photography

Beware – food pictures!

| Mairead

2018 3

(Denis can hardly wait to get inside the door of TimeOut Market, Mercado de Ribeira)

Forgot to tell you – yesterday was a beautiful day! A little bit of sunshine and no rain! We woke this morning, surprisingly surprised to hear rain on the roof. We had forgotten that we chose yesterday to go to Lisbon because the Weather app promised cloudy with sun! It promised rain today.

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(My favourite stall)

We have moved to a beautiful place but it’s way too windy and wet to have a look so we are parked in a free aire, five minutes drive from the town and two minutes from a nice supermarket. I really want to bring you pictures of the town tomorrow because it looked amazing through the windscreen. Maybe I should check the weather app. Ok I checked the weather app… might have to take pictures through the windscreen.

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(I choose steak in a cream sauce and spinach in a cream sauce… It was very good but I wish I’d chosen Denis’ meal)

Fortunately I do have some food pictures from yesterday in Lisboa. Denis knew almost immediately what he wanted to eat and he even had a suggestion for me. But I wanted to look for myself so I wandered round and round and got more and more confused. Eventually I saw a picture of the meal I thought looked good and choose that.. without noticing the price.

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(Denis choose pork crackling with special pickle sandwich – it was amazing, he shared. Those crisps were hot and tasted like potatoes…)

When we compared receipts mine was double the price of his… so top tip if you go here (and I recommend you do) check out the prices as well as the nice pictures.

My mouth is watering, Mairead.

Do. Or do not. There is no try. – Yoda

| Mairead

(Today we went to see the ruins!)

The rain stopped and sun came out…and off we went to the roman ruins at Monografico de Conimbriga. These are the ruins of the old city (about 1800 years old!) of Conimbriga and the nice English-speaking man at the ticket office told us to bring it alive by imagining we were walking along the streets when it was still a living city. I tried.

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(Here’s part of the roman road going from Lisbon to Braga. Can you see the parallel lines? Horse cart tracks)

When we got to the Lisbon to Braga road I was trying really hard to imagine we were back in 194 AD. First thing I tried to imagine were the carts but I couldn’t see the cart tracks so I tried a little harder. It never works for me to try harder, well, trying doesn’t really work. (I could see the tracks when we were leaving and I’d stopped trying…)

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(Can you see the “carpets”? And look through the door and out into the enclosed garden with pools and fountains (you’ll have to imagine the fountains they were’nt working today because of the recent weather))

But then we went into the House of the Fountains. At first glance it’s a load of low stone walls set out in squares in a barn. So I tried really hard to imagine I was going into a house. And then I saw the mosaic floors… I didn’t have to try anymore. I could see room after room covered in mosaic carpets. And the fountains weren’t in the house they were through the (imaginary) windows in the garden. I loved it! I took a picture of practically every mosaic! I want to doodle every single one of them before I get home.

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(Love this…)

I took loads of close-ups too so I can remember them. Can you see how small the square bricks are that make up the mosaic? I’m guessing 3 or 4cm square. Look how many it takes to make a small square – 25 little teeny tiny square bricks! They’re called tesserae. And they were all made by hand and fired in a kiln and assembled by hand and cemented in place by hand and levelled by hand… 1800 years ago.

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(… and this…)

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(Here they are up really close)

After that we saw lots of houses and the city baths and shops and then we checked out the Forum, a huge open plaza with just three columns suggesting the numerous that would have stood when this was the center of the city…

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(The Forum with the three columns to the right. The walkway you can see to the left above is standing in for the entrance to the Forum plaza…)

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(…and this is the model of the Forum at the museum)

The reason this site is in such good condition is that it was abandoned in the middle ages. What normally happens is a new city is built on top of old ruins. So all over the old Roman Empire there are hidden towns and hidden mosaics… mmm. It took us a couple of hours to go around all the ruins and we read later that only 17% of the city has been excavated.

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(Look at the cute mosaic signs for the bathrooms!)

I’m really glad the rain held off and I’m really glad our friend the chief of police told us about this place. He told us the story of when he served in Iraq and walked into the office of the police chief of a small town there and on the wall was a poster of Monografico de Conimbriga. It turned out to be the dream of this man to one day visit Conimbriga in Portugal!

Dreams are like that, they send messengers, Mairead.

Soaring at Soure

| Mairead

2018 9

(Cars go down this street… granted it’s one way)

We have arrived in a really friendly town, called Soure. Initially we had been pronouncing it Sewer but we discovered it is pronounced Soar – much more appropriate. There’s a castle here and if the torrential rain will just hold off for fifteen minutes I’ll go and get some photos and maybe a little historic information. There’s also a museum so I’m definitely going to that. Two rivers meet at the town’s edge and there are lots of old bridges, one particularly narrow. Thankfully they have put lights on it so only one car can go across at a time. There’s a library here too, with free wifi. Denis spent some time there yesterday afternoon, so I’ll have a look today.

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(Igreja de S.Tiago… big clock)

When Denis got back from the library we went off for a walk around the town, hopefully I will have pictures by the time you read this, if not,I can tell you: the streets are narrow and cobblestoned with old buildings. We stopped off at a cafe for a drink and when Denis got up to pay, one of the customers came over to talk to him. It was the chief of police (I think that’s what he said) and he wanted to welcome us to Portugal! He had brilliant English and he was very familiar with the history of the area and of Portugal.

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(Here you go, Grahame! From one police officer to another!)

He told us that Soure was given a charter by the King in 1111 for its critical role in the war against the enemy at the time (Moors I think). Our friend, the chief of police, had travelled a lot in his work and I guess he recognised that travellers like to meet the locals. We certainly liked meeting him. He introduced us to the Lupin bean, something the locals were nibbling alongside their drinks. Never heard of it before but it’s on Wikipedia if you’d like to find out about it.

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(Stained glass window in Igreja de S.Tiago. Now I’m wondering if that’s a shell on his hat and if Igreja S.Tiago is the Portuguese way of saying Church of Santiago? Is Soure on the Portuguese Camino de Santiago?)

He also told us about roman ruins at Monografico de Conimbriga, just 12 km from here. I’ve searched for them on Trip Advisor and  they look and sound very interesting so we’ll head off to those tomorrow. We chatted happily for about an hour and then Denis and I left in great form to find the local tapas restaurant. It was dark so not easy to find. I was hoping for a sign… when I looked up and saw a Guinness sign….right over the tapas restaurant! I guess that was a sign. We had very tasty chicken gizzards in a spicy pepper sauce. Yum!

Main message from our new friend: Portugal is very safe and you guys are very welcome over here! Mairead.

Laundry day!

| Mairead

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(Our destination. Look M(o)ira, it’s your town!)

Happy International Women’s Day! Well I know doing laundry is probably not the perfect celebration for the day that’s in it… but I’m excited. We were supposed to find a laundry yesterday… we’re a day late. As I write our clothing is going round and round in the dryer. We are at an Intermarche supermarket in the town of Mira and they have services for motorhomes plus a laundry self-service in the car park.

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(Electronic toll road.. we think we’re class 2, so 85 cent…)

There’s a machine for 18kg worth of clothes and one for 8kg and there’s a dryer. I weighed ours, it came to 6kg… The cost? €4 for the wash and €4 for the dry (2x 20 minutes) and the washing powder is included. At this rate it’s probably cheaper than washing at home. Every time I use a washing machine on the road I am grateful for my washing machine at home but today I am also grateful that washing machines exist and that the people of Intermarche supermarkets in Portugal put them in (some of) their car parks – thank you!

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(…plus €1.65)

So far there’s no end of adventure today because we also managed to drive on one of the electronic toll roads. Each time we pass under the cameras it takes the posted amount from the total we prepaid at the post office in Porto (plus what was left over from last year). It’s just as well they will text us when we run out because it’s proving difficult to remember to keep a running total, each posted amount is different.

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(Lovely laundry. There was a moment of worry when I spotted the men at work… Can you see our clothes in number 3?)

We will be moving along somewhere new after lunch because this car park doesn’t allow overnighting. We have full electricity, water and now clean clothes, our grey water tank and toilet cassette are empty, what more do we need?

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(…And in case you were wondering about the fuel prices. Also, we had not noticed how similar the Portuguese words for petrol and diesel are… hmmm)

From the laundry in the car park, Mira, Mairead.

Linda’s Craft Kit

| Mairead

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(The craft kit Linda made up especially for me so that I would always have something creative at hand when I am away❤)

When I woke up this morning I was thinking about the craft kit Linda gave me the week we left Ireland. I was thinking, it’s a great kit and isn’t she very smart and doesn’t it look so neat and didn’t I get great use out of it already… Then I realised I was thinking and I was doubly pleased! Thinking for me is talking to myself and it starts first thing in the morning and goes on all day until I fall asleep. There’s brief moment or two of no thinking/talking when I am meditation or napping or engrossed in a craft. Other than that the day is full of me talking… to myself. And I rarely notice I’m doing it so when I noticed this morning I was chuffed.

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(Close up of some quilling I made using my kit)

When I first encountered meditation (and for many years after that) I thought it was all about clearing my mind, making it completely silent in there. It’s not. It’s just about noticing when I’m thinking and then going back to whatever I’m doing, like breathing (something else I do all the time.) So in fact every time I find myself thinking when I should be meditating I am actually meditating! (Did you get that? The “finding myself thinking” is the key! My sister has a term I like: the gift of failure.) But there’s even more important things about meditation. It’s not just the sitting there practicing… it’s what happens when I’m not sitting there meditating. Like this morning when I woke up thinking about Linda. The fact that I noticed that I was talking to myself is a BIG thing.

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(These are the quilling papers from my kit)

Because if I notice I am talking to myself then I can notice what I’m saying… this morning it was something nice. Often it’s not something nice, often it’s something horrible… about me! So imagine the scenario, you’re sitting there looking at a beautiful sunset and from nowhere comes the thought, you should be doing something more productive! Which leads on to an uncomfortable feeling and another thought, you’re a lazy lump! Which feels even more uncomfortable and leads to another thought, this is completely useless, in fact you are completely useless sitting here! Well, you might as well be sitting with someone who hates you! But no, you’re with the person you’re going to spend the rest of your life with – You! Don’t be mean to you! But how can you stop being mean to you? You don’t even know you’re talking to yourself!

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(Here are the stones and glue that I can use to make pebble art)

And that’s one of the gifts of meditation! A different thought pops in to tell you, that’s a thought! At first you can’t hear this new thought and you carry on being mean to you. But one day, you hear, that’s a thought! And your eyebrows rise and you smile and you say, yes, that’s a thought, I’ll go back to looking at the beautiful sunset, sigh.

It’s just a thought and you are not your thoughts, Mairead.

PS If you want to hear Linda’s thoughts go to https://www.facebook.com/mindcraftie/

Watercolour Clouds

| Mairead

2018 2

(Look at that amazing fluffy cloud!)

We stayed a second night by the sea and now we’re at a different aire with electricity. The rain stopped, long enough for me to take some pictures, well of course it did. Every now and then it comes back with a heavy downpour and it stops again… the circle of rain. This morning is very bright with lots of blue sky visible between the fluffy clouds. There are also some dark blue clouds and one black cloud. It’s 14℃ outside. Nice.

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(Yum!)

We’re all alone at the electricity place and it’s very peaceful, just the odd bird tweeting. We can see for miles across what looks like marches. I think I read somewhere that being able to see for miles to the horizon is very calming. I do feel very calm. There’s a kind of harbour too with strange-looking boats. They remind me of gondolas in Venice. I get the impression this land may have been reclaimed from the sea.

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(Clouds last night at sunset… doesn’t it look like paint in water?)

Did I mention we haven’t found a laundry yet? Fortunately we have been able to stay up wind of people we encounter… so all good. Some of the supermarkets do have a laundry set up with huge washing and drying machines in the car park but so far none at the ones we’ve visited. Our parking app mentioned one about an hour south from here, Denis promises me we’re going there tomorrow.

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(The colourful boats)

Normally by this point we would have stayed at a campsite with a washing machine because aside from the need to have clean clothes I generally want a break from the constant moving. (Denis loves driving and never wants a break.) But this time I’m really enjoying the short stops. I also like the fact that we are making much more use of the aires and so we are seeing far more little towns in Portugal. You can be lucky and unlucky with the aires, when you’re lucky it’s beautiful. But even when you’re unlucky it’s still free and you can leave straight away or the following morning. Unlucky in relation to aires only means you are not surrounded by beauty.

There’s a lot of beauty in Portugal, Mairead.

As easy as buying scratch cards at the post office…

| Mairead

2018 3

(Porto buildings and steps and Denis)

We didn’t go back to the park today, instead we decided to go to Porto and sort out our toll road issue. We haven’t been on toll roads yet in Portugal and it’s only a matter of time. I think I might have explained this before but I have new information, thanks to the Porto tourist office and the man in the post office of Porto.

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(Tram tracks on a cobble-stoned road with tiled footpaths)

So, going back to the start… there are toll roads with booths where we can stop and pay and there are toll roads with electronic readers where they automatically charge your vehicle… if you have bought a pre-pay card or you have connected your vehicle online. If you don’t have a pre-paid card or you haven’t connected properly, there is no way to pay retrospectively! And you can be fined by the police. I had tried to do the connecting last year and it was really stressful and it didn’t work. This year I decided that I didn’t like the fine option and that we would stop at one of the special places set up at the border for tourists to connect their vehicle with their credit card. I was really looking forward to that special place. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find that special place. I am no longer sure that special place exists…

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(And a tram)

So I have been having palpitations whenever there is the possibility we might stray onto an electronic toll road. It was past time to do something about it and here we were very close to a city with a tourist office. We took the bus to Porto and the nice English-speaking lady in the tourist office explained that the easiest way to do it all was online… “Noooo, I tried that last year and it got messy, they wanted me to print the receipt and stick it in the window and the printer didn’t work and most of the instructions were in Portuguese and I think we were driving under the electronic tolls illegally!” says I.

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(Colourful market stall at the indoor market, Porto)

The nice lady was a little taken back but finally found her voice and suggested the other option –  the post office and it was just across the road. So off we went to the post office. The nice English-speaking man in the post office took us through the instructions (in spite of the long queue behind us). First buy the pre-pay toll road scratch card then scratch it, then send a text to the toll company with the scratch card number and the van registration number. Very quickly they sent us back a text telling us our balance. It worked! The balance amount turned out to be a bit of a surprise, though… it was twice the amount we paid in the post office.

There was no need to panic, it had worked last year, Mairead.

It’s not a Zoo!

| Mairead

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(He’s in a bit of a hurry)

Turns out the Zoo I thought we were staying at is more a nature reserve with botanical park, called Parque Biológico de Gaia. There are no elephants but there is a dinosaur…

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(There are little birds…)

I went to check it out this morning thinking I’d be done in 10 minutes or sooner if the rain returned. It’s quite big… it covers 35 hectares with a 2.8km path running through it. Two and a half hours later I arrived back to the camper with my camera battery exhausted from taking pictures!

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(…and big birds – storks)

I had met Fernando who has worked at the park for 18 years. We walked every path and he pointed out loads of interesting things. Despite no common language we got on really well! He told me about the cork trees which grow for 25 years before their bark is first cut to produce cork and then they are cut every 9 years.

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(The Cork tree)

He pointed out camouflaged birds in the enclosures that I missed. He knew how to bring the deer up close to get the best pictures…

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And he knew where the teen tiny wild boar baby would be…

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(Ok it’s not a great picture but… that’s the mammy wild boar on the right with the little boar – he’s fawn coloured – walking out from under her. Can you see him?)

But the most amazing animals were the Ibis, they looked like statues, they were standing so still and so proud, then the younger ones moved. As well as all the animals and the natural setting there are farm buildings which I think are original. One has a water-mill and five pairs of millstones. Another is called the Brazilian farm, when locals returned with their fortune from Brazil they built bigger farm houses… at least I think that’s the story?

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(The Ibis. Can you see the one in the cave?)

I’m going back again tomorrow. I’ll bring food and water and Denis, Mairead.

Ps Thank you so much to all the people who sent me pictures of the snow in Ireland. Below is the one I got from my mother-in-law…

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We are up in the hills…

| Mairead

(Sunrise this morning)

Do you remember the first time we took Ruby to Portugal? (I’ve put a link here if you want to remind yourself.) We ended up on teeny tiny roads searching for internet access. Well we’ve done it again, this time looking for electricity… We found the electricity but now we’re having difficulty accessing the internet!

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(Strange old machine in the car park in Viana de Castelo)

We are in the middle of nowhere in a campsite up in the hills of northern Portugal, thirty minutes north of a town called Vila Verde. Apart from the man working reception we are the only ones here. This is our first stay at a campsite on this trip. The only reasons we ever need to park in a campsite is for electricity or if we want to stay for more that 48 hours in one spot. Most of the free aires have a 48 hour (or similar) limit. So far we have been happy to move after 24 hours but that will probably change once the weather gets better or we run out of land to go further south!

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(Our new pet seagull)

It’s raining heavily at the moment but we have electricity so we are warm and our laptops are powered up. We have hot showers so we are clean and sweet-smelling. There’s food in the fridge and water in the tank and we also have half a rustic baguette, still fresh – it really doesn’t get much better that this.

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(Home for tonight)

In fact I’ve been reading and enjoying a book about meditation and mindfulness and I’m feeling very zen. The book is called 10% Happier by Dan Harris and the message I’m getting is that a day when you have half a rustic baguette is a very good day. Ok, it doesn’t actually say anything about bread, fresh or not… but it did say nothing lasts, neither good things nor terrible things. So, i’m choosing to enjoy my half a rustic baguette moment… I may have misunderstood the message.

We’ll probably move back towards the coast tomorrow, Mairead.