Blogs from Portugal, Europe - page 153

Monday 21st February 2010 Back on the road, this time north east to Evora. A superb drive across country through cork oak groves, vineyards and orange orchards. Tuesday 22nd February 2010 Walk into Evora where we discover a film crew making a commercial for a supermarket. The boys are fascinated by the use of a story board to script the shoot. Walk around the old town of Evora visiting the Cathedral’s chapel of bones and the famous Roman Temple of Diana. Lunch in the main square followed by a visit to the archaeological museum and the office of the local wine producers where a tasting inevitably ensues. ... read more

Tuesday 15th February 2010 Time to move on to Portugal today via Palos de Frontera. Palos is considered the "cradle of the Discovery of America" because from its port in 1492 the ships of Christopher Columbus and the Pinzon brothers set off to discover a shorter route to India and discovered the New World. On the evening of 3 August 1492, Columbus departed with three ships; the Santa María nicknamed Gallega (the Galician), and two smaller caravels the Pinta (the Painted) and the Santa Clara. On the morning of October 12th land was sighted and the rest is history. Today we find the old port and the Muelle de las Carabelas ("Dock of the Caravels") which has been faithfully reconstructed, with storage buildings, canteens and shops of various craftsmen. Particularly impressive are the exact replicas of ... read more

Well, well, here we are again. It’s been 4 days since our last blog, mostly because of one event that occurred last Thursday the 17th. But let us start at the beginning. As you know we have been in Porto enjoying this great city. We bought a 48hr tour pass on a double decker bus, a hop-on-hop off and visit what you want variety . There are three different routes. There is a Bridge tour, Castles tour and the Historical tour. For example In 1387, a marriage took place between João I and Philippa of Lancaster. They got married in the newly established city of Porto and this confirmed the military alliance between Portugal and England. After this union, the city began to thrive. And to a great extent,this is how the Henry the Navigator, third ... read more

We have arrived. After 21hrs and three flight changes, we are doing well. The kids had a blast on the first flight but then, you know... (are we there yet?). It is inevitable. Kevin will give you his side of the story, here is mine. I count my falling down the stairs and spraining my ankle a great blessing. Because we never could have gotten around without the help of the staff at all the airports. We arrived on the 16 of March 12:30 local time. Seeing the roof tops mad me cry with joy. I know that sounds weird, but hey (maybe lack of sleep?). We took the subway into Porto. Funny, English people call the city Oporto, but here that means one is going to Porto. Once we got off the metro, were soon ... read more

Making full use of the generously provided inflight entertainment system, I offer the following suggestions... (music) Pacifika and their album Supermagique. These are well produced, trippy little tracks with plenty of polyrhythms and beautiful multilingual harmonies. New Agey without being weird ( Yes, please keep the elves and fairies at bay....) (music) Rush and their album Moving Pictures. One of my favourite songs, The Camera Eye, filling your head at 30,000 feet simply cannot be oversold. The soundtrack from my Big City days in Toronto. (film) Neighbours A classic short film by Norman Mclaren and Grant Munro that presents the folly of Cold War politics. (film) Strings/Cordes A sweet short film that shows us how we really do belong to each other. (film) Charlie Chaplin The New Janitor A vintage one here from 1916. A janitor ... read more