2018 April 4th- June 4th: Escape from Toronto: France, Spain & Portugal 👍

Dateline: 4th June 2018, Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal
Galliac, Sigean, Barcelona, Porto, Lisbon, Sintra, Azores

Route, partial anyway
Galliac,  Finally, booking return air trips back to Toronto. We will be back for burgers and fresh recipes from Portuguese cuisine on June 4th. (Anyone having dined in Portugal will be very afraid)

For some strange reason, people keep asking for this stupid blog thing.... (?), go figure, so here's a few ongoing pix of us sitting down, standing up, drinking booze and eating various stuff....

now read on

Talk about a second home.... This is definitely it
Shem and Alex, Club Shem Paradisio, 

Gaillac, France

Club Shem Paradiso, Gaillac, France. April 4th - April 30th
Always a blast getting back to the Alexanders.
We have our return ticket from our last trip when we came from Delhi, so as returns are about 30% of a one way ticket (yes, really), this was the date we decided to return
Those of you who are regular readers (I think that's about 2 people now), will have seen all the previous trips here
There's a lot of projects around here.
That and wine, and cheese and oysters and (eventually) Shem's wonderful cooking

First things first. Impress the missus
Peter modelling his hardly ever used, very expensive 
black on black on black (etc) bike (BMW of course)

 I've brought my Google Home smart interface and it becomes a godsend for my favourite relaxation process of listening to radio, internet too makes it wonderfully adaptable
We begin the tasks at hand

Does this look familiar?
Church steeple from 100 Steps in background

 Of all things, there's a new craft brewery opened
up just down the road. Really good IPA

Just work
Unfortunately, being retired, totally, I can't send
shots like this to my work mates any more, Sigh!

More work, work
My typical job is to totally clear out and re sort
all the accumulated crap for easier access
Every year it'd the same sort

Same old pool with house in perspective
Jumping in time approaches

Another day, another (several) bottles of wine
Here with Ramon, supplier of French accents
and wild boar preserves, delicious!

Newt arrives for a few days
and engages in boy talk
for a few weeks

Newt and Alex in some deep boys conversation
I have my IPA

Another evening on tha patio
This time with grub and wine

Newt with his passion, some road bike, suitably rested, departs to Sigean

 OK, everything back to normal folks

Active participaction burying power cable.
I dug the trenches. Bloody hard work

By train to Newts Place, Sigean, France: April 30th - May 12th.

Its always great to get back to the hole in the wall at Sigean. Hole in the wall being the old medieval city defensive wall. wine, cheese and especially, endless Huitres moyen with Picpoul de Poule.

France is so great, everyone you meet on the street greets you with "Bon Jour". It's a very civilised society

On walkabout, somewhere near Port la nouvelle

A selection of pre dining
imbibing's
(totally fantastic!
just as good as a Moet)

Peter in (one of) his natural elements
There was a time when not only would
he not let me cook, but also, not let
me wash up.
Unfortunately, Lindy put a stop to that

And this is our main activity -
picnic on the E'tang. YES! Again!

on the back terrace of course

 Followed by another dining
experience 

Practicing my selfie abilities.
Note perfect baguette
sandwich, and 1 litre red wine (not shown)

Narbonne market. Not as good as St. Lawrence,
but they do serve excellent wines

 Difficult not finding a great wine here

A passing fancy: A day trip to Colliure, 
south of Perpignon

Just being a tourist

Peter Alex defying the odds and
actually
made it down to Sigean, and BACK!
on his triple black BMW alter ego
We were all horrified
that he even tried to ride

Off on the TGV to Barcelona: May 12th - May 14th.

From here, looks like it's all Airbnb stays

Our Airbnb apartment (top middle)
but foreground of local street and
typical local cafe
We immediately have a row with the
"hostess"
It goes downhill from there

Our first real local tapas bar. 

Really great experience and lovely people

Barcelona Cathedral
with your correspondent

(Inside) Sunday night at the 

funny farm. How can people 

still believe this stuff?

Really! This stuff (aka "god"),

is incredibly dated  and 

anachronistic (to me anyway),

and that's all that counts

(to me anyway)

Segunda Familia.
Still crazy after all these years

Keep on building folks
I have to run to catch a plane

Someone has really spent a lot of time
designing these streets
Three lanes for cars, one lane for
busses, one for bikes, and one for
ordinary folk, like me

Route, Portugal

Flight to Porto, Portugal. May 14th - May 19th.

Ryanair. Basic but very effective
Everything transport in Portugal is via coded plastic cards. You dump cash onto it according to your trip requirements, and then tap it when you get onto the bus or the trams/ trains

On our way to our Airbnb.
This, apparently is the line up for the 
down and outs food kitchen

We arrive fairly late, and our Google map sends us from the airport to a station about 1Km+ from our AirBnB.

As recommended by Newt. The Gazelle, Porto.
Try the "Hot dogs" (Hint - they're not)
No one speaks English. Fabulous!

Street market, mainly for tourists, but! 
they do actually have what these tourist want
Cork handbags. I love them

I get a bit wary as we head down a dark alley as it's getting dark. There's a lot of older males milling around. Once we finally meet up with our hostess, she tells us its a meal kitchen for supporting the poor. There's a lot of them and we see a lot of rough sleepers in Portugal, and specific areas where they sleep. Quite a bit of begging. The cops are oblivious to it, which isn't a bad thing.
I pass a phone shop and get a SIM card. 15 days of local phone and 1 GB on 4G for 2.5 Euros - about $CAD4. Come on CRTC!!!

We have trouble finding 
decent food. This one?
Great surroundings,
Not so great grub

On walkabout in Porto.
The bay on the way to the fort

Cork bags, everything,
some are quite attractive (so I'm told)

Ah....
The glories of Mateus Rose
How many young ladies have I seduced with my
superior knowledge of great
wines?

Fado music and performers.
Not to be missed? Maybe not to be repeated

The Portuguese just love tiles
These tell some stories of the
history
of Porto in the train station

Probably the worst haircut
I've had since I was 12

Train to Aveiro - recommended as "The Venice of Portugal" - Not! May 19th - May 22nd. (It's NOT!)

We were told this place was lovely and couldn't be missed: don't bother

Aveiro - it's even more boring than it looks
Luckily for you dear reader, that means you get this blog!

Somehow making do with the local produce

Banksy, eat your urchins out
Aveiro street art

Train Aveiro to Lisbon. May 22nd - May 26th.

Lisbon is pretty cool place. We snagged the central old town and I loved it, but I like walking, and hills don't get in my way.

Heading off to the local market - this is a chocolate cup
full of Ginja, a Portuguese cherry liquor. It's lovely

A lot of time spent finding supermarkets. Had one of the best meals of Portugal here: I cooked it!
A strange mixture of ancient and modern. Still quite a few beggars, and lots of tourists and tours.
Typically, one or two cruise ship in the harbour

Heading up to the ancient castle -
lots of tourists up here from, guess where....

Tapas at our local.
Chicken bits with lots of garlic and huge
glass of wine

Typical Lisbon street
with hole in the walls cafes

Probably doesn't need
translating
Not everyone is happy
with AirBnB it seems

Our Lisbon apartment
with Jim cooked breakfast

Some old dude
Probably a king or
such like

Huge concrete "sculpture" celebrating
Lisbon's ancient forward thinkers and
navigators (dedicated to Henry)

Torre de Belem
Medieval defensive tower on the Tagus river

It's everywhere. 
We stopped in for an organ recital, but the
backdrop and props were just too 
repetitive

As in Henry, the navigator

Torre da Quinta da Regaleira

I found it quite dull

It was different, but really all you can say is
been there.....

Train, Lisbon - 

Sintra and back to Airport: May 26th - May 29th

Sintra is a beautiful place, but very touristy, Duh!
There's quite a few "old"  palaces and places, but typically 19th/ 20th century updates.
Great reason to walk up hills though
The Castle of the Moors is about the only place really worth the effort.

Well, earth tones and suitable weather

Finally! A good meal in
Portugal:
An Indian Mutter Paneer
Just around the corner from our AirBnB
Central Sintra

Even the "best" personally recommended restaurant was still pretty bad, but I did luck out on a "cod cream pie", that was really good

Walking up the path to  
Castle of the Moors. Next day
About an hours hike from the village

Finally at the top of the 
Castle of the Moors

About 1000 years ago
Portugal under Muslim
control

The castle had a commanding view and
control of of a strategic point overlooking
the sea and rivers of Lisbon

Abandoned rock splitting
They used wooden wedges, then soaked them to split rocks

Sintra view from the castle. A long hike up here

Another, arty type of religious
 stuff. Pena Palace

Palacio National de Sintra:
Lots of old stuff,
but not really worth the effort 
for me or for them

Palace of Pena:
More not quite old stuff. Don't bother

Lisbon's subway
Cork everywhere

Train to Lisbon Airport, flight to Ponta Delgada, San Miguel, Azores

Route around Sao Miguel
Now, here's a place we found really lovely. A strange mix of a mediocre Portugal with shades of Hawaiian islands and New Zealand landscapes. Quite unique. Some highly recommended places to do tourist stuff at.
Incredible amount of boarded up and abandoned stores and offices. It's weird
Still poor food though

Ponta Delgada - almost tourist free.
Not quite a quaint old Portuguese town

interesting

interesting

Can you believe this stuff?
An icon associated with
this island apparently

A slightly updated PDG fort.
Very cheap and quite interesting

Apparently, the island is a
"mecca"
(get it?) for religious nuts

Some of the "treasures" and artefacts
 to be found on the island

Hot springs in Furnas -
lots of volcanic stuff all around

Open swimming
pool on the ocean: 
Nordeste

Luckily, there's fun
parts of the island

There's some lovely little towns
around the coast on the "old road":
Faialence I believe

There are some beautiful spots all along the
south east coast

All very well looked after too

Quinte de Santana - fantastic lodge near Ribiera Grande - highly recommended

I try my hand at do it yourself barbecuing, 
half pissed of course. No one has used this for months
I get singed in several places

Anticlockwise around the island to Moisterois.
Right at the deserted end of the island

Next day off to the Caldeira -
these are moss infested barbecues way up in 
the highlands

Many places are very reminiscent
of Hawaii can you believe?
Lots of ancient volcanic activity here

Our final stop for a
fantastic meal:

And back to Toronto on an Airbus A340 (about 400 seats but only about 20 of us on board)

 

From your correspondent