My dear family & friends
We’ve been to Portugal and we’re back. The weather didn’t quite play along with our plans, but it was good enough. Well, better than it was here. The Avon is full to overflowing and has burst its banks in several places, which means that it must have truly poured with rain while we were gone. The fields under the flight path into Birmingham Airport looked quite sodden as we glided in to land. Today has been dull, grey and overcast, but it hasn’t rained. That didn’t bother the dogs too much though as they were overjoyed to see me when I picked them up at the kennel this morning. I took them out for a long walk as soon as we got home, first to the Pastelaria Portuguesa and then to St Nicholas Park in Warwick. The dogs made a great game of chasing each other through the shallow, flooded areas in the park. I watched with interest as Edgar edged closer and closer to the river bank hidden beneath the flood waters. Finally, and inevitably, ground gave way beneath his front paws and he pitched into the river nose first with bum following over the top in a great splash. Slightly embarrassed, but undeterred, he reappeared to scrabble up the river bank and charge off after Hazel again. I wish I’d had a camera to capture the moment.
But let me skip back to last Thursday when we set our alarms for 03h30 so that we could get to Birmingham for our 07h00 flight to Faro. We could have slept another hour; it only took us about 20 minutes to get to the airport which meant that we had to sit around for nearly two hours until the flight was called. We did have one heart-stopping moment when we arrived and couldn’t find our airline or our flight listed on any of the boards. It’s just that second of panic when your heart skips a beat and you can hear blood rushing in your ears. As it turned out, however, Birmingham Airport has two departure terminals more-or-less right next to each other, and we were in the wrong one. A short walk through a shopping concourse took us to our check-in desk.
We were met by (my sister) Barbara and (husband) Terry at Faro Airport and proceeded straight to Faro Beach where we hunted around to find a café that was open and would afford us either a view of the beach or a view across the estuary to the city of Faro. Most of the cafés and kiosks (a quiosque in Portuguese) were closed and shuttered for winter. We settled on “O Electronico” (The Tram) where we ordered coffees, ham and cheese sandwiches, and medronho (meh-dron-yo), a Portuguese firewater distilled from the fruit of the arbutus, wild strawberries. Lucia and I basked like cats in the bright sunshine. Later Lucia and I strolled down to the water’s edge before driving inland to Barbara and Terry’s home at Espargal in the Algarvean hills.
I’ll give you a précis of our time. (The pics are in the usual place at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/llewellynijones.) On Thursday evening we went to dinner in the village of Benafim with a few of Barbara and Terry’s expatriate neighbours. The proprietor of the Café Coral and his French wife were a somewhat surprised to see us because Thursday and Friday had got a little muddled in French when Barbara made the reservation. On Friday morning we walked the dogs with Barbara around the fields and hills of Espargal. Terry recently injured his knee and has been unable to participate in the twice daily ritual. We began the walk in bright sunshine, which turned to cloud by the time we got home over an hour later, and then to a drenching downpour. We took Barbara to lunch in Alte and then to view the wares a local art gallery and one of the town’s many handicraft shops. In the evening it was out to dinner again with David and Dagmar Davies, old neighbours and friends of Barbara and Terry’s in Portugal. Saturday was more of the same: Walk the dogs down to the Algibre River in the morning, and then off to Loulé to pick up a few bits and bobs in the market. In the evening we had dinner at the Adega in the village of Nave do Barão (the nave of the baron), a favourite of Barbara and Terry’s.
And then, on Sunday morning, it was time to leave again, all too soon. The bright sharp light, even behind clouds, and some afternoon snoozes did us a world of good. Lucia was combing the web for more dirt cheap flights last night.
Love, light & peace
Llewellyn
We’ve been to Portugal and we’re back. The weather didn’t quite play along with our plans, but it was good enough. Well, better than it was here. The Avon is full to overflowing and has burst its banks in several places, which means that it must have truly poured with rain while we were gone. The fields under the flight path into Birmingham Airport looked quite sodden as we glided in to land. Today has been dull, grey and overcast, but it hasn’t rained. That didn’t bother the dogs too much though as they were overjoyed to see me when I picked them up at the kennel this morning. I took them out for a long walk as soon as we got home, first to the Pastelaria Portuguesa and then to St Nicholas Park in Warwick. The dogs made a great game of chasing each other through the shallow, flooded areas in the park. I watched with interest as Edgar edged closer and closer to the river bank hidden beneath the flood waters. Finally, and inevitably, ground gave way beneath his front paws and he pitched into the river nose first with bum following over the top in a great splash. Slightly embarrassed, but undeterred, he reappeared to scrabble up the river bank and charge off after Hazel again. I wish I’d had a camera to capture the moment.
But let me skip back to last Thursday when we set our alarms for 03h30 so that we could get to Birmingham for our 07h00 flight to Faro. We could have slept another hour; it only took us about 20 minutes to get to the airport which meant that we had to sit around for nearly two hours until the flight was called. We did have one heart-stopping moment when we arrived and couldn’t find our airline or our flight listed on any of the boards. It’s just that second of panic when your heart skips a beat and you can hear blood rushing in your ears. As it turned out, however, Birmingham Airport has two departure terminals more-or-less right next to each other, and we were in the wrong one. A short walk through a shopping concourse took us to our check-in desk.
We were met by (my sister) Barbara and (husband) Terry at Faro Airport and proceeded straight to Faro Beach where we hunted around to find a café that was open and would afford us either a view of the beach or a view across the estuary to the city of Faro. Most of the cafés and kiosks (a quiosque in Portuguese) were closed and shuttered for winter. We settled on “O Electronico” (The Tram) where we ordered coffees, ham and cheese sandwiches, and medronho (meh-dron-yo), a Portuguese firewater distilled from the fruit of the arbutus, wild strawberries. Lucia and I basked like cats in the bright sunshine. Later Lucia and I strolled down to the water’s edge before driving inland to Barbara and Terry’s home at Espargal in the Algarvean hills.
I’ll give you a précis of our time. (The pics are in the usual place at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/llewellynijones.) On Thursday evening we went to dinner in the village of Benafim with a few of Barbara and Terry’s expatriate neighbours. The proprietor of the Café Coral and his French wife were a somewhat surprised to see us because Thursday and Friday had got a little muddled in French when Barbara made the reservation. On Friday morning we walked the dogs with Barbara around the fields and hills of Espargal. Terry recently injured his knee and has been unable to participate in the twice daily ritual. We began the walk in bright sunshine, which turned to cloud by the time we got home over an hour later, and then to a drenching downpour. We took Barbara to lunch in Alte and then to view the wares a local art gallery and one of the town’s many handicraft shops. In the evening it was out to dinner again with David and Dagmar Davies, old neighbours and friends of Barbara and Terry’s in Portugal. Saturday was more of the same: Walk the dogs down to the Algibre River in the morning, and then off to Loulé to pick up a few bits and bobs in the market. In the evening we had dinner at the Adega in the village of Nave do Barão (the nave of the baron), a favourite of Barbara and Terry’s.
And then, on Sunday morning, it was time to leave again, all too soon. The bright sharp light, even behind clouds, and some afternoon snoozes did us a world of good. Lucia was combing the web for more dirt cheap flights last night.
Love, light & peace
Llewellyn
