Portugal

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No you are not halucinating, although we might have been at the time but Jan & I decided to continue our stroll across Spain & finish 90km further on in Fistera (at the end of the world - as it was presumed) in the day of St. James.

We then bused on to O'Porto in Portugal (we were going to walk from Santiago, but considering our last 4 days in drenching conditions & knee deep mud we succumbed to the conditions.

Oporto was quaint, cultured, artistic & modern but with a well preserved past. Particularly of its fishing & naval history.
Making our way South, it was on to Coimbra, a messy discheveled, unkempt university town with all the associated cultures that students attest to. One of these such edicts was an evening at the 'Fado'
A strange guitar, played with an always male vocalist singing intrinsincally university love songs to their lost love, in Fado style.
We then made our way, part bused & part (10km) walked to Nazarre (the famous/notorious spot of huge surf (although not during our stay) & biggest wave contest in the world for the Red Chargers contest ( www.redchargers.com) held normally in 70ft plus surf conditions).
An almost gorgeously Greek seaside town, where the local matriachs of Nazarre daily costumed up in their sandals, knee high socks, ornate below the knee skirts, blouse & shawl over the shoulders, plus a head scarf tied under the chin. They ruled the fish sales, caught daily then dried on beach racks and sold.

Luckily we had walked to the famous cliffs to oversee where the point break might have been, as, if we had parked a little too close to the edge, the penalty was anywhere between 249.40 & 29 927.87 Euro ? Go figure ?

Obidos was distinctly different in a hilltop, medieval walled town where we drank & snacked at one of the only surviving 11th century taverns & still operational as such (and not fallen victim to the 1755 earth quake). We did partake of the local 'Cerrado Do Vale' gold medal winner, world cheese with our glass of red local cultivar after which I tried on the knights helmet on display (a bit hard really) then slid down the spiral stair from our lofty boudoir. Must be good wine.

We had confirmed our B&B in Lisbon(an ex art gallery converted apartment) but on arrival, exhausted after hunting it down for ages, found the owner in a slight quandry, cleaning & tidying hastily and our diss-satisfaction must have shown. As he the very apologetically almost showed us (on foot) around Lisboa, what bus to catch & where, what restaurants were best, markets, laundromats, markets, castles, pubs etc.

The next 4 - 5 days were eye opening & breathtaking to say the least, the maritime museum, street art, trams, vibrant river front, amazing aquarium, one of the longest bridges in the world, ancient city of Sintra, had us hands full so off to Lagos for a rest I hope.

Lagos is a seaside town, and restful it was, yes. But we wanted to see the point lighthouse and the 400m high cliffs on route there - so walked. All 15km there & 15km back again. To see fishermen standing precariously positioned, toes over the edge 400m up & fishing, defies description.

And so it was we moved on to Portamao with stunning 500m wide sandy beaches & surf. And the annual world famous Fiesta International Sand Sculpture festival that was quite amazing. Back on yhe bus to Faro where we hired bicycles & rode out to the bird sanctuary & watched the sumptuous sunset. The following day we took a boat ride out amongst the myriad of chanels to the southern most point lighthouse in Europe.
The birdlife & facts & figures our guide shared with us & a stop alongside an octopus fisherman who shared his woes of the miserable day he was having, made for a great day and excellent finish to Portugal, before we had to bus our way back to Lisbon, and on our way to the Island of Madiera.

The stop that Mum & Dad had made, on the Union Castle line with me as a 1 year old, in 1957 on our way from Southampton to Durban/South Africa and my new home to be.

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Comments

[Manfred]

Good on ya's
Nice to read again after a while. Danke for sharing! :-) Weather here is postcard material (as always). A week away from Easter which will be no doubt HUGE in Eeeuuuropehhh. Progress amongst the square metres with Joyous having a refaired keel (it was so perveresely out of shape) first epoxy skin and a brandnew keel hung rudder to the original Knud Reimers plan. Flame has been transferred from her storage shed to the work shed. Work will commence with stripping her bare (nakkid) back to wood. Retro series were big in number this years with up to 32 in events. We only 4 weeks away from closing season. Been to the Wooden Boat Festival in Geelong with a new built St Ayles Skiff by the RFBYC volunteers under supervision of Steve Ward. A gang of 15 went. 2 towed the rowing skiff over to RGYC. Rest my case to say it was a HUGE success, fun and hard rowed vistory as we ( 4 rowers and a cockson -including me) WON 4 heats. Now we are the Intergalactic Australian St Ayles Skiff Champions. Our hardest competition were 'mature ladies' in their rowing skiff from Tassie. Yes - only a photo finish could establish the winner. ( I better stop here as I have a funny resemblance to Pinocchio ;-))! KEEP ENJOYING your wonderful adventure. Love to read always the newest. Have a Great Easter with all the local cultural exposure as long it doesn't mean sacrifice of limb & too many Euros. Have Fun Manfred & Merilyn

[Rolling Around with The Gnu]

Manfred, cheers and thanks for your brilliant update............you bastard ! You certianly know how to pluck at my heartstrings, just cos Im not yachting at the moment ! Really glad to the fleet has grown for the river series, and the wooden boat show was a huge success. Is the new skiff you rowed (and beat the women in) being rowed back in Perth regularly ? I wud love to get back into rowing on our return, after a number of years hiatus, but sure Ill get my muscles back ? Brilliant to hear the progress of both Flame & Joyous, and overjoyed to hear they could both be saved. Lisbon maritime museum had a beautiful TUMLAREN built 1947 , thought of making them an offer ! Keep up the good work, and please pass on my best to the guys.

[Manfred von Pulling of Heartstrings]

Row the Boat
Dear Kevin Yes we (Ex) German hav waaeeyyss to make people respond ja! You made me laugh!! I have GOOD NEWS for you: 1. Don't buy a Tumlaren THERE- I have one HERE for YOU!!! Haze is up for sale in really good nick and goes for $10k. Huge history going back to winning Bunbury & Return races. And all of WA yachting fame either sailed or owned her. So you are in a good bloodline - even coming from the UK. But most likely an Aarian had a say in your names history - ja? Give me the word and I put a holding deposit on her for your return (even she has a pen at RFBYC). Did I mention you have to become a member here again (goes without saying :-) ). Rowing yes - also a resounding YES! If you go to the RFBYC website you find a whole chapter on the wonderful St AYles Skiffs. We row twice a week at sunrise. And more groups springing up. We (Freshie) rendered a challenge to RPYC at last mess night to build as we did and the (deed of gift) take up the challenge to row against us. Trophy is a true canon ball from the Cooks Endeavour. RPYC up to current stage is in an 'advanced stage of thinking'. Rest my case Herr Schroeder. By the way the rowing NOT muscle dependant at all. Single oar only - 4 rowers and a coxon (or ist it Cockson). Heaps of ladies row so its 'technique' not brute force :-)! So get your posterias back over here to all the Good Stuff! So have a drink on Haze and send a telegram, dove, smoke signals, consular post or even an email :-) Cheers, Prost, Salute Manfred P.S.: All the 6 Jess team memebers are Fraeuleins this year.