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Published: November 22nd 2007
Something Fishy!
Rob checking out the prawns at the market in QuateriaBom Dia(hello)
Well we said you would be bombarded with blogs so here goes again, two in one week!
So having headed up the Spanish west coast we decided to do a quick jaunt through the southern part of Portugal.
Our first port of call was Quateria along the majestic Algarve coast. We did not realise that Portugal is an hour behind Spain, so of course we were an hour early for everything, which made a change.
The town itself was pretty and we enjoyed a good stroll along the beachfront. It was a change from the Spanish-English coast and not so busy. We stumbled upon a fish market so we bought 1kg of large prawns, mmmm. That evening they were de-shelled and cooked in some lemon butter and of course some fine red to wash it down. The best part of travelling is discovering the fresh markets and sampling the local cuisine.
We could not visit Portugal without a look in at the capital, Lisbon. Hey Steve(robs brother) did you not sail from Lisbon to Cape Town some years back? Lisbon was the starting point for voyages of discovery in the 15th century and none
Mosteiro de Jeronimos (I)
the facade of the Monastery, Lisbon other than Vasco Da Gama in 1498 sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and opened the sea route to India. Damn our history teachers at school would be proud remembering such facts (well thank goodness for guide books anyway!). Lisbon was an impressive city although it rained for most of our time there. The place that made the biggest impression was the Monastery, Mosteiro de Jeronimos. What a spectacular building, the facade is dominated by the magnificent south portal and inside you enter into a magnificent courtyard which is surrounded by ornate decorative stone arches with grass in the centre. Upstairs one could also walk around the balcony of the courtyard and enter into the top section of the chapel.
Back at the campsite we had a few drinks with an English couple who had been touring since March. They had just got engaged in Slovenia and were organising their wedding over the net to take place in January. Hey Mark and Amy how’s your plans going and are you back in the UK yet?
We checked out our route for the next few days and decided north was best and then eventually we would head east and
back into Spain. So north we went and ended up in Luso. We had no idea what Luso was or how big it was. But boy what a great find. The camp site was on a hill top within a mini forest and on the outskirts of a tiny village. We ventured into the village and found a local market with all fresh produce, a butcher and wine shop. Initially we had no problems communicating so stocked up on fruit, veggies some incredibly cheap wine however the butcher was a different story as the women behind the counter could not speak a word of English and well our Portuguese... no. We ended up in hysterics as we had mom bleating at the girl behind the counter, baaaa baaaa, trying to ask if they had any lamb chops. Eventually the girl brought out a whole sheep’s carcass so in the end we gave up only bought some chicken and pork chops, well we think they were pork chops anyway.
The other great find on the outskirts of Luso was the Bucaco palace. It was another magnificent building and gardens surrounded by vast lush forest. Unfortunately we had no information about
Mosteiro de Jeronimos (III)
Rob and Mom under the ornate decorative stone arches it and could not go inside either as it was a fully functioning hotel. Anyway we mooched round there for a while, had lunch in the car park and on the way out we stopped at these beautiful stairs in the middle of the forest, again we don’t know what they were used for or their significance, but they were still beautiful.
Portugal was a pleasant surprise for us as we found it cleaner and the people allot friendlier than Spain. Sometimes it’s better not to have any preconceived ideas before you visit a place.
Hey we have actually not mentioned the rugby world cup, we’ll give you a rest with it this time around but behold as there certainly will be more of that later.
Obrigado (thanks)
Roberto and Wendaline
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Laura
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Tudo bom?
Oi moços, tudo bom? Seems like you guys are still enjoying!!! Cool!! Go for it! I´m in Caracas now preparing myself to go to Surinam (jeeaahh, finally I can speak Dutch again ;-))!! Um beijo, Laura