Chilling in Portugal

Hey all,

So Christine and I have spent the last several days in Portugal, but we have been out of touch with technology for a short bit and yet we somehow managed to survive.

Initially we spent 2 days in Viana do Costelo, a port city in northern Portugal that has a good measure of charm. The outer crust of the city is rather crusty and unattractive, but the inner core is typical European with small boulevards and winding streets, lots of quaint shops and more coffee shops and restaurants per capita than Victoria. We ate one meal at a restaurant and was surprised when our waitress spoke to us in flawless English. It turns out she was from Ontario and of Portuguese descent taking advantage of their education system, but she was happy to chat with some Canadians. Apparently, most of the tourists that she sees here in Portugal from Canada are from the west coast, so we must have a bit of a restless tendency in BC. (Right - the streets of Viana do Costelo)

We found a really nice campground right on the ocean in Viana do Costello, with a pool and other amenities. We spent the next 2 days enjoying the beach, going for nice walks, playing in the surf and relaxing from our cross country race across Spain. The pace in Portugal is much the same as Spain, except they don't take the siesta as seriously so they pace themselves through out the day. We spent some time hiking to the top of a hill to see a church (for some reason castles and churches are always at the top of a steep hill. I can understand the castles need for defense, but why put the churches so high up - maybe it really separates out the devout from the casual attendee :) Anyway, the church was quite pretty, but the view was amazing. Once we reached the top, there was a flurry of activity taking place. Someone was being given CPR by paramedics, while all the tourists at the site looked on. Now CPR has I believe an approximate 3% of success, so we didn't hold out much hope for the gentleman, but in the end it appeared that they revived him. We tried not to join the crowd of gawkers, but we were leaving when he was loaded into the ambulance, it looked like he was moving his one arm, and the paramedics put the ambulance sirens on, which usually is only done when they have a live victim - so I guess that 3% really does matter. While we were heading up the church steps we saw another woman sitting on them, obviously injured and being attended by a paramedic. Once we were inside the church we also saw another lady fall on the stairs. Suffice it to say that we were not taking any chances and were very careful navigating our way through the church and down the 1 kilometer of stairs back down to the base of the hill. (Right - the beach near the campground we camped at. Left - the church on the top of the hill).

We did visit an old hospital ship called the Gil Eannes, which also doubles as a youth hostel. We decided to stay at the campground instead of on the ship because the novelty of the ship didn't outweigh the musty smell, but we did enjoy the tour. There were definitely some sections of the ship that looked like they were used more for torture than hospital work, but lets hope they put the tools to good use. The rest of our time was spent relaxing and enjoying a true vacation on the beach. (Right - the torture chamber... I mean the operation room on the Gil Eannes).

Now at this point I believe I must speak to our diet. Fruits and vegetables have been surprisingly difficult to find, and when we do find it, we tend to buy in large quantities due to our excitement and then they don't hold up so well in the 34 degree heat of our car while we are out gallivanting around. We have eaten a number of tasty pastries (Scott as per your suggestion) and have had a fair number of the custard tarts that Portugal is famous for. We haven't been eating out too often and have made most of our meals from the back of the car. I have become an expert baguette maker, and make at least one every day for Christine and myself, and oftentimes 2 if we are not feeling like eating out. It's funny, but we will often camp to avoid the expense of a hostel or hotel, but whenever we do eat out, it's hard to find cheap restaurants over here, even in Portugal which is supposed to be one of the cheapest countries in Europe. At times we get a little sick of the baguettes, but as we move further east in Europe our car trunk restaurant will start to offer different fare. (Left - the custards tarts that Portugal is famous for. Very delicious!).

Back to our continued adventures in Portugal. After leaving Viana, we headed south down to Lison (Lisboa) to see the sights of the capital city. Our intent was to stay at a town called Sintra, which is supposed to have some amazing sights and trek in from there to the Capital. We arrived in Sintra in the middle of the afternoon to find the town overrun with tourists, and I do mean overrun. Up until now we have largely avoided huge tourists traps, but fell like suckers into this one. Now it's no wonder why there are so many tourists, the place has the most ideallic, mountainside aura, with winding tiny streets and everything is done up just right to draw in the tourists. It's also aided by 5 different castles within a 5 minute drive from the centre. The town is a paradise for all those people with knee high socks, huge cameras and an inability to walk faster than a turtle (stopping every 3 seconds to use said camera). Christine and I knew that we were not going to be staying in Sintra, but we decided to enjoy the afternoon there. (Left - the streets of Sintra)

After visiting the tourist information booth, we decided to hike a couple of kilometres up to a Moorish castle that was built over varying stages, but some parts were built in the BC era. The castle was definitely the oldest in the region, but the walls were in amazing condition. From the top of the castle we could see all four of the other castles in the area, and we think that we chose the coolest one to visit. Because of the walk up and no ability to drive, there were also limited numbers of tourists. For those of you reading our earlier blogs, I can tell you that this was definitely a castle and not a chateau, no creature comforts, but very easy to defend. It did fall to the first Portuguese king, but I wonder how many young men lost their lives at that castle wall before it was taken. (Right - the Moorish castle in Sintra)

We spent the rest of the evening wandering around the town, had a delightful dinner at an Indian/Italian fusion restaurant. The combination seemed weird, but I had a fantastic Indian dish and Christine an Italian one, so it seems they do both types of food well. After that we went off to find the Lisbon municipal campground in the dark. Now if navigating is difficult, navigating in the dark is worse. The campground was located in the Lisbon municipal park, which we chose because it was cheap and very close to the heart of the city we wanted to visit. The municipal campground turned out to be the dirtiest and smelliest of all our campgrounds to date, and thus ended our streak of pleasant accommodations, but hey we are traveling and where is the adventure without a little adversity. (Left - Christine with her half bottle of Portugese Rose during dinner).

We started our day in Lisbon off with some custard tarts at the shop purported to be the first or one of the first to sell them. The bakery was founded in 1843 and later at one monument there was a history of big world events since the 1500's (not Portuguese mind you, but world events), and there occupying space in 1843 was the opening of this bakery we ate at - now that's important world history. By the way, the custard tart there is better than any other we have had in this country by a long stretch.

We spent the day in Lisbon seeing the sights. We visited this gorgeous monastary called Mosteiro dos Jeronimos, and it was impressive. The architecture was quite stunning. We toured through the centre of traditional Lisbon and then took a trek up another hill to the Castelo de Sao Jorge, the castle of Lisbon that overlooked the town. It was a bit of an adventure finding the castle, as we wandered through back side streets, criss-crossing and trying to find the entrance. It took us a while to get there through a combination of reasons, one was that we wanted to veer away from all the other tourists heading there, so we took an alternate and ultimately much longer more circuitous route, and secondly, we made decisions that tended to choose routes with shade in the 30+ degree heat. Eventually we found the castle and enjoyed our time wandering through while listening to the minstrel music of a local Lisboan (is that right?) We spent the rest of the time in Lisbon visiting a few other sites of note, including a tower in the harbour built for it's defense. It is a cool tower that means business, with a serious number of cannons and look out points. (Left - Christine in front of the Torre de Belem, the harbour defense tower. Right - a view over Lisbon from the castelo de Sao Jorge).

We decided in our travels through the city to park the car and use the transit systems, as a day of moving about the city would be more efficient that way. It turns out as we were parking in a very obvious spot a man pointed the spot out for me. After I had parked he looked like he wanted some money, but I found the spot easily on my own. Then he motioned he would look out for our car. Normally I would ignore this, but Christine had been warned by a co-worker that when he ignored the same request in Spain, his car was not in the same pristine condition as when he left it. Knowing this we figured a euro or two was worth piece of mind for all day monitoring :) Ah, extortion at it's best/worst.

Christine and I also continued an experience that has been repeating itself through out our marriage. Everywhere we travel, people seem to offer me drugs and completely ignore Christine in the process. In Cuba on our honeymoon, I was always the target of their offers. On our trip to New York I was frequently propositioned and no one gave Christine the time of day. In Lisbon I was offered drugs twice in the span of ten minutes, the one gentleman actually showing me that he had the goods. Christine attributes the offers to my scruffy looks. Now admittedly my beard is starting to come in nicely, and may make me look a little disreputable in my casual clothes, however, that does not explain the offers when I had only my goatee on previous vacations or the number of times I have been offered drugs at home in Victoria, even when I am dressed up, wearing a tie, carrying a briefcase and walking between meetings. I can't tell what exactly it is about me that makes them think I am interested in drugs, but I am open to any of your thoughts on the matter. Perhaps we can hear your suggestions as to why poor Christine never gets offered. (Right - the street in Lisbon where Hovan got offered drugs twice in about 10 minutes)

There is only one other notable thing about our time in Lisbon, having discovered a McDonalds and not wanting another baguette for dinner, we caved and enjoyed a Big Mac meal for dinner. It was a bit of an adventure to find the McDonalds, as we walked past it twice, without noticing it. They didn't have the usual garish colours, so it blended into the local scenery and we seemed blind to it's calling. But a bit of determination, some big billboard interpretation and voila, a meal just like at home. I must tell you that the Big Mac did taste pretty good. (Left - Hovan enjoying his Big Mac in MacDonalds)

Packing up early this morning we decided to head away from the big city and go south to the Mediterranean. For the most part, to date, we have avoided heavy tourist spots, but Sintra and Lisbon were rife with them. We decided on the smallest town at the south of Portugal we could find, Sagres, which is in the very bottom corner of the country. I believe it is the most southwestern part of Europe. The town has less than 2000 people and is a surfers dream (though neither of us are surfers). The temperature is 32+ degrees, the water is gorgeous and the beaches long with big rocky bluffs. Even in the off season there are tons of surfers and I know that some of you would absolutely love it here. (Left - The beach near the town of Sagres)

We have bunkered down for a few days of sun and surf before we head off to Seville and back to Spain. We have worked through Portugal from top to bottom at a pleasant pace, with a good mix of sights and beaches, driving and relaxing, and the adventure carries on.

Our best to you all,

Hovan and Christine.