing.  And we even like port!  Tasting what their ‘real’ port is was eye opening.  Finding out they keep the good stuff for themselves is awesome.  

The sheer amount of roundabouts is hilarious but it does keep traffic moving nicely.  And traffic outside of the cities is very mild.  

The hotels and bnb’s we stayed at were, for the most part, phenomenal. We had one weird innkeeper but the place was great and the last hotel was weird but it was basically for 2 nights, 36 hours so it was fine. The toilets were a bit hinky.  You can’t always flush tp. Old places, old systems.  

As I sit here typing, eating my TJ’s vanilla scone I am reminiscing about the croissants in the morning with fresh fruit, eggs that are a deep yellow and butter I want to eat chunks of all by itself.  And why oh why is Heinz ketchup so much better there?  Shameful.

The not so great.  The instagrammers have ruined things.  Well maybe not ruined exactly but we found the hot spots crowded in the cities with people dressed up to photograph themselves.  Hundreds of sites talk about being at certain spots for sunsets and it was insane.  We decided we get to see amazing ones here so we avoided the crowds and would go off the beaten path to a bar or just exploring.  I thought I would like Porto more than Lisbon but Porto’s main drag is like Venice Beach.  Expensive places, tourist shops, lots of people doing the Instagram things.  We can’t imagine the crowds in the summer in the busy main towns.  It wasn’t crazy busy most places, but busy enough that doubling it would be maddening.  

The smoking.  What the fuck people.  

Kirk was a champ driving all 1100 miles.  Getting to see the coutryside and places almost no one goes for days at a time was divine.  Douro Valley for 4 days didn’t seem like enough.  It’s beautiful and the wine is really wonderful.  As are the people who make it. Having the luxury of time to rest and relax and be ok with plans being changed or canceled made a huge difference.  I am sad we missed the Peneda-Geres National Park.  I would have take a day away from each Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve and gone there for 2-3 days.

I can see why people would want to live there b/c it is inexpensive compared to here.  It has a slower, mindful pace and the food will change lives for sure.  Our food system here is fucked up.  Everything is organic naturally.  Ok, enough of that b/c it makes me so mad.  I for one can’t imagine living there full time. And while I’d like to go back I think i would concentrate on the Douro Valley.  We like our lives here in Cali and while the weather and a lot of the country is very much like here, it just isn’t a place we could live. Again, I think Instagram has made Portugal up to be some magical place that cures all your woes. 

Our drinking streak has come to and end

 Being home sounds so wonderful until the house is a mess!  I was soooo tired and cranky last night I could not fathom writing the last part of our trip.  Everything was testing my patience, including the child size fur balls lurking in every corner.  I’m starting to think Bodie wasn’t completely honest about how clean he left his apartment.  Hmmm.  On a positive note our flight was easy.  All the Lisbon internet shit was mostly right but we had fast track and were through in about 25 minutes with just a brief stop at security b/c they had to take apart my luggage b/c I took a very cool 🙄 large rock the size of a baseball and it flagged the machines.  After all the lovely lovely people of Lisbon the bag check lady was a bit of a turd.  She didn’t think it was funny like I did but to be fare the other people behind waiting to have their bags double searched weren’t amused either.  

We had about 2 hours to be in the lounge once we got all the way through then off to the very small, crowded boarding area where they checked our passports again and then put us in a smaller area. And this is where we saw a woman from Ross who lives off Kanan and is also retired. So our last moments in Portugal we saw someone we knew. Boarded a bus to the plane (apparently Lisbon is now too busy or small to deal with all the planes at a gate) got on and off we went.  Uneventful but long 12.5 hour flight.  We both slept about 2 hours which wasn’t enough. The food was ok but not enough.  I needed more snacks.  I am the snack queen. Thankfully I had some in my pack as well as some candy.  And for the last meal they stopped serving wine.  Boooo.  

Staying awake on the drive home was hard but marveling at the traffic - that we are normally so used to, but came to forget for a minute! - we arrived to be greeted by Bodie and the dogs. A weird, but loving crash back into reality.  

And here I sit on the couch with my coffee and iPad as if we were never there.  I woke up at 2:30, 4:30 and got up at 5:30.  I feel pretty good.  Kirk was up at 4:30.  

And our drinking every day for 26 days has come to an end.  We joke it will be hard to not have a bottle of wine at lunch but then again we aren’t having fresh fish, bread and cheese or black pork for lunch that we haven’t cooked in a charming alley framed by old buildings, hilarious Muzak, and people marveling we’re from Cali.  

 

Tchau Portugal

 Last day.  We slept in and then had breakfast here at our weird hotel. Headed out to walk to our last castle, Sao San Filipe. Wandered thru the fresh market they have next to us on the way So much fish! Octopus, shrimp and fish after fish, clams, mussels. AND THE CHEESE!  OMG THE CHEESE!!  Insane and gorgeous. The walk wasn’t as taxing as many of our walks but it was nice as we wandered through town with people having coffee, espresso, some having cigarettes and beer.  Lots of place in the parks and streets.  So the castle is a huge star shaped castle above the inlet here. Started in 1598 i believe. This one is much more intact with a cute chapel and also a lot of tile work.  Wandered around, had some beer and wine at the cafe and enjoyed the view.  Came back thru town and the center, grabbed some lunch and more wine lol and then some ice cream.  I had mint and it was actually real mint.  I wash shocked at first but it was great.  Kirk had banana and it tasted like banana bread - real bananas! Came back to get some water and chill and then headed back out to the other side of town and an old church. It had the same feel as a church we saw in Porto.  

Decided to stop for some wine and ended up chatting with some expats - one from NY and one from Canada.  The one from NY, Larry I believe, moved her to retire 5 years ago and the other guy has been here about 10 years, down from originally Lisbon.  They play paddle.  Apparently it’s growing a lot here.  

Back to the hotel to change for dinner.  Went to a small place just up the street and had our last fabulous meal.  We had a vegan tartar of minced tomato and black olives on light toast. So good!  Then fried cuttle fish where the batter had the ink in it!.  Ugly but yummy.  Then Kirk had his last black pork which was cooked to perfection with mushrooms and i had a delicious fish in a terrible fishy porridge. It  was too bad!  The fish was great.

Back in the room and packed up.  Ready for our 5:30am car.  OMG. Kirk and I talked at dinner about being ready but not.  We miss the dogs and I miss my friends but it’s nice to have people take care of us and not cook or clean!  

Bye Bye Beach

 Up a bit early for us.  Seriously we’ve been sleeping in and enjoying the slow get up and not go fast pace.  Made it to a cute little breakfast place, Claire’s, that lost its ability to cook the other day so it had simple fare like avocado toast with tomatoes and/or scrambled eggs and some pastries.  Plus their cappuccino was the best we’ve had.  And the tomatoes were in a delicious olive oil.  And both Kirk and I just love the eggs here.  Not sure if they are just better than ours or cooked different.  They seem a deeper yellow too.  

We had to check out by 10 which was the earliest check out we’ve had.  Most are noon due to breakfast being served from 8:30-11.  Well we did it and were on the road by 10:20 even after walking to breakfast, but not before Kirk had to squeeze out of the parking lot.  These people park wildly.  

We had a long journey b/c we decided to just power thru and head to Almeda to drop the car which was about 30 minutes north of Setubal, across from Lisbon.  Kirk was just done driving our weird car and I don’t blame him.  I spotted a castle on a hill in the distance and Kirk commented “I did not intellectualize the amount of castles around!”  It’s true.  Then we started talking about the amount of bad or missing information when planning this trip and just being here - from trying to get a Bolt at the Lisbon airport (nightmare there is a zillion people doing the same thing in small area, the almost train debacle, the lack of signs and trail markers, directions (just go down the hill and pointing down a hill that has 4 small alley ways you can pick from), do you flush tp or not? And it’s just a ‘10 minute detour’ 55 minutes later. Oh and I can’t forget “our credit machine is broken, we need cash”.  

Well 2.5 hours later we find the Sixt drop off in the back alley of an Audi dealership.  Weird but whatever and roll up about 1pm and it’s dark.  Closed for lunch until 2pm with no key drop off.  Yep, been here a month and this never crossed our mind. I think we are just tired!  2pm came and the employee did a cavity search of the car.  Jeezy creezy.  Called a bolt and as soon as that arrived a huge truck hauling cars pulled in to block our ride!  Well we finally got in and had a super interesting gent from Pakistan.  Lawyer and highly educated and what I assume was/is a rich family but couldn’t stand all the corruption there.  Lived in the US for a bit, has his visa, learned English, moved back to Pakistan and then moved to Portugal and is waiting for his citizenship and they just changed it from 5 to 10 years.  He is on year 3 and plans to wait it out and take some classes.  But he was very talkative and not a listener so we just nodded and commented rarely.  Similar to our driver to Sintra.  Arrived in Setubal at about 3 and checked in our hotel.  I’m sad about this one.  I wanted to end on a high note but it’s the least nice of all of them. I had high hopes but its weird and feels a bit cheap.  Oh well!  Mostly amazing places and this isn’t the worst. 

Had some meh food and good wine.  Trying not to be a whiner but I am doing it. Walked around and came back to the hotel and just got in bed and stayed.  No dinner.  Tomorrow we will hit the last castle, have some good food and get ready to head to the airport Sunday morning.  

Off to Silves

 Silves was not on my radar until the couple from Brighton we met at the Napalese restaurant told us it was a quaint little town for a half day. I did, however, have a winery on the list for the day and it was on our route home so it all worked out.  

I did overestimate the time we would spend at each location I had planned.  I think Kirk and I just move quickly and don’t do a lot of the same things tourists do or shop a lot.  Or at all.  I have not been in one tourist shop.  I did step into the entry of one to look at a purse/bag but it was $26 euro and while that is not expensive it was a cloth bag that felt like it should be $10.  It was cute though!  But I definitely don’t need another bag.  lol.  

So Silves. How can 2 way roads be so tiny?  We had to pull over for a bicycle!  A bicycle!!!  WTF. Anyway, Silves.- It had a really spectacular, large castle. But first we had to find parking.  I can’t imagine what it’s like when it is busy b/c we first went to the 3.8 star parking lot (how does a parking lot get 3.8 stars?  is there a turf war?), but it was full so we headed back down the hill to Aldi’s and parked by there and walked up. They have done a bit of excavating and it is just mind blowing to see the layers of life over 1000+ years.  You have to wonder what is even below that.  While walking around the top edge of the castle, Kirk and I were on the outside and some asshole said “that is natural selection” meaning Kirk and I walking on the edge but I’m positive our balance has nothing to do with natural selection so who’s the dumbass?  Yep, him.  

Then we went to the museum which was “down the street” as everyone we asked kept saying but the streets are like serpentine’s and nothing is direct. SIGNING SUCKS!!  It was kind of funny to see everyone on their phones pointing and walking around looking for the same thing. Here they had on display hundreds of tools, bowls/pottery, needles, weapons, rocks and even stone replicas of tombs.  It was really beautiful.  From many different periods from 1000-1600. And also the well where it was so long ago we could look into.  Some Menhir stones as well (think Henge’s).  Lots of writings on stones.  Just amazing to see.  

Went to a Mediterranean restaurant for lunch and had 5star humus, kabobs, cuscous, some kind of chicken stew and wine.  It was delicious!  So happy.  But still the Muzak is so weird.  Good songs sung by weir people in different cadences.  Was going to putz in and out of shops here but decided to head to a winery.  Quinta do Frances.  Cute little place. It was $2.80 euro for each glass of wine.  We each had 3 glasses to taste.  Quite nice.  A bottle of really great white was $11.00.  Insane.  There were about a dozen people when we arrived and then 2 more large groups showed up as well as some couples and when we were leaving another large group was starting a tour.  Seemed to be a popular place.  They also had charcuterie if we wanted it.  A lot of the wineries have that here.  It’s a nice thing to do for an easy lunch.

Back to the condo and a quick dip in the ice pool.  Lol still 72 degrees.  Packed up a bit and are relaxing before dinner up the street.  We leave for Setubal tomorrow for 2 days.  Leave on Sunday for home.  

Dinner was good.  More shrimp for me and we both had a cold octopus salad with peppers and onions  Soooo good! Sat next to 3 guys here golfing. They come twice a year from London and are all in or close to 70.  One guy was a former banker, another also a banker turned contractor and a third is a business guy who is partners in a restaurant with his ex in London.  It’s a floating Chinese restaurant. Kirked looked it up and it has 3.7 stars to 4.1.  Hmmm  He did claim all the famous people go there like Nicole Kidman and famous musicians.  They were interesting and funny and we chatted for a long while.  

Back at the condo and I think just ready to be done.  We are both quite tired but Kirk thinks it could be this place.  Not sure. We do have a dehumidifier running in our room. I think it’s just damp by the ocean but Kirk thinks mold.  Who knows but I think traveling can be tiring even when it’s enlightening, fun and eye opening.  And I think Kirk is worried about Lulu, and the wind at the house that could lead to fire.  Will be interesting to download on this trip and see what we can do the same or differently.  Our hotels/bnbs etc have really been great along with the food.  More later.  On to Setubal tomorrow after breakfast. We’ve decided to just head straight there vs doing more sightseeing.  We have to drop the car about 30 minutes from our hotel.  Kirk hates the car.  It is quite weird and driving in unknown places is stressful. But Kirk does have the round about down!  They are super efficient. The only red lights we have seen have been in small towns at weird pedestrian crossings. Weird as in no one is crossing when the light turns red.

Good night. 

Pumpkin spice what?

 I keep getting pumpkin spice, Halloween, fall sweaters and cozy nights on my feed.  I can’t even pretend to feel sweater weather!  It feels really foreign.  I know it’s incredibly hot back home with fire danger and I’m super concerned but I do feel quite removed from that life right now.  I miss it but it feels foreign to think even about it when I’m overlooking the marina with sunshine sparkling off the water and all the boats lounging there.

Oh and I even got a ‘how to decorate your bedroom for Christmas’ a few minutes ago. Ugh

Beach sausage! Get your beach sausage!

 Enjoying the sunshine and view from our living room/deck.  Kirk had a hair appt this morning and it looks good!  $12 Euro and he gave him a $20 and we needed the change!  LOL Then we went to breakfast and didn’t have enough cash so off to the atm.  Bagel sandwiches.  Mine was good, maybe just ok. Kirk had a meat lovers or something like that w 3 meats. Off to the beach.

There is a board walk type of walking path that is quite long around Alvor.  We have to go left to go right on the path towards the entrance to the marina and green and white small lighthouses that flank the entrance.  It’s pretty warm today so we took our towels thinking we will sit on the beach once we get there. Well it was pretty windy and the surf is gnarly and wild so we walked down the beach after we left the boardwalk and stopped in a beachside restaurant, Restinga.  At first we were just going to have some drinks but after 2 drinks we decided it was a perfect spot to stay and have food. Ordered some shrimp, mozzarella and octopus and enjoyed a bit of time in the breeze and beautiful view. A gorgeous German family sat near us as well as what looked like 2 crack heads on the other side. Lol

Headed back down the beach and heard some bells which sounded like a circus and a guy had a cart of what I originally assumed was ice cream but the pictures looked like sausage sandwiches.  This cracked us up and we kept saying “get your beach sausage!”  Maybe it was the drinks…:). headed back to our condo and got in the chilly pool to cool off . It’s 72 degrees and I don’t like it!  But I finally got in up to my boobs while Kirk just jumps in.  Speaking of boobs.  It’s ok to go topless here on this beach.  And it’s always the old ladies.  Kirk said “not all boobies are good boobies!”.  

Now having some wine on the balcony overlooking the bay.  Life is good.

And we continued with the wine and decided to just grab smash burgers up the street.  Kirk said while he loved the burgers he felt he was cheating on Portuguese food!  But they were quite good and it was mostly all families there. This condo is such a good location with a lot of top restaurants.  I will miss this view.  It’s so calm and beautiful.