Portugal

Monday, 16th September 2019
Ready for a day of exploring this area we are in. We drive about looking for the old bridge that was built here by the Romans back in back in the first century. The Romans believed the river Lima to be a river of forgiveness. The town was a walled city and some parts of the wall still exist. We find the Bridge, and walk across it, Bob with trepidation, because on the other side is huge markets. Up until now, Bob has done his best to keep me away from markets, but now he embraced this one, the closer he got to it. These markets were enormous. They stretched both banks of the bridge, and they were loud. People/venders were calling out what they had for sale, (well, thats what I thought it was, as I didn't understand what was being said,) and you can tell by looking and the siignals they were using.
So we wandered about looking at what merchandise was for sale, there was fruit and vegetables, clothes of all maner, including undergarments and socks,  shoes, Linen, from towles, sheets, blankets, pillows, table clothes and table runners, small table cloths in traditional colours, nice and bright. We came across a vender who was selling olives and other food stuffs, and we happened to notice these brown nut type things  but didn't know what it was. Quite a number of fruit and vegies stall had these items, so we made enquiries into what it was. Turns out, they were Chestnuts. We were given a taste of these, after some translation through the phone. They were quite nice, so we decided to get some. We asked if they were grown on the tree that had spikey balls on them, as we had noticed these trees with the odd fruit on them as we were walking to the bridge. And yes, that was them. We contintued through the endless stalls, and looking at things, making a couple of purchases, Bob haggling the price on something he bought. We found a couple of tops for me, as I had decided to brighten  up my clothing. We got 2 tops for 5 euro. Which I thought was really cheap, and when you convert that to AUD it is 8.15. So yes they were cheap. So that was good, then we look at some trousers that might fit at another place, but I decided not to, as I felt they were to much, and was not up to haggling with the lady.
So after that we contiue on and then finish looking at the markets, although we had only ventured down one end of them, but as Bob said, they were probably more of the same. So we made our way to find something to eat for lunch, many of the cafes were very busy and had no spare tables, but eventually we found a place, after Bob had bought some locally produced wine.
Our lunch was good, and the waiter spoke a little english, so it was not such a struggle to get what we wanted.  After we have eaten, we head back to the car almost exhausted from our excursion and head back to our unit. 
A couple of hours later we head out agian, to find the local supermarket to get some supplies for the next few days, and we find it without to much hassles. It is once again interesting doing the shopping in an area that is different to our language, but thankfully all the pictures are the same, and with the use of modern technology, we get enough to get us through the next few days.
It has been a very educational day, yet again

Tuesday, 17th September 2019

We have decided to take a drive to Viana do Castelo today, to see what is around the area which is a 30 min drive. We arrive at the township, and finding a park is just as difficult as it has been in the past, but we eventually find one a little distance away. The wak will do us good, and so we head of to see what this place has to offer. It is on the Atlantic ocean, and there is a marina with ships and a ferry on the water, as well as some official looking type of boat, which we can't figure out what department it is with.
Our walk takes us past the Gil Eannes Hospital Ship, whose job it was in 1955 to 1973 to support Portugese Codfish fleets, that worked the area and Greenland. It had onboard an xray machine as well as an operating room. It also served as a maritime authority, a mail ship, tugboat, and an Ice Breaker and it is now a museam ship.
We continue on our way up to what appears to be the main shopping area, and we pass many shops selling many touristy things. But there is a lot of Traditional dress costumes on display in shop windows, as well as their traditional jewerlly that they wore. There was a lot of brightly coloured materials and linen ware. We wander aimlessly along, taking in all that is about us, the little streets that seem to lead off and go on for a long time and have lots of cafes and resturants dotted along them.
We find a hairdresser that isn't busy, and Bob gets his hair cut. After some hand gestures and a little language, it is worked out how short he wants it. This lady works away at cutting his hair, and takes particular care, snipping all the time, and resnipping at certain spots. Eventually, she finishes and she has done a great job for the princely sum of 7 euros. I thought that was very well priced, given the timeand care she took. We continue on our exploring and find somewhere to have lunch, we both decide to have Tuna salads and they were great.
After we have eaten, we head back to the car to go to the Santa Luzia, which is a temple on top of the hill. We notice there is a fog setting in, and when we look up to the hill, the fog is enclosing around the Temple, but we still decide to up and look.  We wind our way up the hill to the summit and like most other places, getting a park is virtually impossible, so we follow the lead of the car ahead of us, and doube park.
The views up here are great, over looking the village below, and the inlet and ocean, and the fog has lifted for the moment. We go up to the entrance of the Temple and are ushered in by a Nun that was standing there holding her Rosemary beads.  Once inside, we take time just to look about, but this a little simplier than other ones we have visited. The views outside are the main attraction, as there are many more people outside than inside. One thing that was a positive I felt was, that there was no booth there trying to sell items to those that entered, like a lot of other Churches and Basillicas have. Although just dow the road there was a souvenier place aswell as a cafe, but it was far enough away not to intrude on the reverence of the Church. We make our way back down the hill and decide to go back to our accommodation.
Later on in the evening we decide to go to a Resturant that has been recommended to us by our host. We find where it is on the GPS and head off, and once again it is a round about way to get where we need to go, but, unfortunately, the gps has got us sort of in the wrong spot, but almost there, so Bob  decides to follow his nose and follow another car that is heading in the same area we are. Well we follow this motorist and end up in a tightest little   street, with nowhere to turn around, only in the parking spot of the house ahead. So now we have to wait for the lead car to turn about, and then it is our turn, we go back about 200 meters, and there is our Resturant. We had just passed it. Now to get a park, as the car ahead, has taken a park that we saw, but alas, there was another one just big enough for us to squeeze into. Our meal at the Resturante O Brasao was wonderful, and the owner welcomed us nicely. Apparently our host had called ahead and mentioned that we might be in at some stage.

Wednesday, 18th September 2019

Today we are exploring the local area, (there are no markets today ), and we wonder down the streets just looking at what is about. There are lots of little Jewellry places, and of course the bar/resturants, and there seem to be a lot of optical places, given the size of the township. We wander around looking at the shops, and looking at watches, as Bob said to me a couple of weeks ago that I should have a new watch, so we have been looking, seeing if there is anything that suits both his taste and mine. And today we find a watch, and the deal is done. Bob asks me if it is the right one and if i wanted to look more, but i said, no, this is the one. He is surprised that it was that easy.  After this we go and search for lunch and find a little Japanese cafe, and have a great meal. My meal was so beautifully decorated, it was almost a shame to eat it. But I did eat some of it, Now we go to pay the bill, and the card is not accepted. So I said I would go and find a atm and get some money to pay for our lunch. Went to the first one, and my card was not accepted. So I head back to the place we ate at, and met Bob on the way. So we hunt down for another atm, and Bob gets some money out, and I get some aswell, and we head back to the Cafe, I pay the bill, and the lady give me a free can of Coke as I had to walk some distance. I tried to refuse it, but she was very insistant. So we wander a bit more, finding the local post office, and getting some prices for mail to be sent back to Australia.
We have a coffee in one of the street cafes before we head back to our unit.
Later we head out again to explore the immediate area around us, and there is many shops and businesses in the street around us and  Bob finds a wallet that is suitable for his needs. In our area, there a a couple of schools and high schools, The schools here are not like ones bake home with big open grounds and school ovals, they are buildings that have no open grounds and no ovals. Just big fences around them, and with the primary schools, it seems that most of them have fences that you dont get to see through. Very different to home.
Once back at our unit, we have to start thiking about packing up again as we are on the move again tomorrow. Our uint has been great, and was very flash. a pleasant stay.

Thursday, 19th September 2019

We leave Ponte de Lima and are heading to Estoril, still in Portugal and still on the coast line. This is a 4 hr trip, and we make a couple of stops. We drive past a place called Fatima, and Bob tells me there is something about this place that is significant. I am driving at this time, so he does some research and tells me it is a Catholic pilgrimage site. Allegedly, the Virgin Mary appeared in May 1917  to Oct 1917 to 3  little shepards. We continue onwards and get to our destination, Estoril, but are a bit early, so we drive onto Cascais to see whats about there. It is one busy place, as you can imagine, being on the beach. Again, the common theme is parking issues, so we just keep driving and looking about. We go back to Estoril, and find our next accommodation, and wait for our host to greet us at the required time. Bob has messaged him to let him kjnow we are her, and we go in and wait on the front landing. After about 15 mins we hear a voice call out Bobs name, and it is our host. We go up meet Louis and get shown about our place it is cosy and a bit dated, but it has all that we need. 

Friday, 20th September 2019

Today we decided to check out a place up on the Mountain here that was recommended to us by our host Louis. Sintra, a place with palaces, castles and many other historic things. It is a 30 min drive to the town, and we are not the only ones heading to this place. Not long into the drive, there is a toll, so we pay this with coins, and continue onwards. Following the directions of Karen, (the gps) we go where we are told to, and get to the village of Sintra, a bustling place with lots of traffic and some road rules that go out the window. One has to almost force your way into roundabouts as the traffic keeps on coming. We advance further along up the hill, our destination was to be the Quinta da Regaleira, but somehow we took a wrong turn, and we were following Karen. We must have zagged when we should have zigged. Anyhow she didn't squark to much and we ended up way up the mountain, along with many other visitors to the area. There was a couple of tourist attractions on the road, and traffic at times was less than a crawl, but with persistance we continued on. Not that there was much other choice, as there was no where to do a u turn. We were fortunate to grab a park, because the traffic was stopped by a guy who got into his van and signelled that he was leaving so we took advantage and made use of it. We hadn't intended to stop, but as the old saying goes, ''Never look a gift horse in the mouth ''. We got out and took a bit of a walk to see exatly what was around us. There was the Palacia Nacional da Pena, and a couple of other places, so we decided to walk the bush track to the Palacia da Pena, of which there were a few others. When we got there, like most other places, there was a line up, and once inside, one got the bus to go up to the Palacia. We decided that we would go to another place, the one of our original choice, so back we go, this time walking via the road. Once in the car, we make our was back down the mountain, and try again for the Quinta da Regaleira. Eventually we find it, and start looking for somewhere to park the car, but alas, no luck, so we just keep on driving. At least we had anice drive up and down the mountain.
We now decide to hit the shopping centre that we passed on our way and grab some lunch. So many choices. I do the right thing and decide to have a healthy salad, despite there being KFC, which I have not had for ages, and it is not all that common to find here. Bob had steak and some fries and an egg. So after we have eaten, we need to grab some food to take back to our unit for the next few days. Once again we are trying to figure out what is what, and look about at all the things that are available. There is a fish tank, with live lobsters and crabs in it, so you can choose which one you want. There is dried fish, lots of it, and whole fish sitting on ice, but not enclosed in a cabinet like back home. We find some whole cooked chooks and i go and wait in line, take a ticket and wait. An elderly gentleman give me a ticket, because he had got an extra one, so I was grateful, and thanked him as best as I could in my English. So this would place me two spots sooner. While I was waiting,  Bob happens to get served by the woman who is serving up where the chickens were, as the rest of the staff were on the other side, and he gets the Chook, it gets cut into quarters, and bagged. So now I feel bad, because the gentleman still has to wait. Next we head over to the fruit and vege section, and we make our selections. Over here in some of the grocery shops, we have to weigh the fruit and vegies, and put the scanning sticker on them. A young attendant sees that I seem to be having trouble and comes over and does it for me. Next, I try again with some grapefruit,  I watch a woman do this, as she also has grapefruit, and I try, but she comes back and does it for me. Bless her. Bob has some fruit, and he manages to nail it. 
We head off back to our unit, ahd retire for the rest of the day.

Saturday, 21st September 2019

Our plan for today is to catch the train into Lisbon, a 30 min train ride. We walk to the train station, and get our tickets and wait for the next train to Lisbon. While waiting Bob notices a guy wearing a Australian Rugby shirt, and walks up to him and they start conversing. I am at the other end of the platform waiting for the train, and when it does comes I have to hurry over to where they are, and we all get on together.  Turns out this guy is an Aussie, and lives in the local area. He has been in Brazil for a few years, and is a Chiroprator. What good luck, as Bob has been trying to organize an appointment with a chiropractor in Spain when we get to our next stop there. This chap keeps chatting to us as we board the train and tells us where would be good to go, and where he lives as we go by in the train. When we get to Lisbon, we part company, but not before he has given Bob his card.
Once outside the train station, we look about and are thinking that the hop on hop off buses would be the thing to do. So we get tickets and go to the closest stop, which is just over the road and down a little way.  When the bus gets there, it is full. The tickets we have gives us two routes to take, so we walk to where the next stop is for the second route. And we wait, and wait. A couple of other tour bus companies stop, and go again. Eventually, the right one for us comes, and Bob goes to line up, when a lady said that she was in the line, so that was fair enough, however when they got to the door, they ummed and ahhed about going as there was only 3 seats, and there was Five of them. The decided not to go, and then the bus left. So, now we have to wait again. Eventually the bus came and there was seating available, so we take our place and watch the city pass us by.  After this tour finishes, we go and find something to eat, which ends up being Burger King, and just as we get inside it starts to rain. We hold up inside for a little while, hoping that the rain will stop, but it is not that heavy, so we venture out, and go and wait for the next hop on hop off bus tour route. The rain has not stopped, and we get ushered into another bus just while the rain is happening, and while our bus gets ready. Once it has been disembarked of it's previous passengers, we get on board. We end up, up stairs, and the tour starts. The bus takes us round the city, and up the windy roads, and up to where a church is on top of a hill, of which there are a lot of people about, with cafes and resturants, and the numerous souvineer shops, all bustling with activity.
As we get further along on the bus, the rain doesn't stop, and people are getting wet, and moving to a drier place, even if they have to stand. Bob and I are relatively out of the rain, but, as I am sitting on the window side, there is water seeping down the wall and along the sill. My sleeve gets quite wet, and then the water runs down my side, and my complete right side is almost completely saturated. By now, Bob is getting a little wet too, from the drips from the roof, and landing on the back of his neck. Oh well, all part of the adventure. There was a few things to see on the tourm but nothing that grabs our attention, and we found that at times the audio was a bit slow for where we were or it was a bit ahead, but no matter, we got to see Lisbon, without us having to drive it.
When  the tour finishes, we stay on board so that when it starts again,  we can get off at a stop that is closest to the rail way station. So we disembark at the required point  and buy an umberella from a guy selling them at the station, and catch the train back to our unit. The umberellas did get used on the way back from the train station at Estori, as it was still raining there aswell, and we had to walk back to the unit.  It was good to get back and get out of the wet clothes.

Sunday, 22nd September 2019

Sunday was a leisurely day, we rested for the morning, and then around lunch time we went for a walk along the waterfront of Estoril, and explored what was about on the foreshore. Found somewhere to have something to eat, and walked some more then returned back to the unit. Since we arrived here in Estoril, there has been the World Championship Padel competitions, and despite the rain yesterday, it is still going. I had never heard of Padel until we got here, and it is a Racquet sport, played on a court a third of the size of  tennis court and it is enclosed. So now I know.