Greetings on this last day of July,
This has been a busy month. My last posting was from Palermo, Sicily where at IL Culinario restaurant we were introduced to the most wonderful gin & tonic made with Rose Gin (exclusively from the Mt. Etna region) adorned with pomegranate seeds. It is their specialty drink, so if you go to Palermo, try that restaurant. From there we headed to Taormina, definitely the jewel in the crown for Sicily, situated high in the hills. We took a bus from the train station to get to our lodgings. The road twists and turns with hairpin curves ... not something I would want to drive, as every other vehicle was a bus of some sort. Don't say I didn't warn you if you decide to visit Taormina ... don't drive. The town itself is enchanting and almost looks like a Disney set. The beautiful old buildings are well cared for and everything is kept very clean, unlike Palermo. High-end shops line the streets and there's an abundance of restaurants to choose from. You can see Mt. Etna in the distance, which was still erupting while we were there. An easy way to get to the beach is by way of the cable car (Mazzaro Taormina Funivia), the upper one, which lands below four minutes later at the Mazzaro and Isola Bella beach area, was very close to our lodging. Now, let me say that it is quite beautiful, however, the big round rocks on the beach make it near impossible to walk in comfort without sneakers. There is another sandy beach nearby, however, we didn't get there. After spending four lovely days in Taormina, we had to get back to Trapani for our flight home, however, the train and bus schedules were not accommodating as neither of us wanted to spend 12 hours to get there. Instead, we rented a car and, since I was the only one who remembered to have my driver's license with me, I drove. We passed through Catania, home to Mt. Etna, where it was quite hazy and not suitable for a visit. Less than 5 hours later we were back in Trapani for another day before heading home.
A few days later, our son Nicholas, wife Gracie and two darling granddaughters, Isa and Ava, arrived for a visit. Kudos to them for traveling from Miami to Porto with a one year old and four year old. We had a grand time while they were here. Nicholas rented a large SUV/van, and drove us everywhere. We took another wonderful tour of the Douro Valley, and I finally got to snap some photos of Magellan's birthplace in Sabrosa on the way when we stopped for a coffee break. Incidentally, Magellan was born in 1480, and his original childhood home, while not still in the family, is still in use today by another family, and apparently on occasion they open it up to visitors to show some of the original furniture that is still in the home. But back to our visit ... in addition to seeing Porto and Gaia, we visited Guimarães (Isa had to see a real castle, after all), Viana do Castelo, and finally Braga. Somehow, some of us managed to have ice cream every day ... Nick is a very bad influence on small children! That was our first visit to Viana do Castelo and sadly, it started raining when we arrived, so we didn't really get to see much of the town. We had lunch, hoping it would pass, but unfortunately it didn't, so we returned to Porto. The nice thing about visiting these towns is that each is only an hour or less from Porto. We will definitely return to Viana do Castelo. Otherwise, the weather was beautiful here for them and a welcome respite from the heat in Florida. Hopefully, they will return next year to see more of our beautiful country.
Speaking of heatwaves, it's been crazy to see so much of the U.S. in such extreme heat, and I hope this finds you avoiding the heat, however possible. Some of southern Europe has also been hit with extremes, however, here in Porto we've stayed in our typical summer highs in the 70's and on occasion a low 80. Fingers crossed that it stays that way. I read that it's due to something called the Azores Anticyclone which serves as a protective shield against the warm masses coming from Africa. The Lisbon area and the Algarve, however, have had some high temperatures and wildfires, but nothing too extreme. A few days ago I woke up to a foggy morning, which reminded me of my time in Pacific Grove, CA. It burned off quickly, however.
We're in that time of year when there are lots of festivals (Portugal has 150 festivals a year) and every night we hear and see fireworks, mostly from the beach area in Matosinhos. It's amazing that this takes place nightly, but it really does. And we're really not sure if something is being celebrated or whether it is just a thing here. I've tried googling it but find no information, so maybe they just celebrate the summer nightly?Recently I went on my first "girls night out" with friends Nicole and Chala. We attended a meet-up with women from the Absolutely Fabulous Women of Porto 35+ FB group at a local wine tasting shop. The organizer is a Belgian woman and three of us were originally from the U.S. but the rest were from Switzerland, South Africa, Turkey, Russia, and France. It was a fun evening and I look forward to more of these get-togethers.
National health doctors started striking last week, though strikes here are different. This strike lasted for three days, and subsequent ones will likely be the same. No one stays on strike until demands are met, rather they announce what days they will strike before returning to work. I think I've mentioned before that our train system is the same ... I get a weekly email letting me know which trains/destinations will be on strike and on what days.
Yesterday, we visited the National Museum Soares dos Reis here in Porto. One of the nice things about living here is that on Sundays entrance to all museums and monuments is free to residents. This art museum is housed in an 18th century palace and named for a famous Portuguese artist who was quite talented in sculpture, painting and drawing. Other Portuguese artists are also on display as is a wonderful collection of furniture, silver and jewelry. Because of Portugal's history of dictators, often certain types of art weren't allowed, so many artists went to Paris to study and eventually brought their works and talents back to their homeland later.
I will end with the news that recently an 82 ft. whale was seen off the Algarve coast. The photo of this whale was amazing!
Adeus, abraços e beijos,
MaryLou
