Greetings to all,
I hope you are enjoying your summer. It has been extremely hot here, with temperatures running from 10-15 degrees above normal almost daily. We actually hit 92 degrees earlier this week, forcing us to keep all our blinds down during the day while running our fans at high speed, which did help to keep our apartment quite oomfortable fortunately. The extremely hot temperatures are making it difficult for bombardiers (fire fighters) as they battle any number of fires blazes currently burning throughout the country. While I wish these summer temps were a one-off, I am afraid that global warming is here to stay.
On the plus side, our son Nicholas, daughter-in-law Gracie and granddaughters Isa (6) and Ava (3), spent July in Portugal and 20 of those days in Porto. During that time we:
- toured a sardine cannery in Matosinhos
- toured and enjoyed a port tasting at Caves Ferreira in Gaia
- took a day trip to Maia to attend an artisan fair
- took the bus to Aveiro and Costa Nova to: take a canal tour, see the beautiful ribbon adorned walking bridges, and check out the striped beach houses of Costa Nova
- took a short train trip to Espinho to visit their Monday market and the huge beach there as well
- took a bus trip to Amarante, a quaint town in the Vinho Verde grape region north of us, famous for their Phallic cakes called Bolos de São Gonçalo that I've written about previously
- took yet another Douro Valley tour, this time visiting three wineries and scoping out a possible train trip to the small town of Peso da Régua for some wine tasting in the future.
In addition to our little day trips, our granddaughters loved running through the hedge maze at Parque São Roque. One day we had lunch at Parque da Cidade do Porto, where Isa remembered the roosters that roam around the outdoor cafe from her last visit two years ago. On a visit to the Crystal Palace the girls enjoyed the playground and the peacocks that wander around there. We even took them to the playground inside our local mall, NorteShopping. I do love the fact the many of our local malls have playgrounds inside, and all the stores catering to kids clothing and toys are located alongside these playgrounds. Other days we met for a meal and then walked around town. Nicholas is a realtor in Miami, FL, so he was always checking out the listings and vacant lots with views 😊
One evening Nick made homemade pasta for dinner and Isa loved helping her Grampy. And on their last night in town, Nick barbecued and we invited our downstairs neighbors Daniel, Diana, and Vasco to join us so that the kids could meet. It was proof that kids can play well together without knowing how to speak each other's language. They were running around all evening and by the end of the night, they were hugging and the girls were screaming "Vasco!" It was quite a memorable July for us and so good to spend such quality time with family.
