Mary Lou's Portugal Journal #37

Greetings everyone,

I hope this finds you in good health at least. I'm guessing many are struggling with their mental health these days, especially those in the U.S. WTH!🤯

September was a busy month for us. First, we took a group tour to Ílhavo, a small town outside of Aveiro, which I've written about previously. Ílhavo is the home of the Vista Alegre porcelain company/factory, an internationally recognized producer of beautiful tableware, home decor, hotel ware and other porcelain pieces and glassware. The company was founded in 1824 by José Ferreira Pinto Basta (they like long names here) initially on a farm, however, as his success grew, he bought more land and built an entire town for his workers including housing (each home was rented for one day's worth of wages per month), schools, medical facilities, recreational facilities and even a volunteer fire department. They offered art classes, particularly drawing and painting, so that workers could develop their talents and take on positions of designing and painting pieces. We were allowed to quietly observe workers in one area, painting a variety of pieces by hand, which is how all pieces produced there are done (no photos were allowed in that room). Some workers still reside in homes there, while others now live off the compound and commute to work. There's a theatre with an amateur theater group made up of factory workers, who put on performances to this day. There is also a magnificent chapel (The Chapel of Our Lady of Penha de França) on the grounds that was built in the 17th century in the baroque style, as well as the original 17th century palace that was home to the founder's family for seven generations and which now serves as a luxury hotel for Vista Alegre visitors. The company celebrated their 200th anniversary last year and, they produce over 27,000 pieces of porcelain daily.

The original factory workers posing for a photo.

The original fire department and their "vehicle."

Inside the the 17th century chapel

The chapel ceiling (simply stunning)

September also found us spending an inordinate amount of time/days trying to satisfy AIMA, the immigration department here. As you know from my last email, we had our immigration appointments to renew our residency on August 18th, and at those appointments we had to prove, among other things, that we have income, that we have a place to live, our last 3 Portuguese bank statements, and numerous other documents. Over a month after those appointments, Nick received a rejection email on September 20th, essentially giving him 10 days to prove that he had income (they said he hadn't proved that, even though he had); had a place to live (he had provided at least 3 documents proving we own a home; and, proof that he wasn't taking advantage of drawing from the Portuguese social security system (he isn't). Back to AIMA he went, two times, to take more documents, trying to satisfy their requests. Three days later, I too, received a rejection letter saying that I hadn't proved that I had a place to live. Now, let me tell you, I had already given them a document from the Finanças department here (like the IRS) showing our address and showing that we are the owners; a document called an Atestado which is a certified document from the local parish where we live, verifying our address; and a copy of the deed to our apartment. But apparently, that didn't prove anything to them. AIMA wanted a different document that basically says the same thing but it comes from a Registry department, and it's a document that literally expires every 6 months. We received one when we purchased our apartment 2.5 years ago, but now we had to go the Registry department and pay to get a new document that, again, will expire in 6 months...what? ... why??? Sometimes I think that the government here works very hard to create more paperwork that essentially verifies the same thing as paperwork from other departments just to provide jobs or something. So now we continue to wait for our new residency cards (our current ones expired back in January ... but what's the rush).

Our darling neighbor Diana, invited us to her family's estate in the Douro Valley for their annual harvest party on September 27th. Every year they invite their family and friends for a day of harvesting the grapes and feasting on great food, and this year we were lucky enough to be invited; however, this year the grapes had to be harvested much earlier due to the extremely hot summer we had in Portugal. Lucky for us, they still had the party, so Nick and I took the train up to the little town of Ermida where Diana picked us up and drove us to her family farm/estate, which is absolutely lovely. There, we met her father, her aunts, and uncles, her brother and his wife, cousins, and too many others that I can't recall. The spread was incredible, and we spent the afternoon stuffing ourselves and drinking lots of wine. They set up a huge table on the patio under a trellis covered with vines; however, just as we sat down to eat, it started to rain, just enough that we had to pull the tables back under the porch covering. That, however, didn't stop the feast. Their home is quite large and even has a basement room where they make wine.

Wine making room including the stone structure on the left where they stomp the grapes.

I hope you are enjoying lovely weather right now. So far here, the weather as October begins has been amazing. Take care of yourselves and, for my friends who take to the streets in peaceful protest, please keep it up. I'm with you in spirit always.

Adeus, abraços e beijos,

MaryLou

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