PORCHES & FARO

During December, in the middle of the holiday season, I took two one-day trips to visit the village of Porches, the home of Portuguese pottery, and Faro, where I found an ancient walled city within the largest city in the Algarve.

First was a visit to Porches, thanks to friend Dick and Anita and their rental car. Porches is one of those quintessential whitewashed villages (pop. 2000) with cobblestoned-streets, friendly people, and restaurants that are open only now and then. After exploring the village, we were directed to a typical Portuguese restaurant outside of the village for a delicious Plate de Dia for €8.50.  It included spinach soup, a nice salad of greens, fresh tomatoes, and onion, a choice of 3 entrees (I had chicken which came with the always-present boiled potatoes) your choice of a drink (coffee, beer or wine) and I think a desert.After filling our tummies, it was time to make use of their wonderful TomTom (a GPS device is a Must-Have in Europe!) and find the Nossa Senhora da Rocha Chapel and Fortress.

Perched on a crumbling cliff-point sticking straight out into the Atlantic, this small chapel, where an apparition of the Virgin Mary was supposedly seen by local children many 100's of years ago, it still draws pilgrims today.

This area was conquered by the Romans and then the Moors in the 13th century. As you can see, it is the perfect location for a castle to protect the area from whomever else tried to take this land.  In the 16th-century, a fortress was built on this point, along with the chapel.  The last remnants of the fortress are crumbling into the sea and the chapel may soon join them as this point is getting smaller and smaller each year and the edges are now fenced off to protect the visitors, something you never see in Europe.

The altar inside the chapel

The view from the end of the cliff - the color of the water was amazing!

It was now back into town to visit just a couple of the numerous potteries that line the roadway.  We visited a very traditional pottery which is carrying on the hand-painted old-style designs to more modern one which reminded me of Pottery Barn, to a really fun and funky sculpture garden, it was a great afternoon.

                       

I soooo identified with her!

Metal 'stork nest'

Kissing hippos

We completed our day with a visit to Jouk's Designer Sale, a wonderful, German woman who imports some of the best European designer clothes and jewelry and has a sale in her home twice a year.  Both Anita and I shopped a lot and enjoyed ourselves immensely - Anita even got her hair cut by the on-site hairdresser!  Dick was REALLY bored.

Faro, which is situated on the Formosa lagoon attracted human occupants from the Palaeolithic age until the end of pre-history. The first settlements date from the 4th century BC, during the period of Phoenician colonization of the western Mediterranean. At the time, the area was known as Ossonoba and was the most important urban centre of southern Portugal and commercial entrepot for agricultural products, fish and minerals. Between the 2nd and 8th century, the city was under the domain of the Roman and later Visigoths, before being conquered by the Moors in 713. From the 3rd century onwards and during the Visigothic period, it was the site of an Episcopal see of the Christian church.

Under the Moorish rule, the community grew and developed in economic importance with merchants, artisans and especially book-printing.  Samuel Gacon began printing the Pentateuco in Hebrew, the first book printed in Portugal in 1487. With it's large and mix-religious community, the city continued to flourish until the15th century when Manuel I ordered all of the Jews out of Portugal. The city went into a dark period but when Alphonso III regained rule. 

During the following years, the town became a prosperous position along the Algarve, due to its secure port and exploration of salt and produce. At the beginning of the Portuguese Age of Discovery, the town was positioned to be a commercial centre that it remains today.  (WinkipediA)

Armed with this knowledge, off I went to visit Faro with part of my Portuguese family, Joáo, Rosalina and Maria Joáo.  Joáo, who had lived in Faro for quite a few years when he was growing up, wanted me to see many of the churches and also stroll about inside the walled city that is still an active part of the city today.  Though breezy and not a sunny day, we enjoyed our time exploring and then getting terribly lost trying to drive out of the old city at the end of our visit. 

                     

 


This post concludes my month of holiday celebration and travels.  Next up - SPAIN!  Visits to Granada and Sevilla.  

Until next time....

CELEBRATING THE HOLIDAYS - PORTUGUESE STYLE!

It's often said that the holidays are exhausting.  All that visiting with relatives, worrying about what gifts to purchase for whom, traveling between houses, and then there is the preparation and consumption of all that food!

This being my first holiday spent in Portugal, I  was without any of my family members or friends from home.  It seemed as if I would be destined to wallow in loneliness, sadness and self-pity, kicking myself for ever leaving the comfy confines of my home and the loving arms of my family and friends. 

Turned out, I wasn't allowed to even consider being alone or sad for even a few minutes during the exceptionally long and event-filled celebration of  Christmas and New Year's - certainly not when included in every holiday meal and get-together hosted by 'my Portuguese family.' 

Meet the Family!

This photo was taken Christmas Eve at the home of my wonderful landlord Jorge, who is peaking behind the head of his beautiful wife Maria Joáo (teal sweater).  Seated in front are the avós, the grandparents, Joáo and Rosalina, parents of Maria Joáo and Manocas.  Hugging then is Matilde, daughter of Maria Joáo's sister Manocas, who is directly in the center.  The lovely young lady with her arm around her aunt is Jorge and Maria Joáo's daughter, Maria Ana.  The back row from left to right is Joáo, Jorge & Maria Joáo's son, who attends college in Lisbon.  Next is Henrique, who is studying medicine at the University of Madeira.  He  is the son of Manocas and the gentleman standing next to him, Luis, who is Jorge's brother!  Yes, sisters married brothers.  

The celebrations got started on the 5th of December when Ferragudo decked itself out for it's annual Christmas Market.  Music, food and fun filled the square for 3 days.  That weekend I attended a holiday dinner hosted by the Algarve Ex-Pat group and then joined some of  'the family' for a concert at the local church presented by a choir that sang hymns and carols in 7 different languages. Afterward, we returned to Jorge and Maria Joáo's for homemade hot chocolate and a traditional yellow sponge cake that you get with your fingers.  

The next week included a wonderful lunch on the beach at Club Nau with my good British friends and neighbors, Maureen and Pat Kelly, followed by a carol sing-along at the Episcopal church in Lagoa, which holds its services in a former Catholic convent built in the 1800's.

 

                     

With a day trip to Porches to see the beautiful pottery in the middle of this week (to be reported in a later blog post,) it was now time for the actual Christmas holidays!

I first have to share with you the misunderstanding that occurred.  I was under the impression that I was invited to Christmas Day dinner at Grandma & Grandpa's so on Christmas Eve I had a bowl of soup and 1/2 a sandwich and drank a glass of wine at about 6 p.m. I was settled down with the choice of a good mystery or watching another episode of Jessica Jones on Netflix.

 I was in sweats and a t-shirt and looking my normal, stay-at-home grubby self when there was a knock on the door.  There was Jorge asking if I were ready. Ready for what, I asked? Dinner and presents, he said.  Huh? I said.  A quick call to his daughter, the one who speaks perfect English, to have her explain that not only was I dining with the family tomorrow but had been invited for tonight as well.  We would be opening our presents, as is the custom, at the stroke of midnight.  Get in the car, says Jorge.  NO! I said -  and tell him to go home and I would follow in 20 minutes!

Off to the shower, hair, make-up, a nice outfit, scurrying up the hill to Jorge and Maria Joao's home for lot of wine, a huge dinner which began at 9 p.m. (you do remember I said I had eaten dinner at 6), numerous desserts and after-dinner drinks, gift-giving at midnight, home in bed by 1:30 a.m. and up the next morning to make deviled eggs and sweet potatoes with brown sugar and marshmallows for my contribution to the Christmas Day feast held at Grandma & Grandpas home - which started at 2 p.m - and included many more members of the family!

Here are just a few photos from those two events -

CHRISTMAS EVE 2015

 

 

  

CHRISTMAS DAY 2015

 

 

So you would think that now it was time to rest - and stop eating!  OH NO!  During the  week between Christmas and New Years was not only a big  dinner to celebrate Maria Joao's birthday, but also a day trip to Faro to explore the old city (in later blog post), a beautiful holiday service at a very modern Catholic church and convent for Carmelite nuns and then a delicious dinner at Luis and Manocas' beautiful flat in that city.

Then it was time to celebrate New Year's Eve with a big dinner with family and friends, head to the church on the highest hill in town to watch the fireworks explode over the river in Portimao while drinking champagne and eating 12 raisins (a wish for each month is made as you eat each raisin) and lastly, a New Year's Day luncheon.

 

 

 

My 12-raisen New Years Resolution - STOP EATING!!

But you know all about resolutions, don't you?  The Portuguese do not stop celebrating until January 5th, which is the birthday of The 3 Kings which requires....a large dinner with family and friends!  By this time, I just couldn't take one more photo of food - sorry.  Take my word when I say the cod was delicious, the desserts were sweet and the wine continued to flow!

It is now the 11th of January and I still need to share with you the beautiful photos of my visit to Porches and Faro but that will have to wait as I am off to SPAIN!  I was invited to join 2 American couples for a trip to Granada to tour the Alhambra and then to Seville.  I'll be gone for 7 days and I am really looking forward to what will be my last excursion of any distance before I depart Portugal on the 30th of January.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and wishing you nothing but joy and happiness in the New Year!

Unitl next time....

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS...

....everywhere I go in Portugal, with colorful lights sparkling and holiday decorations filling the windows of shops and restaurants.  The above is a photo of my Christmas 'bough.'  It's not a whole tree, just a limb from a pine tree growing in the backyard of the parents of my landlord Jorge's beautiful wife, Maria Joáo.   But it proves it really is the thought that matters.  The whole family came over to deliver and prop up 'my tree' in a pot of sand.  They also provided the lights and tinsel and ornaments -  just so I would not feel left out at Christmastime.  

I will be spending Christmas Day with Jorge, Maria Joáo, Maria, Rosalina, Joáo and many more members of this wonderful family.  It will be a great pleasure, and an honor, to their guest for a real Portugues Christmas dinner.  I'm bringing 2 very American dishes - deviled eggs and sweet potatoes baked with brown sugar, butter, walnuts, and topped with marshmallows!  

But before we get to Christmas, I must apologize for not being a very good blogger.  I realize that I haven't posted in almost a month.  Have I been so busy that I couldn't find the time?  No, but almost!  So you ask, what have you been doing that has kept you away from the computer?  Well...

I've done a little traveling.  I was invited by the Americans in Portugal organization for their annual Thanksgiving Day celebration.  The dinner is held in the town of Cascais, a 40-minute train ride along the coast from Lisbon.  To get from here to there, I took the local train from Ferragudo to Tunes (40 minutes), caught another (much nicer) train to Lisbon ( 3 1/2 hours), got off at Sete Rios and walked downstairs to the underground metro station.  I purchased my Lisbon metro pass and took the subway 4 stops to Cais do Soldré (10 minutes).  Here I climbed a whole lot of stairs back up to the train station where I caught the local train to Cascais (40 minutes)!  Total cost one-way was €15 = $16.28.  Public transportation in Portugal is very reasonable!

What can I say about Cascais?  I fell madly in love!!!  Photos don't begin to do it justice.  It's beautiful, clean, cosmopolitan, filled with great museums, glorious ocean views, a great bike path with free! bike rentals, super nice people, lots of green space, funky street art, loads of history (even a castle) plenty of shopping and close to Lisbon.  What more could you ask for?  

 

I met some wonderful people during my two-day stay.  I was the guest of the President of AIP in her apartment in the historic district. The dinner was delicious - turkey, dressing, even spiral-cut ham and pumpkin pie! Annette and Jose Rio invited me to attend the monthly cocktail party of the Royal British Club.  I arranged a coffee meet-up of fellow American ex-pats who were willing and so very helpful while being bombarded with all my questions about relocating and visas. And I got to enjoy a long lunch with Susan K. who I know will become a good friend.   

Cascais tiled street - can be a bit disorienting when you stare at it for a long time

Cascais Community Center

Waiting for turkey& all the trimmings

Cascais street art

 

Too soon it was time to return home to the Algarve and everyday life in this area. So what does everyday life consist of you might ask?  On Tuesday and Friday mornings, I take a 'gymnastics class' for women over the age of 55 at the local rec center.  It's me, one Brit and 25 Portuguese ladies, none of whom speak English, who giggle and joke and have a grand time flirting with our 20-something male instructor and exercising very little! 

They host a holiday luncheon each year for the instructor.  Since he speaks a few words of English, they had him tell me that I had to join them!  What a hoot!  The food was delicious, the wine flowed (the ladies add 7-Up to theirs), the desserts were decadent and homemade and then they brought out the Medronho! (moonshine) which had been flavored with honey or almonds.  As you can see, a  good time was had by all.  My contribution was to lead the singing of Jingle Bells -  in English.

    The ladies of my gymnastics class!                      Our instructor and one of his fans!

The past month I've spent many wonderful days exploring the Algarve with my Portuguese friend, Raquel.  She is a friend of my landlord's family, loves to read books in English (Diana Gabaldon and Nora Roberts are her favorites) and practice speaking English.  We hit it off the first time we met so on her days off from work as a veterinary assistant (where she works 50-60 hours a week and earns €500 a month!!) we head out to some where new-to-me.  

So far we have gone to Sagres, the furthest southwestern point in Europe from which Henry the Navigator sailed; Alvor, a fishing village who's marshland is covered by water from the saltwater river during high tide and is perfect for clam digging when the tide is out; and Carvoeiro, the cliffside town where I originally was to have rented while here. Here are just a few photos of each.

SAGRES

A surfer's paradise, just one of the large beaches at Sagres

  

A view from the top of the Sagres lighthouse      Cape St. Vincent Lighthouse - 1894

ALVOR

 

 

CARVOEIRO

 
 Raquel

 
 A man fishing off a cliff - OMG!

The boardwalk path on top of the cliffs

What else?  I've made friends with a great British couple, Maureen & Patty, who've lived in the Algarve for 32 years.  They love to shop the 'charity shops' for 'bits & pieces' to resell at the 'boot sales' they participate in on the weekends.  I tag along and pick up some great paperback books to read, then enjoy lunch someplace new. Maureen has also introduced me to the Chinese shops in Portimao. There are about a 1/2 dozen large, 2-story shops filled with everything from tools to kitchenware to clothes (high-end knock-offs) to shoes and bathroom supplies.  Name it - they've got - all 'Made in China.'  

Anita Oliver and Dick Nash, Americans, world travelers and pet-sitters have finally arrived!  We have been corresponding for months while they went through the residency visa process and made the relocation to Portugal.  They are now happily settled in an apartment overlooking the marina in Lagos while they take their time to wander and explore and see which town or village they want to call home.  

I continue to go 'grocery shopping' each week with Rosalina and Joáo.  Each week is a different store - Continenté, InterMarché, Jumbo, Aldi, Apolólina, Lidl. All are different and we always stop for a coffee - my treat. It's very special time I get to spend with this lovely couple.

I finally found my very own 'rolly cart' (like I used in Chicago only much more colorful!) and I can 'pull' my groceries home when I shop at Lidl's! (a 20 minute walk each way)



What was a fun surprise, while shopping for my sweet potato ingredients, was to find these walnuts at Aldi's. Memories of home!

I attended the Christmas Féte in Ferragudo; had fun at the CASA Social Club Christmas dinner; enjoyed the Christmas concert held in the local church and presented by a choir from Lagoa who sang songs in 7 different languages; toured a fantastic local ceramic studio; been wined-and-dined by my Portuguese 'family' which included an evening of home-made hot chocolate and a yellow sponge cake you eat pick apart and eat with your fingers.

I managed to find the movie theater in Portimao and have seen Spectre, the last of the Hunger Games movies and tomorrow I'm going to see the new Ron Howard movie, In the Heart of the Sea.  I've got several more holiday lunches to attend before the big day.  New Year's will be spent with a bottle of wine, sipping while sitting up on the cliff overlooking the river and watching the fireworks being shot off from the marina across the water in Portimao.  Then it will January and my last 30 days in Portugal before flying home to babysit my darling granddaughter in San Diego.

During the two months I'll be back in the States I will apply for a Portuguese Residency Visa which would allow me to live here as a local -  at least the majority of the time.  I find the life here much more calm and safe - not nearly as stressful as it is back in the States at the moment. Between the almost-weekly mass shooting and the political craziness, I can't find enough reasons to return full time. My son's are grown with families of their own that don't include an opinionated, aging mother.

I owe nothing and own nothing and I like a nomadic lifestyle.  I will base myself in beautiful Portugal where the cost-of-living is 1/2, if not less than that in Chicago.  I will enjoy the lovely weather, the friendships I am making and the availability of cheap flights to almost anywhere else in the world I care to explore.  And if at some future time I want to return to the States (only if Donald Trump isn't President) I will.  I do miss my friends so I will come visit -  but I'll be sure to let you know well in advance before I drop in for a cup of coffee!

To each of you who read this blog or journal or photo diary - thank you. Wishing you the merriest of Merry Christmases and a joyous and Happy New Year!

Until next time....