movingtoportugal

This post continues from where I left off with my last post, describing our visit to Lisbon and the surrounding area. If you haven’t already seen it, it’s probably best if you read this first, then come back here.

Sintra is a beautiful hilltop town on the outskirts of Lisbon. Luckily our hotel was located near a station with convenient trains. The journey surprised us with the sheer density of housing in the suburbs between the city center and Sintra. After 30 mins of travel past countless tower blocks, we suddenly arrived in Sintra, a total contrast to everything we had seen on the way there.

Beautiful Sintra, near Lisbon

Sintra is a UNESCO world heritage site and boasts a range of palaces and museums. The town is beautiful and the architecture really different to the Moorish influences we are used to where we live in the Algarve.

We really visited to get a general sense of the place, rather than visit specific attractions, but unfortunately, our failure to properly read the guidebook resulted in us visiting on the one day that the main Palacio National that we did wish to walk around was closed to the public. We did have a good look around the outside though, and were a little surprised how poorly maintained it seemed to be – certainly not the bright white Disneyesque building shown in our guidebook!

View of Sintra Portugal

After visiting a pasterlaria and stocking up on seriously delicious queijadas (super sweet cheese-based sponge cakes), we strolled around the “semi-tropical” gardens and up through the town, visiting a range of tourist tat shops, and a fabulous antique shop specializing in scientific instruments and old fashioned technology. We then headed to the wonderful toy museum.

I’m not a great one for museums, but I loved the toy museum, although it was quite depressing that so many things I had as a child are now considered museum pieces! The museum has everything from vintage Hornby train sets to Barbies, Action Men and 3000 year old stone toys. It is well worth a visit – my only piece of advice would be that all male visitors should perhaps start on the top floor and work down. After getting very excited about Star Wars figures and toy cars, I was quite disappointed when I got to the top and only had dolls left – I should have saved the best till last!

Sintra Toy Museum - Hornby Trains

We headed back to Lisbon by train, stopping for a quick expresso and pastel de nata before heading across town on the metro to Cais de Sodre, ready for the train out to Cascais.

The train to Cascais is a “must-do” for visitors to Lisbon. The views are incredible as you leave Lisbon, initially right next to a major road, which delivers the strange sensation of travelling on a road whilst on a train. The train tracks then hug the shore, nearly close enough for waves to break against the train carriages.

We passed through some far more upscale, and no doubt very expensive, suburbs on the way to Cascais, the beach resort of choice for Lisbon residents.

A lot of people had recommended Cascais to us, and it did deliver, in all but two respects: beach space, and sea water temperature, which was bloody freezing compared to the Algarve, which itself isn’t really all that warm!

After a quick walk round the town, which included a stroll around an antiques fair and a stop for bifanas (pork sandwiches) and beers, we walked around the marina, which was preparing to host the Americas Cup. As such, it was also hosting a large collection of ostentatiously wealthy Europeans and their spoiled and noisy children, so we quickly got away and searched for somewhere to have a rest.

Cascais - Our Secluded Beach Spot

We found just the place, a tiny “beach” on the edge of a park on the way out of town. It was really just an inlet, where the sea was still flowing into the land between the parts of the marina, but it was an oasis of calm that seemed undiscovered by the tourists. We finished the rest of our quiejadas and had a dip in the water.

With our energy restored, we found the main seafront and joined the hundreds of locals in the early evening promenade tradition, stopping for a drink en route to Estoril, a couple of miles away.

We didn’t explore much of Estoril town, other than to buy an ice cream and sit on the pretty park in front of the huge casino, said to be the inspiration for many of Ian Fleming´s James Bond tales. We then rejoined the prom back into Cascais, which by now was packed with people looking for somewhere to have dinner.

We were lucky enough to grab the last table at a low priced grill restaurant and tucked into some very succulent piri piri chicken, chips and salad. The clearly very wealthy English family who came to sit at the next table towards the end of our meal provided some entertainment, and their embarrassing, squabbling behavior while we drank our coffees gave us something to talk about on the way home!

We boarded quite a late train back to Lisbon, with surprisingly few people on it considering the number of people in Cascais. A late night underground train then dropped us almost at the door of our hotel.

Our stay is Lisbon was over when we awoke the following day, so we checked out of the hotel and headed out of the city, this time choosing to drive over the stunning, seven mile long Vasco de Gama bridge instead of joining the horrific traffic for the 25 de Abril bridge.

On the way back to the Algarve we stopped at Freeport, a huge outlet mall for designer goods, which proved to be a huge waste of time, with nothing seeming to be particularly good value. Promises of shirts from 10€ and jeans from 15€ on the windows never seemed to materialize in the shops themselves-we wouldn’t bother with a repeat visit.

After this stop, our journey back was over very quickly, with a planned detour to the west coast of Portugal proving unsuccessful when we realized our borrowed satnav didn’t contain beaches as points of interest. So we headed home, tired but content after our break in Lisbon, and ready to get back to work.

As I mentioned in my previous post, our chosen guidebook was really accurate and helpful on our trip to Lisbon and the surrounding area. You can find the book we used here:

Rough Guide Directions Lisbon

Technorati Tags: cascais, estoril, lisbon day trips, sinta

Only time for a quick post today as it’s changeover day for us here in the Algarve. Some friends of ours left here yesterday and my niece arrives in just a few hours – so all hands are on deck to sweep the sand from the floor and restock the fridge and wine-rack ready for round 2!

One thing that surprised us when we moved to Portugal, was that over a year into the experience we still hadn’t once experienced that deeply happy “I’m on holiday” frame of mind we felt when we used to come here on holiday. It’s not quite the same when you live in a holiday destination as, for one thing, you are not protected from daily sightings of bills, emails and credit card statements!

Approaching Ilha de Tavira Beach

When we have guests here, it’s the closest we come to that wonderful holiday vibe, as we get to piggy-back on their holiday mood. On that note, the last week or so has been fabulous, with gorgeous sunny weather and plenty of good times.

There have been some real “Wow, I LIVE here, I’d better pinch myself” moments over the past days. Here are some of the highlights:

1. Seeing the sun set over the river whilst driving back over the bridge to Portugal after a day in Spain.

2. Seasoning vast piles of meat and fish to share with our friends and three generations of extended family.

3. Making mojitos outside late at night with the temperature still comfortably into the 20s.

4. Escaping the beach on Monday due to exfoliatingly high winds to find the waterfall at Pego do Inferno almost deserted, and swimming in the crystal-clear pool below.

5. Falling into bed each night and sleeping almost instantly with the type of tiredness that only comes from long days swimming through the waves and throwing a Frisbee around a hot beach.

Pego do Inferno Waterfall Portugal

Sometimes I post on this blog and complain about various things: bureaucracy, poor quality meat or having to travel to London too often. Sometimes though, I get reminded why all of it is worth it—this was our dream, and every now and then we have enough time to realize we are living it. We have plenty of blessings to count.

The arrival of my niece heralds an active week ahead—long-term readers of the blog may recall her last visit involved us going kayaking. This time we’re climbing mountains—just what’s needing to shed the last week’s excess barbecue weight—expect a mountain-walking-related post very soon!

Technorati Tags: algarve beach life, summer in algarve, summer in portugal

Last weekend in Portugal was one of those times when I kept feeling very thankful for the life we have in this country.

On Friday evening we finished work and drove in convoy with the family over the border to Spain to do a pay-day shop in Carrefour in Cartaya. It takes upwards of 2 hours to get round this gigantic hypermarket and we left with Iberico ham, the most incredible bright green hand-produced olive oil and, most importantly, a large supply of traditional Spanish cider

On Saturday we took advantage of the wonderful (23c) weather and took a drive to Praia da Rocha. The drive was particularly fun as the warm day meant it was the first chance we had had to drive somewhere in the mother-in-law’s car with the roof off, so we went the long way along the N125 through the touristy bits of the Algarve which are yet to be mobbed for the summer.

Portugal Weekend - Praia de Rocha Sunset

Praia de Rocha was as beautiful as ever—a sunny day at this time of year is the best time to visit as very few tourists are about–there were however a couple of the usual hustlers on the main drag trying, with increasing urgency, to sell us fake iPods, bootleg cigarettes and pretend drugs.

Our barbecue on Saturday night didn’t go quite to plan. We had planned to shop in Portimao’s E LeClerc hypermarket but we completely failed to find it despite dozens of signs. After lots of 3 point turns, we ended up shopping very late in Olhao and eating at getting on for 11pm!

Sunday may well have been the best day of all. A perfect sunny day tucked away in the countryside where our family live. Bacon sandwiches, juice from oranges picked from the trees and a fun couple of hours of washing cars and playing with the hose to a soundtrack of Norman Jay and Dimitri from Paris CDs – bliss!

Portugal Weekend - Sunday Salad

After a fine lunch of cold left over BBQ and salad, and a quick taste of the lemon marmalade being freshly made on the terrace, we headed home via the garden centre, and abandoned plans for Sunday dinner after a couple of hours of planting, choosing instead to let the tiredness win and eat nachos

Sometimes things come together and feel just right. Weekends in Portugal like the one just past were exactly why we moved here…roll on the next one.

Portugal Weekend - Orange Picking

Technorati Tags: perfect weekend, weekend in algarve, weekend in portugal

I’ve never really been one for exercise. I’ve historically preferred things like wine, pastry and cigarettes. However, when I moved to Portugal one of the things I most looked forward to doing was finally managing to stick to a fitness regime—lots of walking, swimming and other healthy things—and it seems that, finally, I am getting towards integrating these things into my day to day life – and enjoying it too.

There are multitudes of scenic Algarve walks to choose from, taking in coastal paths, rustic villages and mountain views. For now I’ve been concentrating on the coast as I love the sea, but I plan to do a lot more Algarve walking this year, specifically of the mountain variety when my niece visits later in the year. She is undertaking the “3 peaks” challenge in the UK so needs to do a lot of mountain training and I look forward to walking the Algarve hills.

A lot of people on the forums ask about walking routes, so I thought I would detail a few that I have particularly enjoyed recently:

View back to Tavira on way to Ilha Walk

Conceicao to Tavira Walk: This is a short walk starting from the back of the O Pomar development on the hill down into Cabanas that follows the same route as the Ecovia Algarve cycle paths. The walk takes you over the Ria Formosa natural park when you can see lots of salt pans, storks and, if you are lucky, flamingos. At the Tavira end, the walk comes out on the road connecting the Tavira Gran Plaza shopping centre with the Vila Gale Albacora hotel. For a longer walk you can turn left here and find yourself on an Enid Bylton-esque seascape facing the Ilha de Tavira, complete with tumble-down fort. Otherwise, head right towards the shopping centre for refeshments, and onward into Tavira town centre.

Ilha de Tavira Walk: This Algarve walk requires you to arrange a cab (or willing partner) to pick you up at the other end. Take the quick ferry from the Quatro Aguas jetty to the Ilha de Tavira, head for the sea and turn right. Then walk straight for about 5km until you reach Barril Beach, complete with its huge display of anchors on the dunes. From Barril you can take the miniature train or walk another 15 mins to reach land again at Pedras D’el Rei. This walk is particularly good if you fancy some off season solitude. Between the star of the walk and Barril you sometimes don’t see a single soul. It’s like your own personal paradise island. Enjoy the walk, but please don’t tell too many people!

Forte de Rato Tavira

Manta Rota to Monte Gordo: This walk is great if you’re not sure how far you want to go, as there are plenty of stop off points, complete with food and drink available. From Manta Rota beach turn left (east.) The walk takes you past the beach resorts of Lota, Altura and Praia Verde before reaching Monte Gordo, the last beach before the Spanish border—a total of about 9km. Once at Monte Gordo there are plenty of restaurants, cafes and shops, as well as a train station to take you onward.

Walk from Praia de Luz to Lagos: Beginning with steep ramble up the cliff at Praia de Luz, this beautiful walk offers incredible cliff-top views stretching for miles around, as well as plenty of flowers and wildlife on the land side. Once you reach the outskirts of Lagos, you can always head inland and find a bus to take you into town if you’ve had enough of walking.

View of Luz on Walk to Lagos

A whole load of other walks are available in this book:

Walking in the Algarve: 40 Coastal and Mountain Walks (Cicerone International Walking)

Walking hasn’t been all I have done in an attempt to stay healthy and keep off the pastel-de-nata weight recently. I’ve also been cycling, kayaking and even jumped on the Zumba bandwagon which seems to be sweeping the world. More on that soon—but don’t expect any photos of my attempts at Zumba dancing! Have a good week J

Technorati Tags: algarve walking, algarve walks, zumba

Let’s get the bad bit out of the way first: the first couple of weeks of our 2011 in Portugal were pretty crap.

A rapid succession of stomach upset, flu and then ear infection, all accompanied by a heavy dose of post-Christmas blues, resulted in the very beginning of the year feeling quite some distance from “living the dream.” This serves to illustrate the fact that living in Portugal, or any other “hot” country doesn’t suddenly make you immune from the rubbishy bits life throws at you sometimes.

Thankfully by the start of this week, rest, antibiotics and a regime of early, brisk walks, had fully restored my lust for life.

A January Walk in Portugal

I’m pleased to report that we haven’t so far had a repeat of last year’s soaking wet winter, and the weather in the last week or so has finally made us realise why the Algarve is a popular destination for winter sun. It’s hardly been shorts and flip-flops weather, but most days HAVE delivered t-shirt and shades weather.

The area is blissfully quiet, and my early morning walks have taken me past fields covered in yellow flowers, rows of almond trees dripping with pinky white blossom, and sparkling sea views, complete with locals wading in the Ria Formosa searching for clams.

Down the road where some of our family live, the orange harvest has begun, and we look forward to popping over there this coming weekend to assist, both in picking the fruit and finding ways to use the considerable glut of shiny citrus!

After such a depressing start to the year, it’s wonderful to feel inspired again, and it’s uplifting to wander around the quiet sunny streets in the morning, losing count of the number of smiles and “Bom Dia” greetings I have exchanged on my trek. It’s impossible not to feel blessed when my mind goes back to a couple of years ago, when we would have been fighting through the ice and rain on the morning drive into London.

Living in Portugal - The Start of the Orange Harvest

My already high spirits were boosted when, earlier in the week, I received the exciting news that this blog has won an award from Expat Arrivals after being shortlisted from nearly 1000 blogs. This recognition for the time I have put into it has really spurred me on to take it to the next level, and this year I plan to take and upload a lot more photos of our adventures in the Algarve. A big thank you to all the regular readers of this blog who have helped to make it a success!

So – onward and upward! I wish everyone a sunny and positive 2011.

Technorati Tags: orange harvest, portugal january, portugal new year, winter blues

It’s hard to believe that in just ten days time we will have been living in Portugal for a year. The time has flown past in a wonderful whirlwind of barbecues, wine and seemingly endless Easyjet flights to and from the UK for work trips.

A year on, I can genuinely say we have no regrets about making the move. It certainly hasn’t all been plain sailing, and although we have now experienced first-hand all the different seasons, we still have plenty of “firsts” to come…..our first tax returns and our first Portuguese car purchase being just two that make me shudder a little bit.

Recently though, we have started to realise how far we have come. Arriving back from working in London last week was the first time I didn’t experience a few unsettled days on our return to Portugal. Here is undoubtedly home now, and the homesick “what have we done?” moments that used to be quite frequent seem to be a thing of the past.

Salad on Altura beach in late October

Some more family members have completed their move over here in the last couple of weeks as well, and knowing the answers to some of their questions as new arrivals makes us realise we have actually learned rather a lot, even though along the way it hasn’t always felt like we were learning that much!

The same applies to our Portuguese. We have been far more slack than we intended, but can now catch the jist of the odd news story on the radio and understand a tiny bit of conversations—again, progress we have made without really noticing we were making it.

So, all in all we have little to complain about at the moment. The weather has been perfect since our return from the UK. When summer finishes in the Algarve, what you get next is far more like another spring than an autumn, which makes this seasonally-affected blogger a very happy man

Readers of Food and Wine Portugal will know that we decided last week to have a go at Weightwatchers, and I am proud to say that I have managed to lose 4 pounds of the weight gained by excessive consumption of clams, wine and custard tarts over the summer. A very positive result, although I have to confess that the sight of someone slurping a plate of fresh cockles, swimming in olive oil and butter, was almost heart breaking as we headed to the sands of Altura on Saturday with our packed lunch of salad (with a carefully calorie-counted portion of croutons.)

Even so, we intend to stick with it for a little while, if only to leave some room for some planned overindulgence as we approach our first big family Christmas in the Algarve. Rest assured though, that I didn’t move to the Algarve in order to ABSTAIN from eating cockles and clams!

That’s about it for now. Stay tuned over the next few days for the second in my series of articles exploring the costs of living here in Portugal-this time focussing on the work situation. Have a great week.

Technorati Tags: algarve beaches, altura, clams, cockles, dieting, living in portugal, moving to portugal, settling into a new country, weightwatchers

Its visitors time again! We have just spent an action-packed long weekend with my niece, albeit one which was shunted forward by a day due to striking air traffic controllers, and have only had today to catch up on work and cleaning duties before two friends arrive on the early flight tomorrow. As soon as they leave we are off to England for a work trip. These are hectic times and sure to make my blogging a little more sporadic, so I apologise for that in advance.

My niece’s visit was tremendous fun, and, as she is more of an active soul that the majority of our visitors, her visit was both good for us and a little tiring

Saturday was spent driving to and wandering around Seville, somewhere that, having visited before, we managed to feel we had “done” quite well in just one long and tiring day. Seville

Seville bullring

was as oven-hot as ever and we ate tapas, drank sangria and took photos of many beautiful buildings. It also seemed to be a huge day for weddings in the stunning Spanish city – we saw numerous brides and wedding parties and sat having a drink next to one reception where my niece particularly enjoyed a live rendition of “I will survive.” Cheesy wedding music is not country-specific it seems!

On Sunday we went ocean kayaking on the Ria Formosa, setting off from Praia De Faro, just next to the airport. Although I am not exactly Mr Sporty, I had a fantastic day despite pulled muscles and various scrapes and bruises. I am very keen to do this again – my wife is less so! Struggling with her kayak she ended up being towed by the support boat – her own rather humiliating version of the pope-mobile.

The trip was great – a morning of kayaking with a quick stop for swimming, some more kayaking out to the white sands of the Ilha Deserta, followed by a good picnic lunch, beer and snorkelling. This was followed by a rather more difficult journey back, against both tides and winds. At various points we all opted for a quick tow on the back of the support boat. You are advised to use your stomach muscles for propulsion – sadly after my second lunchtime beer my stomach muscles decided they had had enough!

Kayaks near Ilha Deserta Faro

I would really recommend this kayak trip to anyone of a sporting persuasion but would point out that we were the only people on the trip who hadn’t kayaked before and little concession was made for our status as beginners – perhaps worth taking into consideration if, like my wife, you have no intention of become a kayaking expert, you just fancy a fun day out.

After a barbecue and early(ish) night we stayed local on Monday, first taking my niece to see the “secret” waterfall of Pego Do Inferno, where there were no more than 10 other people present. We then took off on a favourite walk of mine, which consists of taking a boat to the Ilha De Tavira and walking the 4 miles or so to Barril beach. This is such a pleasurable walk and one where we saw jellyfish, a (suspected) dolphin and even a seahorse!

September is certainly a wonderful time to visit the Algarve. The weather is still fabulous, albeit slightly cooler and more comfortable, and the streets, shipping centres and beaches all feel almost private. This was emphasised when we visited my favourite tourist zone, Praia Da Rocha, on Tuesday. By sunset we had the beach to ourselves and the main tourist “strip,” which was a hellish land of chavs and sunburned tourists just a month ago, was a very chilled, moonlit spot to stroll and choose a restaurant for dinner.

Outside one bar in Praia Da Rocha I heard someone talking about the beach. He was referring to Praia de Tres Castelos, at the western end of Praia Da Rocha. He was a tattooed,

Sunset on Praia de Rocha

masculine type – not who you would expect to hear saying to his wife “it was so beautiful down there it made me have a good cry.” It really warmed my heart to know the effect the natural beauty of this place can have on people. We are very lucky to be here, and, now summer is over, it feels like we have got OUR Algarve back. Happy days.

Technorati Tags: algarve exploring, algarve holidays, kayaking, kayaking algarve, kayaks

Last weekend here in the Algarve was a good one. It was lovely to have a car again after feeling rather isolated at times in our little town.

On Saturday we ventured out and headed west to Praia da Gale, just past the tourist mecca of Albufeira. We were pleased that even here, the crowds had subsided and it did just feel

Praia da Gale

like a busy Saturday.

Praia da Gale is a west-facing beach with the signature orange cliffs, typical of this end of the Algarve, with just a few beach restaurants. One of these, actually just called Praia De Gale, we enjoyed on our last visit. We had exactly the same light lunch – bread, olives, clams and white wine. Simple and delicious and some of the best clams we have had this summer.

The only difference to our last (off-season) visit to Gale was that the sands were almost completely covered in sunbeds and sunshades for hire. Although this detracted from the natural beauty of the beach it gives us more reasons to come back to these places when the weather is not so good later in the year.

One “benefit” of the touristy stuff being there still was a small watersports hire company down one end of the beach. While we swam, we noticed a young couple climbing onto a long yellow banana boat. Riding one of these things, which is pulled along ridiculously fast by a boat in front, has been one of those things we have always intended to do, so completely on the spur of the moment we ran to the hut and asked if we could take a couple of the spare seats.

Five minutes later, we are bouncing along the open sea, in my particular case hanging on for dear life. Maybe I am getting old but I have to say it was just a little bit too much! Perhaps because there were only adults on the banana, the people driving the boat made no concessions for fear – particularly when they manoeuvred the boat in such a way as to deliberately send us all flying off the boat and into the deep water.

Banana Boat - Terrifying

My wife thoroughly enjoyed the experience, despite having to be helped back onto the boat after we were all thrown into the sea, so I was a little embarrassed to admit I was counting down the seconds until we got back to the shore. It would be wrong to say I didn’t enjoy it at all, because it was certainly an experience, but my favourite part was when we were near enough to the beach that I could dive off the thing and swim back to solid ground.

I held on so tight to the boat that it was a couple of hours before my arms stopped shaking and the vibrations of the boat seem to have pulled every muscle I have. I am still, two days on unable to straighten my arms, or open the terrace doors without wincing!

After Praia Da Gale we headed to the Apolonia supermarket. Expats tend to have very strong opinions on Apolonia as there is really nothing remotely Portuguese about this upscale establishment that exists to sell expensive imported products to wealthy tourists. However, we make no excuses, we were celebrating our eleven year anniversary on Saturday and fancied a treat – and for that purpose, this cross between Waitrose and Harvey Nichols food halls is the perfect place. I will be posting a report on Apolonia over at Food and Wine Portugal, later in the week.

On Sunday we headed over to the new property that has been purchased by our relatives, who are, as I type, driving down to the Algarve through Spain, having just arrived on the Santander ferry.

We were greeted by the old owners – truly lovely people who reminded us of one of the biggest reasons we wanted to move to Portugal in the first place. They had left the place beautifully for when our family arrive and I am so excited for them to be starting their own Portuguese adventure in a few hours.

On the way home we had a quick beer overlooking the fishing boats on the sparkling sea in the village of Santa Luzia.

On return home I must confess to reading an English Sunday paper, something I promised myself I wouldn’t do once I moved here, that has now returned to being part of my Sunday

Roast leg of lamb

routine!

We finished a really special anniversary weekend with a leg of lamb we procured from Apolonia. It was very good indeed, especially after experiences of a lot of rather tasteless lamb we have come across since we have been here. My wife has already said this is what she wants to eat again on her birthday. Luckily, given the prices in Apolonia, that isn’t for a few months!

Have a good week!

Images credits: Jun Acallador, Filipe Rocha, dps

Technorati Tags: algarve beach, apolonia, banana boat ride, moving to portugal, portugal supermarket, praia da gale, roast lamb

There are some exciting days ahead for us in the coming days here in still very sunny Portugal. Some relatives of ours have purchased a property and will be joining us just ten miles down the road next week.

It will be wonderful to have family so close to us and I look forward to hosting lots of barbecues and showing everyone around our favourite beaches and restaurants!

This week has been a lot more settled than of late and it is great that the area has calmed down a bit after the hectic Algarve summer. Before the summer began, a couple of expat friends had said to us that the excitement of the summer rush would be fun for a few weeks and then become a little tiresome. It is fair to say they were spot on and we are glad that once again we can get near the pool and not have to queue for ages at supermarkets and roundabouts on the N125 road!

Cars - expensive in Portugal

Another benefit of the change is seasons is that the shortage (or complete absence) of available hire cars has now ended and we are excited about having access to a car again to resume our exploration of the area. We intend to buy a car at some point soon but, as you may know, cars in Portugal are ridiculously expensive and we are still building up to handing over a large chunk of money for something that would have cost us half as much in the UK!

Tonight we are off for a fish feast at one of our favourite restaurants, Vela 2 in Tavira – see review here for more details. After a busy week of work I look forward to my fresh fish binge and some beach time this weekend.

Tomorrow my wife and I have been together for eleven wonderful years so we have much to celebrate in the next couple of days while we look forward to the arrival of some of our family, at the start of their own moving to Portugal adventure.

That’s about it by way of an update – have a great weekend!

Technorati Tags: algarve restaurant, busy summer, cars in portugal, moving to portugal, vela 2 tavira

We had a bit of an unsettled week here in Portugal last week, followed by a very enjoyable weekend.

As any long term readers of the blog will know, every now and then we get “wobbly days” with regard to being here – something that most expats we speak to can relate to. We had a few last week.

Learning Portuguese - we are trying!

We have made a real effort to learn some Portuguese. Maybe it is just because it was the end of the tourist season, but despite how well we pronounced things, practically everyone we interacted with last week insisted on speaking back to us in slow, condescending English.

This language based game usually entertains us. We call it “the fight.” We speak Portuguese, the Portuguese person speaks English and everyone sticks to their guns until eventually one party gives in. If we end the conversation speaking Portuguese it is a victory for us. If we give in and speak English then we lose.

I say it usually entertains us. Last week it happened so much it was frustrating. It made us think that even years down the line we are still going to be seen by strangers as stupid English people, which doesn’t seem fair when we are making an effort to learn the language.

We had one triumph last week though, when speaking Portuguese with a local lawyer. He complimented us on our Portuguese and was very surprised we had only been here ten months, even asking whether we had previously lived in Brazil or Spain.

He then said something that gets to the heart of the whole issue: “geralmente o Inglês, não tente aprender,” which means “generally the English do not try to learn.”

So, basically, we will continue to be tarred with the stupid brush because of the “two large beers please,” crowd who come here on holiday and don’t even attempt a “bom dia “ or “obrigada.” Irritating to say the least.

Anyway, after an annoying week we had a very pleasant weekend with lots of cooking and sunshine and a Saturday on Montegordo beach with some great waves – the best kind that knock you over if you don’t pay attention.

We followed this with a Chinese meal which has become a treat now due to the nearest good Chinese being 10 miles away – see Chinese Restaurants in Montegordo over at Food and Wine Portugal for details!

We then had one of those Sundays that just feels perfect. A lie in, Sunday papers in the sunshine, followed by roast chicken and ‘Friends” DVDs. This was exactly the kind of Sunday we

Chinese in Montegordo

used to have when we lived in London and we hadn’t realised how much we missed it.

In the ten months we have been here we have been charging towards the beach every Sunday or exploring some new part of the local area. We failed to realise that our perfect Sunday had been born of extensive research into what we actually wanted to do.

As we were living in a new country, our brains tricked us into thinking we should do something new on a Sunday, when there was in fact nothing wrong with what we always used to do. True, we now have sunshine and access to a pool, which can be incorporated into our Sunday routine, but other than that we plan to revert to what our Sundays always used to be like. No more rushing around – it is not what Sundays are for!

So, having discussed one old habit we are reinstating, I guess I have to address another habit…..giving up smoking. Last week was partially successful.

My electronic cigarette turned out to give me migraines, leading to a small relapse. However, I am now down to just three cigarettes per day, which is a huge improvement. I am still rather annoyed with myself but I have managed to reduce my consumption by 86% which isn’t bad at all.

I am awaiting a book from Amazon called Stop Smoking, Stay Cool: A Dedicated Smoker’s Guide to Not Smoking

This book has worked for several people who have not responded well to some of the more popular giving up smoking methods and appeals to me as someone who doesn’t particularly like being told what to do. Hopefully it will arrive this week – I will let you know how I get on.

Have a good week

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