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Mark celebrated his 65th birthday in late October, and what better place to do it than Paris! We hadn't been to the City of Light for a number of years, though we have been lucky enough to visit it several times. So we decided to do just a quick trip -- just two nights -- to celebrate the big day. We landed at Orly airport, and on the Uber ride into town, we came upon this lovely sight. It was nice to be back in Paris again. After a quiet first evening, we did a little walking around the city on the next morning, before going to the Musée d'Orsay, which houses the largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings in the world. In addition to their permanent collection, the museum had an exhibition entitled, Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise: The Last Months. The small French town of Auvers-sur-Oise, just northwest of Paris, is where Van Gogh painted his final works before taking his own life in 1890. Other artists are also well represented at the Musée d'Orsay, and the building itself -- a former Paris railway station -- is architecturally spectacular. But let's face it. The real reason we were in Paris was to eat. While walking through Paris, we happened upon the first three-star Michelin restaurant we ever dined at, Lucas Carton. It was founded in 1880 and has hosted a wide range of luminaries including General de Gaulle and Winston Churchill. Though no longer a three-star, it reminded us of where our fine dining adventures began. For Mark's birthday, we dined at Epicure, a three-star Michelin restaurant in the Le Bristol Hotel. The food and service were wonderful, one of our best meals ever. We truly enjoyed our birthday jaunt to Paris!
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Mark's sister, Karen, and her husband, Steve, visited us shortly after we returned from our Barcelona trip. Karen's daughter, Lindsey, along with her two children visited us in May from their current home in Zurich. Karen and Steve's first European trip since the pandemic allowed them to visit family in both Portugal and Switzerland. We planned a full itinerary to introduce our guests to the attractions of the Algarve. Introduction to Tavira via Tuk TukOur current neighbor, Joao, owns the largest tuk tuk tour company in Tavira, so we thought this would be a great way to introduce Karen and Steve to our town. Our niece, Lindsey, had enjoyed the tuk tuk tour in May, though this one was to be even more special as it combined a stop at our local artisanal chocolate shop. We also toured the salt flats (salinas), a local oyster farm, and the hilltop historical area of Tavira. A Ver TaviraIn late October, Mark will have his 65th birthday, so Karen and Steve insisted that we celebrate while they were here. We decided to go to A Ver Tavira, which is a one-star Michelin restaurant on the historic hill overlooking the city. The food was delicious, and the setting was lovely. Off to SevilleThe Spanish city of Seville is less than a two-hour drive from Tavira, so we decided to take a quick jaunt to see this fascinating city. Our two-night visit included a private tour of the Alcazar and of Seville Cathedral, a walk around the Plaza de España, a flamenco show, and dinners at some lovely Spanish restaurants. On the Way Back to Portugal...As we drove from Seville back to Portugal, we stopped off at the small Spanish town of Sanlúcar de Guadiana, which is on the east bank of the Guadiana River, separating Spain from Portugal. A unique attraction in this town is a zip line which crosses the river, taking you from Spain and into the Portuguese town of Alcoutim. It is the only cross-border zip line in the world, and effectively allows you to go back in time, since Portugal is one hour behind Spain. The zip line is 720 meters and take about 45 seconds. Lots to Do in the Remaining DaysOver the remaining few days of Karen and Steve's visit, we tried to show them several different aspects of the Algarve. Steve and Mark ventured off the coast of the Central Algarve to visit the renowned Benagil Cave, while Karen and Debra went shopping in Tavira. We all went wine tasting at the Quinta da Tor winery. And we had a grilled steak dinner at our apartment, a Portuguese tapas dinner at a waterfront restaurant in Tavira, and our final dinner at an intimate French restaurant in nearby Santa Luzia. It was great hosting family, and we had a wonderful time showing them the reasons we love living in Portugal. We can't wait for Karen and Steve to return to Portugal. Lisbon, Porto and the Douro Valley await!
Mark's cousin, David, and his partner, Kathy, made their first visit to Europe since the pandemic. After spending just over a week in London, they wanted to meet up with us, so we chose Barcelona because it is a great city and one that neither of us had been to for many years. We stayed in a fantastic AirBNB in the Gothic Quarter, the "old town" of Barcelona. Our goal for this four-day trip was to see some of Barcelona's major sites and to eat some excellent Spanish food. We began our sightseeing with a tuk tuk tour, which gave us a quick overview of the city. We drove by a number of Barcelona's sites, and even went up to Montjuïc, a hill that overlooks the city and that was the main site of the 1992 Summer Olympics. A view from the tuk tuk Sagrada FamiliaAfter our tuk tuk tour, we decided to visit the most popular sightseeing spot in Barcelona, the Sagrada Familia. The church was designed by Antoni Gaudí, who took over the project at just 31 years of age; construction began in 1882. Gaudí was one of the most sought-after architects of his day, and we planned to visit several of his Barcelona works on this trip. At the time of his death in 1926, the Sagrada Familia was less than one-quarter finished. Construction on the church continues today, and it is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. Construction is (very tentatively) scheduled to be completed in 2026. Palau GüellNear La Rambla, the popular pedestrian boulevard of Barcelona, is a mansion designed by the architect Antoni Gaudí for the industrial tycoon Eusebi Güell, which was built between 1886 and 1888. There are several lavish rooms and a rooftop which could only have been designed by Gaudí. Casa BatllóThis unique house is in the center of Barcelona. Antoni Gaudí redesigned this previously built house in 1904, and it is considered one of his masterpieces. After the original redesign, it has been refurbished several times, making it into more of a tourist attraction (video room included) than an historic dwelling. Casa VicensBuilt between 1883 and 1885 as a summer house for the Vicens family, this house is considered to be the first major masterpiece of Antoni Gaudí. The work was widely discussed when it was built and caused a great sensation among the general public at the time. Museu PicassoBarcelona art is not just about Gaudí. The Museu Picasso was the first museum dedicated to the great artist's work and the only one created during his lifetime. Picasso and his family moved to Barcelona in 1895, when he was almost fourteen years of age, and where he would live until 1904. The museum houses over 4,000 of his works. The Foods of BarcelonaOn our trip, we were able to sample a wide range of wonderful food in Barcelona restaurants. We had Catalonian tasting menus, Spanish-Asian fusion, and lots and lots of tapas. The wide range of available foods was on display at La Boqueria, a large public market in the old town of Barcelona and one of the city's foremost tourist landmarks. Its main entrance is off La Rambla, only about a five-minute walk from our AirBNB. La Boqueria had a wide selection of Spanish delicacies, including meats, cheeses, sweets, and spices. We loved the food of Barcelona! We had a great time in Barcelona, and we look forward to meeting up with David and Kathy both in California (soon) and on their next European trip.
A few months ago, I made a post discussing how construction methods and customs are different here versus in the US. Here are a few more examples and also some updates on additions/changes we've made to the Siesta apartment and to the current state of the under-construction San Pedro apartment. SMOKE DETECTORSSmoke and carbon monoxide detectors are not required in Portuguese houses and apartments. They are readily available (we bought ours from Amazon Spain), however, so we installed smoke detectors throughout the Siesta apartment. Because we do not use natural gas in the apartment, we did not install carbon monoxide detectors. WINDOW SCREENSScreens for windows and sliding glass doors -- called mosquito screens here -- are not common in Portugal (or most of Europe). Many homes (not ours) have window shutters, but those keep light out as well as bugs. Screens, in fact, are so uncommon, that many windows and sliding glass doors -- like ours -- don't have slots or grooves into which screens can fit. So screens must be custom fit and installed, which we had done. OUTSIDE HANDHOLDS FOR SLIDING GLASS DOORSIn the main room of our apartment, there are two sets of double sliding glass doors. These doors do not have handles on the outside to enable to you easily open or close them. Instead, you need to grab onto the edges of the door or to the glass. It doesn't make a lot of sense why there wouldn't be some sort of handholds or concave depressions so that your fingers could grip the door, so we had to make up a solution for ourselves. WINDOW COVERINGSAs this apartment was new and unoccupied, we needed to purchase and have installed window coverings. We chose blackout drapes for the bedrooms and vertical blinds for the main room. TERRACE UPGRADESWe have enjoyed our apartment's terrace, and Ryder particularly loves the pool. But the view off the terrace isn't exactly the best. We are near the two-lane highway which runs through Tavira, and we get a good view of it from the terrace. And at night, we get an excellent, if somewhat remote, view of the Restaurante da Bairrada, which specializes in roast suckling pig. They advertise that fact with not one, but two neon signs featuring a bright red pig! It reminded us of the Seinfeld episode which featured a Kenny Rogers Roasters sign outside of Kramer's window. So what we decided to do was to mount some trellises that would mostly filter the view of the highway, while still allowing air movement to the terrace. We still can see the neon pigs, but they are much less noticeable. UPDATE ON UNDER-CONSTRUCTION APARTMENTHere is the latest video of the San Pedro apartment which is under construction. About 50 seconds into this video, there is a view which we believe to be at the level of our ground floor apartment, looking out over the neighboring orchard. It's interesting to see that much of the wall plaster is completed, and the developer (who we saw recently) tells us that windows will be going in shortly. The schedule date of completion is still April 2024.
With Debra in the US, I decided to take a road trip to Seville to visit the Costco. We'd been there almost a year ago, but at that time, we only took a brief look. This trip would allow me to really check it out. From the outside, it is very similar to US Costco locations. The building is a bit smaller than the ones I'm used to, so the number of items was somewhat smaller. But they had lots of Kirkland brand items and several things that Americans yearn for and are hard to find in Portugal (or Spain). Overall, I was a little disappointed with the selection at this Costco, but that didn't stop me from making several purchases. Quality peanut butter, maple syrup, Mexican food products, chocolate chip cookies, pastrami, and vitamin supplements are very hard to come by in Europe. But the big score was the 10 lb. USDA Choice boneless ribeye roast (actually from the US!). And then I stopped off for another American classic on the way home.
Our wedding anniversary celebration this year in Portugal took place in two phases. The first was on August 12th at the Monte Rei Golf & Country Club near us in the Eastern Algarve. Monte Rei houses a wonderful one-star Michelin restaurant, Vistas, where we celebrated our anniversary in 2021 (pictures on this blog). This year the Vistas chef, Rui Silvestre, invited five other Michelin-starred chefs from throughout Portugal to attend and cook at an outdoor party of fabulous food and wine. The menu featured one dish from each chef, along with several other stations of food and wine Chef Óscar Geadas of G Restaurante in Bragança After the festivities at the Chefs' Garden Party, we had a much quieter celebration on our actual anniversary date of August 27 at a local favorite of ours, Vincent's in nearby Santa Luzia. The menu and the chef are French, and it is an intimate setting that serves only 8-10 people per night. We had Portuguese sparkling wine, pork and beef filet and finished with chocolate mousse and crepe suzette. It was lovely! Every two years, the Central Algarve city of Loulé hosts a big party called White Night or Noite Branca. Modeled after the end-of-summer festivities in cities like Paris, the last Loulé celebration took place in 2019 due to Covid, so this year's event was sure to be a blowout. We had planned to attend the event with friends for several weeks, but Ryder unfortunately did not get the message. He got sick the day of the event (nothing serious), so unfortunately, Debra missed the event to stay with him. At Noite Branca, all attendees are asked to wear white clothing, and the vibe is noticeably more laid back than many of the Algarve's summer festivals. The streets were filled with people and performers (think Cirque du Soleil). Lots of drinks were available from restaurants and pubs, and multiple stages offered a wide range of music selections. The evening started calmly, with light crowds and casual music. But as night fell, things got busy, loud, and fun! Hopefully, Debra will get to go to Noite Branca in 2025.
Ryder (with his light necklace from the festival) would like to go, too! Mark was invited to play at his first tournament in Portugal on a brand new course. Ombria Golf Resort opened in April in the hills of Loulé, just west and inland from our hometown of Tavira. In addition to the course, a hotel resort is under construction and several types of home sites and condominiums are being offered for sale. The course was not long, but surprisingly challenging for a resort golf course. Mark was invited by a dog walking friend, Chris Pollard, who recently moved with his wife to Tavira. There were a couple of available slots, so Mark also invited his British friends, Chris and Sheila Thomas, who live in Loulé. Mark stayed with Chris and Sheila on his exploratory trip to Portugal in 2017, and they have become fast friends of ours. It was a very hot day, over 100°F. And despite Sheila walking into an electric cattle fence on the final hole, the team did very well. The Festa dos Tabuleiros (Festival of the Trays) takes place every four years in July in the Portuguese city of Tomar, about 80 miles north of Lisbon. This festival is an ancient tradition, celebrating ancient Portuguese millenarian rituals dating to the 13th century. We decided to make a weekend trip north to see this rare event for ourselves. Our first stop was a brief visit to the Batalha Monastery and an overnight stay in Fatima. Batalha Monastery & FatimaThe monastery was built to commemorate the Portuguese victory over the Castilians in the battle of Aljubarrota in 1385. It took over a century to build, starting in 1386 and ending around 1517. The joint tomb of King John I of Portugal and his wife Philippa of Lancaster (the only English queen in Portuguese history) stands in the Founder's Chapel. The Portuguese city of Fatima is famous due to the account of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary reported by three little shepherds from May 13 to October 13, 1917. Due to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima, the city has become one of the most important international destinations of religious tourism, receiving about six million people per year. Pope Francis will visit Fatima in August of this year to celebrate World Youth Day. Festa Fever in TomarThe population of Tomar is only about 20,000 people, just a little bigger than Tavira. The Festa do Tabuleiros attracts almost a million visitors over its duration, this year from July 1-10. It is a monumental task for the local townspeople, and they truly go all out. We visited Tomar in October of 2021 (just after Debra's Portuguese residency appointment in nearby Santarem), and we found it to be a lovely town. But for the Festa, it was a city transformed, and every street was decorated with paper flowers and decorations. Cortejo do MordomoOver the main days of the Festa, there are a series of parades. The first one we saw was the Cortejo do Mordomo (Butler's Parade) which included mostly men, some on horseback, and also several pairs of oxen, symbolic of the bountiful harvest which was to come. Cortejos Parciais dos TabuleirosThe next day was the Cortejos Parciais dos Tabuleiros (Parades of the Partial Trays). This was a smaller version of the full-fledged parade that would happen on Sunday. Because the crowds were much smaller, we were able to get quite close to the marchers to see how it was done. The local population parades in pairs with the women carrying tabuleiros on their heads. It amazed us that the marchers had to walk well over a mile! The tabuleiro is made of 30 stacked pieces of bread, decorated with flowers. At the top of the tabuleiro is a crown which normally contains either a white dove, symbolising the Holy Spirit, or the esfera armilar (armillary sphere), a symbol of the historical Portuguese maritime expansion, and over the sphere, the cross of the Order of Christ. After the parade, the tabuleiros were placed in a nearby park, where people could see them close up. Cortejo dos TabuleirosOn Sunday, the final parade is a grand display of all the tabuleiros. Because hundreds of thousands of people were expected, we got there early and staked out our viewing spot. The parade was a sight to behold! We had a memorable time at the Festa dos Tabuleiros!
One of the first things we learned after buying the Siesta apartment is that construction methods and customs are different here versus in the US. Here are just a few of the examples we have found so far. SWIMMING POOL We have what is called a "first floor" apartment. (In the US, it would considered "second floor," but in Europe, they do not count the ground floor of buildings in their numbering system.) Even being on the first floor, we have a small pool, about 8x14 feet, on our terrace. Despite being almost four feet deep, the pool has no inside stairs, making it difficult for humans and dangerous for animals. For the humans, we installed a ladder, and for the animals, we brought over from the US a device called a "Pup Plank". It's essentially a floating "dock" which allows an animal to both enter and exit the pool easily. In the video, Ryder gives a demonstration. STANDARD FIXTURES In Portugal, you cannot always assume that items such as appliances, light fixtures, and bathroom fittings are included with a house/apartment sale. In our case, the Siesta apartment had never been occupied, so there were even more items which we had to provide on our own. Luckily all of the kitchen appliances were included with the apartment, though we had to contend with the fact that upon move-in, we found that the dishwasher, microwave, and stovetop did not function. We aren't sure when they stopped working, but since no one had ever lived here, it could have been from the very beginning. The good news for us was that all of these appliances had a two-year manufacturer's warranty as they were brand new when installed. The bad news was that it took almost six weeks to get all of them serviced and running. The apartment has small recessed lights in most of the rooms and bathrooms. But the spaces were clearly designed for additional ceiling lights which we would have to provide. We chose some basic ceiling light fixtures for the main room and the bedrooms. BATHROOM Neither of the apartment's bathrooms had mirrors, and the areas were also pre-wired for light fixtures over the mirrors. In addition, the bathrooms had no towel bars. All of these were added to the bathrooms. But the biggest issue in the shared bathroom (off of the living room) was that the sink which had been installed by the builder was far too big for this fairly small space. A person sitting on the commode would essentially have the sink covering about one-third of their lap. Our solution was to have a plumber remove the old sink and install a much shallower sink and cabinet. In replacing the bathroom sink, I learned about patching plaster walls and touch-up painting here in Portugal. I was pleased to learn from our builder that the interior paint was a good quality paint in "white." Not cream, not eggshell; the shade is white. It made purchasing the touch-up paint an easy task. We are still working on a few remaining items in the apartment and will include the problems and solutions in a future post. All of these changes have made the apartment much more comfortable for us, and we are enjoying our new home.
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