Portugal – July 2010
Three things that are good to have when traveling in Portugal: The Rough Guide to Portugal which provides lots of detail on small towns that is omitted from the Rick Steves’ guides, good walking shoes with sturdy soles because many of the streets are roughly cobbled, and a GPS because the streets and highways within cities are labyrinthine; but don’t place your faith in it 100%. And even at the height of summer a light jacket is handy because the evenings can get a bit nippy. At the time I’m writing this, 7/17/10, gasoline costs $6.91/gallon in Portugal. However, most other things are less expensive than in the U.S. Credit cards are not accepted in many places because of the high transaction cost banks charge businesses and forget about using US$.
We entered Portugal on 7/2 after leaving the U.S. Naval Station at Rota, Spain. The drive from Rota to Tavira took about 3.5 hours and would have been quicker but for the congestion crossing Seville.
Prior to visiting Rota we had spent about a month in San Sebastian, Spain, in the Basque Country.
In Tavira we stayed at the Portuguese Officers’ and Sergeants’ Mess located in a 300 year old building with walls about one yard thick. In this and all of the subsequent Portuguese Army Administered Messes we utilized, the room cost was 21.50 Euros/night and included breakfast. Lunch and dinner usually cost under 6.00 Euros each although we rarely ate them in the messes because of the fixed schedule and menu. Those meals we did eat included overly generous portions. The mess at Tavira didn’t have WiFi but there is one computer available for use at no charge. The Tavira mess is actually a branch of the one at Lagos and is something of a poor sister. We had tried to get into Lagos for part of our stay on the Algarve but it was full.
Tavira is a very friendly place, and we found this to be true in other towns and cities as well. English, while not universally spoken, is much more easily encountered in Portugal than in Spain.
As is our custom we spent a lot of time driving around in the countryside. Tavira is on the south coast of Portugal in the section called the Algarve. In past years the Algarve was known as the “other” gathering place for the glitterati after the cote-de-azure in France – stayed warm longer. We drove into the mountains behind the beaches and were surprised at the lack of agriculture there. Squat! I later asked a Portuguese friend about this and he said nobody but tourists and people who make their living from them cares to live in the Algarve region.
We went looking for a laundromat and found that there is only one in the town of 22,000. It is owned by a very friendly English speaking Brazilian couple who also own a bar next door. The town also has a surprisingly large, modern shopping center although it seemed under-populated each time we visited.
The staff in the mess was a little shy on English capability. The day we checked in the clerk on duty spoke no English and, although he happens to live five miles from the Spanish border, no Spanish either. Check-in took about an hour. But he was a really helpful young fellow in other respects. The following day the clerk on duty spoke English very well and it turned out that two of the women who serve in the dining room also speak better than passable English.
After spending four nights there we wanted to be more centrally located on the Algarve and so moved to an Ibis hotel in Faro for two nights. If you travel in Europe and are cost conscious, check out the Ibis chain: economical, compact, scrupulously clean, and exceptionally friendly. They are usually on the outskirts of larger cities (lower real estate costs) which makes navigating to them in a car easier, and public transportation is your best bet in cities because parking is such a pain in the bahinkus.
While staying in Faro we did something I’ve wanted to do since my fifth grade history class. We went to Sagres, the site of the school of navigation inaugurated by Prince Henry the Navigator, and attended by Vasco de Gama, Magellan, Cabral, and some other adventurous fellows. A few miles from that site and visible from it is Cape St. Vincent, so we went there as well. In ancient times people thought this was the end of the world.
On 7/8 we moved to the officers’ mess at Caxias (Cah-SHE-ahsh), a ritzy suburb of Lisbon. The quarters there were somewhat nicer than at Tavira with the exception of the lack of A/C. There is free WiFi. The dining room is beautiful and the bar/lounge is open from 10:00 A.M. – 11:00 P.M. There is a main building and an annex separated by about 100 yards (straight line) and both are only a short walk from the train station one can use to go into the center of Lisbon or in the other direction to Estoril or Cascais (Cahs-CAISH). The rail line runs along the beach.
Upon arrival we called our friends who live in Queluz (Kay-LOOSH), only about 15 minutes away from Caxias, and made arrangements to meet the following evening.
We spent our first full day in the Lisbon area by taking the train into the city and walking until my feet were worn down to my ankles. We went up to Alfama, the oldest part of the city for the spectacular views and to the Castle of St. George but there were too many people in line so we skipped that. After descending we stopped at a café for ice cream and shared a table with a elderly local woman and had a nice conversation with her, then wandered around sort of semi-lost for a while and stopped at a place with a broad assortment of pastries in a sidewalk café setting before a long walk back to the train station.
Fernando, Fernanda, and their beautifully blossoming daughter Inêz took us to a wonderful typical restaurant owned by his childhood friend who is a professional musician and we had a great meal in excellent company. I’m told the place is in the Guiness Book of World Records as having the longest name of any restaurant, rendered in English as “Tavern of the Troubadors Who Drink of White and Red at Whatever Hour of Day or Night.” Fernando’s buddy, also named Fernando, explained several of the Portuguese stringed musical instruments to us and even played a little for us. As we left he presented us with two of his CD’s. Did you know that the Hawaiians got the ukulele from the Portuguese? It’s called a cavuquinho in Portuguese.
The next day we drove to the Corte Ingles department store on a more-or-less wild goose chase, but Mayumi bought a light housecoat there. Then we drove to the Tower of Belem, an icon of Lisbon shown on all the tourist literature, where we parked and walked to the Monument to the Discoverers and the amazing Monastery of Geronimo (Jerome). As breathtaking as the monastery is, the most interesting part for me was the Naval Museum contained in one part of it. And the most striking part of that museum is the barge collection. We ain’t talkin’ plain old barges here – we’re talkin’ royal barges. Wow! Gorgeously decorated, eighty oarsmen, beautifully preserved, and lots of them although most aren’t so big. The most spectacular was last used in about 1967 for a royal visit by Queen Elizabeth of England.
The following day was Sunday and Fernando and his family picked us up in Caxias. We went first to a place that was a combination of life size replicas of old-time living conditions and craft shops in the country along with miniature representations of the additional crafts and life ways which included many working models. There was also a large working bakery and a few other shops as well. Our next stop was at the home Fernando and Fernanda have purchased and are outfitting as a weekend retreat and eventual retirement home. It is very nice with three bedrooms and, with minimal work, can be expanded to include two more. The views are splendid and the village is very nice. Following that brief stop we had lunch in the same village and then went on to Mafra, site of the largest convent in Portugal. According to Fernando, all of the wealth Portugal realized from its efforts in Brazil went into the construction of this palace/convent/church. A tour through it will convince you that he’s probably not exaggerating.
On Monday, 7/12, we moved to the Officers’ Mess at Évora, one of the most visited cities in the country. It has many palaces, Roman ruins, beautiful homes, attractive churches, etc. The mess in which we stayed is the old Convento de Graҫa or Convent of Grace and we had a large room on the second floor of the cloister. There is no tourist bus as such in the small city, but there is a smallish bus that circulates primarily in the old and historic part of the city. On the advice of the desk clerk in the mess, we flagged this bus down a few minute’s walk from our quarters and for the equivalent of about $1.30 each rode this bus for about 90 minutes thereby seeing almost everything of note in the city. Unfortunately, there is no sort of guide provided so we had difficulty identifying what we were seeing. Had we been forewarned we would have attempted to find one of the very many English speaking people to accompany us. Some of the locals earn about $1,300 a year, so an offer of perhaps $20 would have been appropriate I think.
The following day we made a little side trip back into Spain. Several weeks before beginning this trip we had mailed a gift to Fernando’s daughter. It didn’t arrive. When we found that Évora is only 62 miles from Badajoz, a city of 120,000 in Spain, we thought the chances were excellent that we could find a replacement for that gift there. Off we went. The drive was pleasant and took about 1 ¼ hour. I had made a reservation at the Husa Zubaran Hotel (4 Star) on line and got it for 62 Euros – a very nice hotel at the edge of the historic district. We found exactly what we were seeking quite easily just before the shops and almost everything else shut down for siesta. Later walked all over the historic district and then took a bus tour of it as well. I was more favorably impressed with Badajoz than I had expected to be. Here as well as in Évora we were very lucky with the weather: both places are usually hotter than frying pans at this time of year but the temperature was quite moderate during our visits.
On our way to Badajoz we had taken a toll road, but for the return trip we took a minor road and had the pleasure of visiting Évoramonte, a village with a castle way atop a mountain with a view that stretches for miles and miles in all directions. The mountain top is quite small as is the castle, but there is a small, populated hamlet there. Prior to that, as we passed abreast of Vila Vicosa, we saw from the distance what appeared to be the exposed limestone face of a very large hillside that had been carved away. As we approached we saw that it was really a monstrous pile of blocks of marble that had been quarried there. Marble quarried in Portugal is sometimes sent to Italy and then sold in the U.S. as Carrera marble.
Continuing on and entering Évora we bumped into a new friend – literally. At one of the endless traffic circles, just as I glanced to the left for oncoming traffic he stopped abruptly in front of me and THUMP! A little damage to both vehicles costing an embarrassing amount. Everyone was quite calm and he, his wife and beautiful three year old daughter were our guests for dinner that evening.
Mayumi had been experiencing a headache for nine days and we decided it was about time to see a doctor. We went to a clinic the morning after the above dinner and, although their window showed a list of about twenty five doctors, when the girl who was to open at 8:00 A.M. arrived about fifteen minutes late, she informed us that the only doctor who would be attending that day would be a dentist. She recommended that we go to the urgent care clinic of the nearby hospital.
We were in for a long day and a pleasant surprise at the hospital. When we presented ourselves to check in we paid a fee of €4.70 or about $6.10. Mayumi was then seen by a nurse who went through the usual preliminary procedures. After another short wait she was attended by an exceptionally compassionate woman doctor whose English wasn’t bad. She found that Mayumi’s blood pressure was quite elevated and was the probable cause of her headaches but wanted to check further. She ordered blood tests and a CT scan. The entire process including the wait for the blood work took about five hours. The total cost? €4.70. Mayumi was given two prescriptions which we later filled for €11.15. Try that in the U.S.
While Mayumi was cooling her heels between events in the hospital I had checked us out of our room, so we left Évora immediately for our next destination, Runa. We elected to take the non-toll road…more eye appeal but about a 45 minute longer route…and were glad we did. The ride of almost three hours was nice and the last 20 miles taking almost 40 minutes were especially beautiful, winding up and down through vineyards. A subsequent reconnaissance of the area showed the town of Alenquer which lies on that route to be worthy of a look. Although it doesn’t have any particular outstanding attractions, it is an attractive, fair sized town.
Our arrival at the residential facility of the Social Action Institute of the Armed Forces (IASFA) (Portuguese) in Runa came as another surprise. The darned place is a palace! As we rode up the driveway I expected to hear a trumpet fanfare welcoming us.
Note that this establishment is not under the auspices of the Portuguese Army but rather under IASFA.
It was built as a hospital, completed in 1827, and was given to the military as a residential facility during WWII. It is huge and has the appearance of a 17th century palace. In addition to lodging facilities it contains a barber shop, beauty shop, pedicure shop, a very large and beautiful church, museum (open by appointment only), a very attractive dining room, an infirmary with a full time medical staff, a complete laundry, pool, billiard room, music room and more. The building surrounds a central courtyard and is fronted by rose gardens. Over seventy retired military personnel and wives live here permanently and pay an average of €500/month. I asked how we can get on the list to move in.
There are ten guest roomsfurnished and decorated in a style commensurate with the appearance of the building and the bathrooms are larger than many hotel rooms. Additionally there is a small number of apartments in a separate structure. The only fault I found with the place was the total lack of computer access for guests.
Runa is a very small town but Torres Vedras is only about three miles away and is much larger. Its main attraction for us was the very modern, moderately sized shopping center with free WiFi and a food court with fourteen establishments offering good food inexpensively.
Because Mayumi’s headache continued we didn’t do a great deal of exploration while at Runa. We did make one trip to Fatima. The following day we drove about ten miles to Silviera to visit an old friend of mine, a retired English sea captain who lives there with his Portuguese wife.
Mayumi had been given a sedative and that night went to bed at 8:00 P.M. With couple of brief breaks totaling three hours, she stayed there until 2:00 P.M. the following afternoon sleeping the entire time. When she got organized we had something to eat and went for a late afternoon drive through the neighboring villages. The sun was getting low creating long shadows and giving a reddish cast to everything, and as it was a Sunday afternoon, life was moving at a lethargic pace so it was idyllic. There are lots and lots of vineyards in the area and the vines are beginning to fruit. The views from the upper hillsides were quite spectacular.
Runa is a good location from which to visit Fatima, Tomar, Obidos, Alcobasa, Batalha and the beaches of Santa Cruz, Santa Rita, Mafra, etc.
On our way to Porto we stopped off at Costa Nova just outside Aveiro to meet Luís P., his wife, and beautiful daughter, Marta. I had been swapping e-mails with Luís for a couple of years and had really been looking forward to meeting him. He and his wife have homes in Lobrigos and Lamego, but they had just returned from Madeira the night before and were departing to Germany the following day, meanwhile visiting relatives in Coimbra. Aveiro seemed like a good place to meet as Marta lives there. Luís and his wife invited us to use either of their homes on our next visit to Portugal.
Costa Nova is a striking place because many of the homes on the lagoon side of the town are painted in a candy-stripe pattern. They have alternating red and white or blue and white or green and white stripes about six to eight inches wide running horizontally around them.