Portugal In August Part 2

We love the Portuguese; they are generally friendly and chatty. Like South Africans, they love to braai - and always on a real fire; none of this gas bbq stuff! We have been braaing a lot and so I have been buying meat almost daily; a very pleasant task because Portuguese butchers all seem to be very sexy, flirty young men with endless amounts of time to chat up the customers; even those of us who understand none of the conversation! In restaurants you must never be in a hurry either; a meal is to be enjoyed with lots of wine and conversation; followed very slowly by coffee and dessert. Oh, and Portuguese confectionary is excellent too; although I can't say I noticed the bakers to be as hot as the butchers! We stayed three nights in Lisbon and it was very hot! Luckily most campsites have pools. We strolled the streets of Lisbon with many stops for beers or a bottle of Vino Verde but we took a tuk - tuk tour around the castle and the Alfama to avoid climbing too many hills. Luckily Coenraad was very taken by the Elevadors ( tram-like funinculars ) so we generally rode up and walked down. We spent time in Belem and Barrio Alto too.We listened to Fado, ate great Bachalau at O'Boteco and found an amazing Food Market called Time Out. It's a very upmarket food court, all pale wood and black wrought iron decor with central seating. Quite a few of Lisbon's Michelin chefs have stalls here amongst the Champagne Bars, Gin Bars, Wine Bars, Tapas Bars and artesinal places specialising in local faire.  I even saw a "Tataria" serving beef, tuna or vegan tatares. Isn't vegan tartare just finely chopped salad or am I missing something?
En route to our campsite near Lagos on the Algarve, we stopped in Guia, the home of Peri Peri chicken in Portugal and had lunch at Ramires. Best Chicken ever! Well, better than Nandos but not better than the real thing on the beach in Tofo, Mozambique!
We enjoyed Lagos eventhough it was pretty touristy and we had a number of good days on the beach at Playa De Luz ( closest to the campsite) and Alvor. We saw the sand scupltures and the Fouries had a day at a Waterpark. On Sunday the Fouries had to head back to London and we drove to Santa Luzia near Tavira on the eastern Algarve and spent two great days with Wendy and John and their family. Santa Luzia is the most unspoilt town on the Algarve; a fishing village on the lagoon, with access to the beach by ferry or small steam train. The annual Octopus Festival was on all weekend; Monday being a public holiday, and we enjoyed watching all the festivities from the balcony. The live music and discos went on until 6am though!

Portugal in August Part 1

Arriving in Munich, we went to collect Homer from his winter resting place in the Bavarian coutryside, only to find he had seized his brakes. Luckily the mechanic in the village was able to get him repaired in a few days, so we enjoyed some time in Munich at Motel One, catching up with friends. After a night in Magden visiting the Boones, we met up with Robert in Geneva for drinks and a fondue dinner. Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain and into Portugal on Friday 29 July. We met up with Mylene, Coenraad and Coemy in Vila Real in the Douro River wine area. This is where most of the grapes for Port are grown but you can also get some great red wines from the region these days. The DOC is one of the oldest in Europe and it's awesome driving up and down through the terraced vineyards. We also did a boat cruise up the Duoro River from Pinhao. Porto is a wonderful city, very walkable eventhough it's hilly and very hot in August. It has a tatty charm about it. The campsite was at the beach in Villa Nova de Gaia, on the opposite bank of the Duoro. This is also where all the Porthouses are. We toured Sandemans. We ate wonderful wood grilled local fish at Restaurante San Pedro near here. In fact all over the north, you get great Portuguese cuisine, which we washed down with lots of Vino Verde. ( Translated this means Green Wine, young and low in alcohol, grown in the very north in Minho.) Local beers are Superbock or Cristal and generally served in small bottles so your beer doesn't get warm. Prices are so reasonable in the North. Two beers, two glasses of vino verde and a Fanta costs less than 5 Euro.
On 3 August, we headed south, making a special stop in Mealhada for lunch. This is the capital of roast suckling pig in Portugal, and it was delicious! Our next camping stop was Coimbre. We toured the historic university and the famous Library Joanina. By now we were enjoying our camping kuier and Coenraad's braai most nights.
From here we did the Unesco Monestery triangle of Batalha,Alcobaca and Tomar. Palacio de Pena in Sintra is also a Unesco site; close enough to Lisbon for a day trip; which means it's very busy in August. We found a parking which we thought was close enough but ended up trekking about 6kms up the mountain in the heat of the day to reach the palace, our fitness apps congratulating us with little digital ditties all the way. Equivalent to 902 flights of stairs according to the I - phone!

 Douro Valley

Porto

Porthouses in Vila Nova de Gaia

Tomar

Batalha

Sintra

Canada in July

It's been a few years since we were last in Canada and this was my first visit to Montreal. We loved the city, with it's French feel and a true cosmopolitan population. We arrived for the Jazz Festival, which was centred around the Art Quarter, just a 10 minute walk from our hotel. For three days and nights all we did was watch live music - the Jazz genre is stretched in all diretions at this festival - drink good wine and eat very good food! We ended up in the Jean Talon Market at Ginbar Pourvouyer to watch Portugal win the European Cup of Nations. It was only in the Uber back to the hotel, stuck in a traffic jam, well more like a cavalcade of Portuguese supporters, that we learnt from our driver that there are over 45 000 Portugese people in Montreal! They were all out on the streets that afternoon!
We drove out to Prince Edward County for a few days. It is a wine region and the wine was better than expected. It's a harsh climate for the vines which have to be pruned, covered and buried before winter each year to prevent them being killed by the cold. It was super to spend time with Lisa and Matt, from Zimbabwe, now living in Canada. Sitting out on their lawn by the lake on a summer evening; if you squint your eyes just a little, you could imagine it was the Zambezi. We braaied, drank too much, played cards; just like home.We know Saffers and Zimbos who are scattered from Calgary to Christchurch and everywhere in between and we love to visit them. We are privledged to be able to travel and blessed to have such open-hearted friends. Then it was back to Montreal for a few days of Comedy Festival, followed by a quick touch down in New Jersey before flying to Europe.

Street Performers, Montreal

Jazz Festival

Lisa and Matt's garden, Prince Edward Island

USA Road trip 9 : West Coast - Wines and more

As far as Northern Californian wine regions go,we have been to Sonoma and Napa before, so this time we headed to Healdsburg in the Russian River area to taste some Pinot Noirs. Our favourite was Roadhouse but at $85 a bottle, it had better be good. Further north it's a pretty drive up Highway 101 through the Mendochino wine area. We stayed over in a rickety old hotel in Mendochino which had a great view over the cliffs and the ocean. We soon found out that Mendochino is the marijuana growing capital of California and it's a rather alterntive community. We met a lot of potheads in the pubs, some just a little slow but others totally spaced out. Baseball finals were on on TV so we tried to make small talk about the game. "Oh, I don't know anything about sport" he says, "I'm just exercising my eyes!" We were invited to a private party by some youngsters, no doubt because Neil looks like he fits right in. We drank beer and listened to a few guys jamming on guitars and singing, while their pit bull kept trying to sit on our laps! The drive north into Oregon is through some awesome Redwood forests and the Applegate and Rouge Valley wine areas. We spent 2 nights in the Willamette Valley wine areas and tasted quite a bit of Pinot Noir. We happened to find ourselves in Eugene, Oregon, the track and field capital of the USA and hometown of Nike. The USA Olympic trials were taking place and we had dinner at Elkhorn Brewery.  ( BBQ 22 ) I think we were the only non- athletes in the place. Then it was on to Portland, Oregon for the 4th July Riverbend Blues Festival and a great catch up with Lisa and David. The music was wonderful and it was so nice to visit the Fowlers in their hometown. (we know them from Thailand) Marijuana is legal in Oregon, so we just had to visit one of the many cannibis shops as part of our education. You can only pay cash and they will only sell you one edible per person per day. Funny thing is all the sales staff are high! You don't get to be drunk on duty in a liquor store, though?
Washington State's premium wine area is Walla Walla, so we visited for a few nights. It's a sleepy town but there are some pretty good restaurants and about half of the wine estates have their tasting rooms downtown, so you can amble from one to the next; tasting wines. Then it was on to Seattle for a few days. We loved the Chihuly Glass Museum and we found a pub that has over 1000 different spirits for sale. Perhaps my expectations were high, but I didn't really think Seattle was much of a city.
Maybe it was just because we had been on the road for nearly 3 months. That's a lot of miles covered and a lot of motel beds slept in!

Willamette Valley, Oregon

North Cali Coast

Blues Festival, Portland

Walla Walla Winery

Space Needle, Seattle

Chuilly Glass Sculptures