Portugal

Wow, it has been quite a while since I posted. I guess being a tourist keeps me pretty busy. I am also the travel agent, and that involves some online work. However, all the places we have stayed have good internet, so I cannot claim that I am out of touch. It just takes me a while to process all that we are doing, and I am learning how to truly relax. Sitting at a computer reminds me too much of work.

After four days of relaxing in Santiago de Compostela, hiding from the rain, cooking, taking small walks around town to eat tapas and shop for groceries, we left Spain to join our friends Greg and Wendy in Portugal. We took a bus, and then a train to Peso de Regua in the Douro Valley of Portugal. This is where most of the grapes come from in Portugal, especially in Port wine.

It is always fun to meet up with people you know and love when you have been away in a foreign country. We had a great time sharing entrees and tapas together with Wendy and Greg. We had one of my favorite meals in a place that had 6 tables. They had only one seating a night, and the menu was written by hand in a small notebook.

If it looks like all we do is eat, let me just say that it is an important thing. Thank goodness for the translations. It was really fun to eat in a foursome, because we ordered several dishes and shared them all. The owner of the Tasca da Quinta also explained why he had two grades of olive oil, and gave us each a small bottle of the best olive oil. I am still carrying it in my backpack from place to place, since we are cooking with it! Portugal uses most of their olives for olive oil. They also produce over 50% of the world's cork, so of course, David had to get a cork hat.



After a trip to the top of the mountains, we visited a small winery, and also took a sail down the Douro River, which showed us the vineyards that produce Port.

The next day we headed to the Algarve in Southern Portugal, with Greg driving a rental car. The weather in the Algarve was perfect, and we rewarded ourselves with a fantastic seafood dinner overlooking the ocean. The next day we went on a long hike down the coast, then drove to the southwestern-most point of Europe, Cabo de San Vicente, to watch the sunset. It was too chilly for comfort, and we were hungry, so we vowed to come back the next night, which we did, with snacks, wine, and warm clothes. Some of the scenes:

On the rooftop deck of our "cottage"

At Cabo de San Vicente

Our cottage across from the beach

David grilled a fresh fish in this typical grill one night

On our roftop deck

the walk down Salema Beach

After Wendy and Greg left for the US,  David and I had three more days at the beach. The weather was perfect for lounging on the beach. We did another coastal hike along the cliffs. There was also a fishmonger who drove into the village at 9:00 am tooting his horn. We bought his fresh fish twice while we were there. We ate some amazing seafood in this town, but the last night I had a hankering for pizza, with a view of the beach. It was hard to leave the Algarve, but it was time to get back to Spain.

Does anyone remember the time David's chair fell over at Douthat?  

On a beach walk, town of Salema in the background