We visited the Novacortica cork production factory. Very interesting! This factory is one of nearly 600 in Portugal. It is considered a medium-size factory. It is a 3rdgeneration family business and currently has 43 employees. Each factory specializes in a certain area of the cork production. This business makes only discs and granules that are used in the production of champagne and wine stoppers. More than 60% of cork is used in stoppers. Portugal produces nearly 50% of the world’s cork. Cork comes from a cork oak tree that is all over Portugal. We saw many of them as we drove down. Harvesting: · First harvest after 25 years. Because of its irregularity, it is used in flooring and insulations, etc · Second harvest after the next 9 years, still not of production quality, is used ... read more

After walking around town for a while, I started I notice the different doors of each of the residences. I finally started taking a few shots. Interesting...at leasr to me. :-)... read more

Took a walk around town this morning rather than on the beach. Saw some very different areas of the city and walked through a cemetery (a little morbid, but always interesting). Enjoy.... read more

Just a few various pictures from around the area. KFhEvDwFaI4 ... read more

We departed Patricia’s around 4:00am headed for the Chunnel. We had reservations for a 7:50am departure, however, because we arrived early and there was space on the train, we got on the 6:20am train. This was good because that meant we would get into Bayonne, that much sooner. The train ride over was uneventful. The weather was dreary & misty (told by the rain drops on the car windows visible in my pictures) when we arrived in Calais. I drove until about 9 and then Gene took over. That allowed me time to snap photos. Unfortunately, not real sure of actually what is in the picture or where I took them. J They appeared to be a photo opp at the time. We didn’t encounter too much traffic until we got into Bordeaux. There was some ... read more