Clearly we needed more of a “permanent” address than an airbnb for arrival of a winter clothing shipment from home. Our airbnb host Tiago kindly offered his office location for delivery. Turns out his workspace is a communal office sharing area for solo entrepreneurs and small startups.
Of course the huge box arrives with a COD customs tab of €142. That’s $163. if you’re keeping score at home. Some young woman (no affiliation with us or our host) opened her wallet and paid to accept delivery for people she’d never seen or even heard of.
Glowing with gratitude on a brisk early winter’s day, I wanted to thank her. A gratuity seemed out of place. So I confided to her the secret meaning of the letters F-I-A-T on our uber vehicle. Her laughter lit up the plaza.
Speaking of kindness from strangers, back in Rome we found a Mailboxes Etc. near our airbnb. Giorgio the manager kindly agreed to keep a 20 lb. box of personal items for free, until we found a temporary home that could accommodate them. We sent him a shipping address 6 months later and the box caught up with us, no problem.
I’m not at all suggesting these things wouldn’t happen at home. But it is quite heart warming to a stranger in a strange land.
We have now had 3 Portuguese language lessons with our teacher Lucia. Sessions are 90 minutes and cost €15 for the two of us. We are of course experiencing all the usual language learning foolishness. I think the best idea is to just try, just speak. Go for it! If you stall around waiting until you can pronounce everything perfectly with pristine grammar, nothing happens.
Thus far I’ve made small progress here trying to form a private group for poker games.Meanwhile, I have signed up for a Hold ‘Em tournament at the casino in nearby Espinho.There are about 9 casinos in Portugal.Only 3 feature poker.Fortunately one is nearby. More later.
Later.Casinos here open about 4pm and close around 3am.Hmmm! Poker rooms open at 9pm for tournaments, with 10pm cash games for early washouts.
We were about 50 players across 6 tables.They had big screen displays of all the tournament stats you could ask for: #buyins, #rebuys, total pot, how many players remaining, average stack size as well as the usual blind postings and time remaining this round.Pretty cool.
I’m happy to brag about making the final table with 125+% of the average stack, and a €2300. total prize pool. I hadn’t played in 6 months. You may recall I got totally spanked and sent home last July, in Bucharest.
My joy was cut short by, shall we say “questionable choices” that knocked me out in 2 (really!) hands.How can you play so well for 3 hours, then turn into the complete poker shnook of the universe?Ahh, the overconfidence of AKs!We’ve all been there.Some more than others!
The good news:This tournament carves €50 out of the prize pool for each player who makes the final table and yet misses the cash at the end.At least I got my buyin back. (sigh!)
Eight months: a cruise, twenty-two airbnbs and multiple planes, trains and Ubers have led us to Porto, Portugal to an apartment of our own. We’re no longer schlepping and living out of a 25” suitcase!
We now live in a choice location in Vila Nova de Gaia. VNG is connected to Porto by 6 bridges which span the Duoro River. The Metro very efficiently gets us just about anywhere we need to go in Porto and Gaia. [guy -a] – Uber and walking do the rest.Personalizing and equipping our apartment is a work in progress – but it’s fun as well.
We moved in at the beginning of December – just in time for the holidays!The Portuguese revel in celebrating the holidays. And they do it well. We have observed and participated in many of their traditions:the lighting of the magnificent Porto Tree of Lights [throngs of thousands attended], visiting the beautifully decorated medieval town of nearby Braga andwatching families enjoy the festive Praça de Natal [ a mini Christmas event featuring a merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, and ice skating rink and chestnuts roasting on an open fire in the civic park– all across the street from us.About the chestnuts…not so romantic – more like a smoky barbeque cloud.
We have also connected with other Americans in Porto and have enjoyed the holidays at various social events. It’s a nice feeling to have a sense of community while far away from family and long-time friends.
The highlight of our Christmas events, however, was being invited and joining our Portuguese friends’ family for Christmas Eve dinner – the most significant event of the season.
Gathered around the holiday table, we shared the traditional Christmas Eve signature Portuguesedish of codfish, boiled potatoes, cabbage topped with hard boiled eggs. Each component was cooked separately then assembled into a casserole. Not our everyday fare… but it turned out to be delicious! Even Michael enjoyed it!
As the main dish became history, the desserts were brought out. Oh. My. Goodness. Ten in all and all delicious…and of course, we had to try each one. We didn’t want to insult our hosts! What a treat!
Three and a half hours later (I think 3 hours of that was spent on the desserts – wine and excellent port were involved as well) – interesting conversation and stuffed beyond comfort … we rolled out the door.
New Year’s Eve, we enjoyed great Duoro wine, a home-cooked turkey dinner and went out at midnight to view the fireworks over the river. Wow – what a great show!
So, here we are in 2019.
We realize how very fortunate we are to be on this travel adventure. Life is good. We wish you all good fortune as you pursue your life’s adventures in this new year.
On the northbound train to view Christmas lights in Braga, we shared company with Dorothea. In a comic mix of Portuguese, French, English and rather enthusiastic gestures, we exchanged stories. Where from, how many kids and grandkids were all duly covered. When it came to ages, I was appalled at how long it takes to get to 70 by flashing 10 fingers at a time! Nothing at all like a young child shyly holding up 4 or 5.
In Portugal, Christmas Eve dinner is the highpoint of the holidays. Rogerio and Maria, the couple who own the apartment we have rented here in Vila Nova de Gaia, kindly invited us to join their family for Bacalhau da Consoada. “No one should be alone on that evening,” they said, and then reiterated while we were stumbling to frame a suitable reply.
It was every bit the feast! Their amply sized dinner table vanished beneath a spread of traditional Portuguese Holiday dishes and ten (ten?) 10 different desserts. In true European fashion dinner went on for hours. New friends became old friends. We were unexpectedly gifted with a 10 year old tawny port for me and chic looking smartphone friendly gloves for Cookie.
Do we appreciate how lucky we are? I think so. I hope so.
Portugal has pretty much adopted American Christmas music. All season I have heard nothing that wasn’t born in the USA. How would you would go about replacing Der Bingle’s “White Christmas” or Nat Cole’s “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…..”? I’m happy with their choice not to try
Meanwhile the endless paperchase for temporary residency here continues. As long as we can show we are “in process,” normal visa limits are overlooked. We are hoping to have the final issues resolved early this Spring.
In other news……Portuguese keys enter teeth down and doors open in.
All the best to you and yours for a healthy and Happy New Year!!
I’ve been remiss in sending updates – life has been busy!
So, I will share small bits of some of our experiences as not to overwhelm.
So, it’s taken awhile to get the hang of retirement. It finally happened on a warm sunny September afternoon in Lisbon. After running an errand that took us to a familiar area we decided to saunter down the hill to a neighborhood wine bar. Warmly welcomed by Ina, we embraced the opportunity to taste outstanding wines, excellent cheese and local bread and olive oil.
Ina and her partner, Patrick. (She, German; He, Irish) opened their wine bar 3.5 years ago. What lovely people! We so enjoyed our conversation with them about Portuguese wine and then they brought up American politics…
In every European country that we have traveled to – the general consensus of the people is that the behaviour of our current administration is, indeed, an embarrassment to the world. The comments and perceptions of the people on the European continent are insightful and intelligent. Their knowledge of world politics overall is impressive.
We steered the discussion away from politics back to wine.
We tasted ‘green wine’. No, it’s not a St. Patrick’s Day beverage but a very young white sparkling wine. A little on the fruity sweet-side. It’s named for the area where the grapes for this wine are grown. There are multiple wine-growing districts in Portugal. As we both enjoy ‘Vinho Tinto’, red wine, our current favourite is the robust red wine of the Duoro Valley.
This leisurely afternoon event reinforced our decision to travel and have interesting life experiences. After years of structure, the feeling of freedom to do what we want, when we want – is even more intoxicating than the wine.
Like the rest of the world, we, too, experienced intense heat this summer. No bueno! While it was pretty unbearable in Bucharest in July – it got even worse in Croatia. [August] In Zagreb & Split, I needed to get up about 6:30 a.m. so I could go out and get some walking exercise before temperatures hit the high 90’s in temperature and humidity. [I really miss Aquafit!] It’s a good thing that we made sure to have air conditioning in our summer Airbnbs!
One of our Croatian discoveries is that their wine is VERY good! We found a beautiful wine bar in Zagreb [cool & comfortable] and experienced a private wine tasting. We learned a lot about the wine regions which helped us to order wine with some semblance of knowledge. Croatians refer to themselves as a Boutique Wine Country – since they don’t export very much. We like boutique!
In spite of the heat and thanks to Uber, we enjoyed a variety of local restaurants. Our culinary adventures have been delectable! One of our more unique dishes was at Otto & Frank’s: The ‘Zagreb Breakfast’ consisted of Cottage Cheese, Sour Cream, Horseradish as the base, Grilled Ham, “Crispy Poached Eggs” [cooked sous vide and the rolled in a delicious light breading] fresh spinach, radish & spring onions on a slab of toasted bread. Whew! Michael diversified by having scrambled eggs instead of the poached. My variation was without the Cottage Cheese and Sour Cream – but the Sous Vide Poached Eggs were awesome!!
Not a morning person?…
A Zagreb breakfast!
Eventually, we pushed ourselves away from the table and went off to enjoy the Museum of Illusions. Fun stuff!
A picture is worth a 1000 words.
Heads up!
To Infinity & Beyond!
Trick of the eye
After a week of eating and drinking in Zagreb, we headed south to Plitvice Lakes National Park.
Where is and what is a Plitvice, you ask?
From the their website:
The oldest, largest and most visited of seven Croatian National Parks, Plitvice Lakes became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979. It is a complex of sixteen lakes linked together with a series of travertine waterfalls. Although the lakes surface covers only two square kilometers, the park area stretches over 200 km2 to surrounding mountains and adjoining rivers.
It was gorgeous and an awesome opportunity to hike – for me. Michael needed to opt out. He had been experiencing quite a bit of pain from Plantar Fasciitis and the 14 miles that I hiked over two days would have been unbearable for him. He rested in the peace and quiet of our B & B, Villa Lika, enjoying the clean country air, surrounded by verdant hills. Upon returning from my hikes, I shared my pictures, (of which there are many), with him. I’ll post a few – hopefully, they’ll convey the natural beauty that Mother Nature has provided.
Leaving the calm of the country we headed further south to the coastal city of Split. We had heard that August is the height of the tourist season. Just about everyone in Europe is on holiday for the entire month. Turns out – it’s true! And they were all in Split- or so it seemed. It’s one of the most popular destinations for a European holiday [aka vacation] in spite of the heat. When the crowds subsided in September, we could tell that the tourist season was finally winding down and school was resuming for the young’uns. The difference in population was significant.
Over 1000 islands are off the Croatian coast in the stunning crystal clear blue-green Adriatic Sea. One of the closer islands, Brač, ‘called to us.’ We ferried over to the island [an hour] & then bussed [another hour] to the white pebbled – make that ‘rocky’ Golden Cape beach near the town of Bol. It was lovely. Lots of trees for shade, restaurant/bars, chaise lounges, umbrellas, parasailing, paddle boarding etc. We lounged, people watched and napped. A very successful outing! I’m starting to catch on to this thing called ‘retirement’. It’s taken awhile!
We have a few more restaurants to hit and another beach outing on our agenda before we head to Western Europe. We’ll be heading to Lisbon, Portugal.
Wrapping a few weeks in Romania, and, yes — Transylvania. Serious castle hopping. Top of the bill was Bran castle, purported home to Bram Stoker’s infamous vampire.
Emerging from the eastern European communist bloc in ’89, Romania was largely unaware of western pop culture. Learning of Dracula and his celebrity in the west, the Romanian chamber-of-commerce moved a county line some few hundred yards putting the castle into Transylvania and “ka-ching!”
Our tour guide offered: Vlad “the impaler” did in fact swill goblets of his victims’ blood. Not a big a stretch to recast him as “the Count,” and open for business!
While Romanian trains pale in comparison to their neighbors, one unmatched feature though is the berry vendors working the aisles in motion. Fresh! Sweet! Inexpensive! Wow, I am so easy!
Visiting Brasov, a beautuful central Romanian town for a few days, we made our way through the 3rd narrowest street in Europe, and saw some very coloful graffiti- – much of it in English. Some sad soul had written,“We were a perfect match. Sadly, matches burn.”
Humor is different here. Even with their families and friends, laughter feels controlled, almost conditional. In the UK, cheek is valued for it’s own sake. Italy? It’s just in the air!
The one funny sign we saw in 4 weeks in Romania was for “The Cathouse Massage Parlor – – We bite! We scratch!”
Traveling around, I sense a day-to-day fatalism among eastern Europeans: a fog that seems to deepen as you move east, and to lift as you go west. Hmm.
Romanian food and wine, on the other hand, are terriffic. Shepard’s pie, beef schnitzel, apple strudel, lamb + veal burgers, goat kebab, their version of Greek salad, and…. sarmale (stuffed cabbage rolls of minced pork/veal), and a dessert called pavlova.
In the most Romanian Irish pub you’ll ever see, Cookie asked for a modest substitution. Our host said, “No, try it our way.” To her credit she did and made a really enjoyable discovery. Same with the wines. you will occasionally get a clinker. But that’s nothing next to the pleasure of discovering an unknown new treasure. No way around it: Ya gotta try stuff!
A bridge west of the celebrated Pointeveccia lies the Trinity. Defending Florence at the Arno River in late 1944, the Germans blew the bridge to hinder the Allies’ crossing. The war rolled on north where it ended months later.
The people of Florence (or Firenze, as they say) restored the bridge, salvaging original stones from the river bottom. They re-assembled the puzzle of blasted pieces, as nearly as possible the way they lay before the explosion.
Replacement of irreparably shattered bits were mined from the same quarry used in 1569. The original head from a statue dedicated to spring was recovered from the river in 1961. A labor of love.
Greetings from the Romanian rail system en route to Brasov!!
Romanians are unfailingly polite but further down the grim scale than their Western European counterparts. Far fewer funny signs!
Nothing like the Italian joie de vivre or cheerful British cheek.
Which reminds me: our Best Sign in the UK Award, (Bakery Special Mention): “Fat people are hard to kidnap. Stay safe! Eat more cake!!”
People I’ve spoken with here seem leery of their government and worried adoption of the Euro will raise prices but not wages. Most of them support Croatia in the World Cup but expect France to win.
We’re camped in Bucharest, well south of the flooded areas. People here respond amazingly to any attempt to speak their language. It’s like hitting the best friends button. If they know you’re from California though, conversation veers to amazement you’d come here from there.
Flew in from London a few days ago. My overwhelming impression of the Brit capitol is energy. It buzzes with rebuilding, upgrades and modernization. Smart planning in evidence everywhere, especially transportation.
British food has either improved, or we’ve gotten smarter about where to go and what to order. Had a great time with daughter Christina for a few days before she flew home. Saw The Play That Goes Wrong in Covent Garden. Funniest thing I’ve seen on the stage since Spamalot.
This month’s Best Sign in the UK Award, (London Pub entrance category):
“Hand me the booze and watch me get fabulous!”
On the road poker (London): Durnerin £97/ Aspers 888 Poker Room £11. Turns out I was merely a transfer agent, dropping about the same amount in a Russian Mafia joint here in Bucharest. They spanked me and sent me home!!
With Cookie home for son Brett’s wedding last month, I hit some historical spots: Plymouth, Hastings and Dover.
In the southern English hamlet of St. Margaret’s Cliffe, bussing it from my airbnb to Dover Castle, I rode with the village idiot. Please understand “idiot” in a traditional medical sense. Not the perjorative.
“Mum” puts him on the bus with a daylong pass as a treat. He sits in a top deck front seat with his juicebox, happily drooling, waving to the sheep and singing along with whatever the music on his air pods.
Locals and drivers all know him. At the end of day, when they see his Mum at the bus stop, they help him off. I doubt he suspects anything amiss in his condition. In fact he looks quite pleased with himself! Job well done!!
Mindful of our children and grandchildren’s health, I send a big grateful shout-out to whichever Buddha, God, or Allah calls the shots around here.
We’ve spent most of June in England. I love the British accent, their unique phrasing and unusual terminology.
Outside a Mexican cafe.
Seeking ‘chill time’ – our focus was to spend time in the country. We started with Newark on Trent, a well-preserved medieval town. It was charming, friendly and welcoming. We easily slowed our pace and learned the ways of the town. We walked everywhere, found shortcuts and revelled in the humour we found in the town … notes outside of businesses cracked us up. We fell in love with the town square and daily farmers market- great fresh produce and baked goods.
Whilst there, we climbed up inside a 900 year old castle. A real estate promo for the place might read: “Interesting, cold, dark, minimalist decor with a great view. Turn-key for boiling oil and armaments.”
In front of a bakery.
After Newark, we headed north to the Lakes District -A three train travel day. It was well worth the trip. We stayed in village of Orton at Orton Hall, a 600 year old manor. It was surrounded by 6 acres of lush green – towering trees of varying species – each one with its own personality – and so many different shades of green! This was a thriving habitat for birds, bunnies and the endangered red squirrel. It was absolutely gorgeous and we never tired of gazing out of the bay window at a bit of Mother Nature’s finest work.
Our suite, the Royalist, featured a lovely living room with a hidden panel bookcase. The bookcase opened to reveal the hallway to the kitchen, bath and bedroom. Clever! There was a common area with a pool table, baby grand piano and a general seating area. While inviting, the musty smell was a deterrent to staying there too long.
I feel like I’ve been living in an English novel.
Village life was quite agreeable. A five minute walk brought us to the village pub. Jennings Hotel George is quite the gathering place – especially for watching the World Cup competitions. But even more importantly, it provided good home cooking – no microwave pub grub!
That same five minute walk also landed us at Kennedy’s Chocolate Shop & Coffeehouse. Yummmm! A daily stop for chocolate seemed like a moral imperative. On one such visit, I had the delight to talk with a couple who were motorcycling their way from north to south. He was 78, a weathered, rugged, white hair, pony-tailed fun guy with his female companion who was a bit younger. They were enjoying their road adventures.
And then there were the ‘walkers.’
Turns out, Orton is smack dab in the middle of the Coast-to- Coast Walk. [a charted route] People from all over, walk from the west coast of England to east coast. (or vice versa) Orton is a popular stop for them to rest for the night. From the folks we chatted with, we learned that the average amount of time it takes is about two weeks. Armed with their walking poles, they cover as much as 15 miles per day!
Ten days of peace & quiet – unbelievable quiet- pastoral views, sharing the roads with the shorn sheep, cattle and horses was good for us. We worked on making plans for where and when we’ll travel next. Travel research and planning takes quite a bit of time. Our plans and ideas have evolved with the time we’ve spent on the road. We’re no longer thinking of going to Prague to teach. I know that I’ve decided to stay retired and not teach English as a foreign language. Michael still might. But we are both enjoying being retired and being foot loose and fancy free. After years and years of structure and ‘have to’ we are wallowing in quality time together and doing what we want -when we want.
Now we’re leaving the country for a bit of city life – heading south to London for some theatre, art & history.
