Amo-te Jou

This was written on a roadsign and it just might be correct for me, as I had a great experience of life there.

Lady Luck was on my side when I was looking for a place to stay in the north. Magic internet helped me find Vitor and his family. I guess almost by accident as I almost never use the site I used. They made me feel wellcome, despite my poor poruguese speaking skills and spoiled me to the limits with the great food of the lady of the hous (mum) and by being drivene absolutely everywhere you can imagine!

So, Vitor picked me up in Vila Real (which sounds seducingly if you pronounce it correctly:p) where I arrived by bus. Remember? no trains in the north... We checke out the city, took a walk and a bite to eat and headed to Jou which was to be my home for the next few days.

Jou

Imagine green-yellow-orange "waveing" landscape, draw some roads and paths, add a church, packs of old houses of the locals + the ones from the imigrants (which don't fit in at all ...), sun and heat, blue sky and you get Jou. It's people are friendly, or maybe I really was just lucky enought to get into the best hous in the area as the cousine said (I forgot her name, sorry :().

We had dinners, we had trips to everywhere, coffee, late-night talks on the porch and fruits for lunch. I saw so many things in such a short time! Where do I start... Vila Real, Régua, Pinhão, Lamego, Mirandela, the real miradouro from São Leonardo (?), Murçca, and another view from São Combe. This is a big hill. On top ther's a guy checking for fires. And yes, I did see one from afar on the day I left. (and a sad day it was.)
And of course, I mustn't forget the Alvão National (natural? I never know...) Park !!! It's great. We were the only ones... Almost:) then found a way to the river which ends with waterfalls and in some parts of the stream you can find small lagoons where we (of course - dooooh!) went swimming:)) + I made Vitor do some more climbing on some rocks. It's just for the better experience.

One of the reasons I felt so wellcome was the preists "What is she doung here!?" as if there must be something wrong with me to end up in the middle of nowhere and a greeting from an old lady with a bad vision who mistook me for someone else and greated me as if we were family. Funny.

All in all, I'll miss this place. I'll miss the family. Thank you for everything!

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