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From Boot Faires to Skeletons: Portugal (The Algarve) The Southern coast of Portugal is a little piece of vagabondheaven. Those that seek the slower pace can find it on the Algarve...along withsand between your toes, fresh seafood and some tangy vino verde.
Things began in Tavira where we located a great internetconnection at the Pension Bela Fria, a cheap room, ($30. including breakfast)and a wonderful regional spring arts and crafts fair.
We loved 'the feel' of Tavira and would definitely return...we met afriendly 40-something, American woman living there who hails from Edmonds, WA. You think your commute is long? Get this...her husband works as an ER doctor in Edmonds andcommutes between Tavira and Edmonds! They've found a way to make it work. Inspiring.
Forthose interested in more info on Rogers rental apartments he can be reached at: rogerwords@clix.pt
From Roger's place we moved down the coast a few kilometers to Salema. We rented a small upstairs room from aretired fisherman and his wife with a view of the ocean and an outside deck. Itwas called "Casa Nascimento." Judy says our fisher- couple may have thought ofus as their "big catch" because we stayed there 3 weeks. We had a milliondollar view of the village and the busy waterfront. So inspiring that I used it as a backdrop for Jude'snew shoes...something like Dorothy's slippers. (see top of page). Wewere as happy in that little room by the sea as we've ever been on this trip.
Onemorning I awoke in someone else's body.I swear.I took an earlywalk on the beach and found myself nearly alone...not another footprint on thatvast stretch of virgin sand.
Neverhas "I left my heart in San Francisco", "You make me feel so Young", "Smile" or"New York state of mind" sounded so good crossing my lips...I felt absolutelyecstatic, full of life and energy... and ready for the lounge circuit. Istill don't know what got into me that day whether some cosmic channel gottuned to my frequency and piped in Tony, Frank and Chaplin...but it was purebliss.
Tell me if this sounds familiar.You'rein a new town, you're stomach's calling and you're looking for what intuition and a little luck tells you MIGHT be a decent meal. Whatgrabbed us in Monchique, was the audacious, quirky interior of the place...Looking in we saw a sea of tiny testimonial notes, business cards and snapshots covering the place like ivy... the cascade of paper covering the walls looked like a mutant hanging chain letter. We sat down.Not another customer in sight. We pondered in dread: why? After what seemed like an eternity, a tall, platinum woman, in heavy pancake makeup and bright RED lipstick arrived.
There were several menu choices but our host smiled and pointed out the house specialty: Piri-Piri chicken.Although we had no idea what 'Piri-Piri" was, we obediently nodded...somehow you didn't want to question her...she seemed intent on serving Piri-Piri which when it arrived was falling off the bone, slow-cooked inspices, tender and delicious. Wow!
My advice to first time visitors to the Algarve...Hit Tavira then drive westward toLagos. Anything west of Lagos is worth seeing...In general, most of what lies tothe east of Lagos along the water is reminiscent of the overbuilt mishmash ofSpain's Costa del Sol. Fah-gitaboudit. Our first venture at selling Jude's hats was a success: $220 in just 4 hours. We were lucky. Setting up next to a talented husband/wife singing duo Roger and Sheila (UK and South African) who play tin-pan alley songs from the early 1900's...Nice people, being "on the road"is their life...traveling in a Mercedes van playing music at festivals and fairsand building a house on the Algarve.Judy traded a hat for one of their CD's. Lovely people who drew quite a crowd to our fledgling enterprise.
Roger was not only a great source of local travel advice and my collaborator in hunting for treasures among 'junque'...he also played a leading role in what I like to call my own "Hardy boys" mystery.
We found him through the Internet. Having decided to move on from Sevilla we chose the Algarve as our next stop. .. I digress - we are semi-devoted irregular readers of the weather report found in the Internationa lHerald Tribune - a 'mas o menos' compass for our wanderings...except that insteadof going where the wind blows, we've been following the sun. Roger rents two units inhis refurbished Farm House.I was drawn to the names of his cottages "Picasso" and"Matisse". He is a fine artist, an avid collector, an accomplished journalist, a Portsmouth Football fan, retired professional wrestler, and our new friend.
We spent many eveningsreading out loud from Bill Bryson's "Lost Continent, Travels in Small Town America" Kevin does great voices - the sea crashing in the background providessound effects along with an occasional barking dog we cooked wonderful meals in our little apt. I write, draw, read, knit and send hats from the mail truck. Fairy tale stuff!
Lagos (pronounced La gosh)was our service town, it was fun to go there to check e-mail. I LOVED Portugal; the colors, fabrics and textures inspired new hat designs. We left Salema on April 29thand headed north towards Sintra and Lisbon. The freeway was brand new. We drove North to Lisbon through endless fields of Cork trees and vineyards... LISBON In Sintra, 30 mins west of Lisbon, we contacted friends of Peter Cameron; Mila and Sergio. Mila Rua, a warm, sweet and gentle doctor (general practitioner) is an old girlfriend of Peter Cameron and very close friend of Ines Barrahona. (Peter and Ines are dear friends of Kev's single days living in Europe before he and I knew each other.) Sergio Pombo (Mila's partner and one of Portugal's premier painters) and Mila invited us to stay with them in Parede, acoastal city not far from Lisboa. Their home which they share with 5 dogs gives new meaning to the term 'faded splendor' is a huge old mansion.
We were treated as family and had the pleasure of attending a party out in the country to celebrate the birthday of Sergio's sister Olga, a professor of Philosophy at the Universityand highly respected author. The fiesta was peopled with a wide variety ofacademics, artists, philosophers and musicians! Olga's partner is a professor of cognitive psychology and was a student of Piaget (conservation theory) and Kohlberg (moral development theory). It was a fabulous day and fantastic feast too. We were indeed fortunate to meet and get to know so manywonderful people.
Lisboa is a lot like San Francisco. We couldn't get over the similarities...Their suspension bridge was built by the same builder that made San Frans' Golden Gate, Lisbon's a coastal city which lies on a major ocean, has several steep hills and cable cars. What a city, but no 49ers?
After our too brief stay in Lisbon we drove through the heart of Spain headed east: Chinchon, Toledo, Madrid and Segovia...In Madrid, we spent the whole day at the Prado, an amazing museum. We were visiting at the same time as a Vermeer and Dutch school exhibit! Add to that the Titians (Tiziano), Canos, Velasquez, and Goyas I was in seventh heaven. Some personal favorites were Goya's"Black Paintings" and his "Naked Maja".
We arrived in Segovia, Spain on May 7th and needed the rest. The universe replied in kind with a snow day! We had been fortunate to book a cozy room at one of the Spanish Paradors and so we looked out over a snow-covered city from the warmth of our Hotel. It was magnificent and rare.
On the road traveling from Segovia to San Sebastian the Spanish sky looked like the sea turned upsidedown. From San Sebastian we drove to Andy and Shmulik's in Toulouse, France...on our way to return the car in Paris. It was wonderful to rest and recharge our batteries at a favorite base camp. We arrived at Andy and Shmulik's with gifts Shmulik's favorite unfiltered green olive oil direct from the co-op and some 'dulce'Spanish sherry.
Returned our rental car in Paris and spent a few days at the Blackman's. Antonia is an absolutely perfect hat model, and I was honored to officially be asked to be her godmother. Kev and John had some'guy' time. Victoria gave me a book she had written about Russia it's ahistory lesson and romance all rolled into one and quite good. We bought the last 2 tickets for a concert at Theatre Champs Elysee given by Swedish Jazz phenomLisa Ekdahl. We were introduced toher bosa nova styled music in a small café we frequented in Arles. Paris and art go well together. Two retrospectives we thoroughly enjoyed were: Nicholas De Stahl at the Pompidou and a personalfavorite Marc Chagall! Some impressions ... my life reads as if it's been scripted from the pages of Readers Digest - articulating the dense compacting of time is difficult...recalling past events much hashappened without planning comfortable adventuring. Giving away our quilt (to Andy who said I could have it back if I ever wanted) was a personal victory. I'm enjoying our gypsy meanderings. Letting go of outcomes requires faith.
Kev: We said goodbye to our new friends Mila and Sergio and drove through Spain before resting up again dayslater in Toulouse... On the northeastern Spanish coast lies San Sebastian ...a Basque city known for it's natural beauty and classic tapas bars. We did some sights, obviously popular with otherout-of-towners and got down to some serious tapas, said to be Spain's best. We sampled our share...beautifully presented.
Just down the road, wetook in the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum, another Frank Gehry design...No photographsallowed inside so I choose to take some shots of the bathroom ...nothing provocative, art is everywhere.
En route from Toulouse to Paris, we made a short but sweet visit with some friends from England who haverecently bought a home in the French countryside. Rod and Louise McGregor and her parents greeted us and we shared stories from the road. What a house and a country setting like an old oil painting. Continuing north, we arrived in Paris at John and Victoria's... near midnight. PARIS
John was just returning from working for NBC News in Iraq (2 months) as a soundman, lots of stories and shop talk.I don't deny wishing that I had been there with John, but I'm committed to the wandering gypsy life for the moment. Spent a warm evening with a revitalized and sassy Peter Cameron who came from Guernsey for the weekend to visit with Ines and Bruno...We looked at some of Bruno's new series of photographs of the Seine and then caught a plane to Marrakesh. MOROCCO
The colors, smells and textures of Morocco seduce you. Your senses are awakened, you feel transported...
Hotel Gallia, our home in Marrakesh, was a soothing palm and tiled oasis from the formidable North African heat. Judy needed sometime to acclimate. Even the hotel turtles were a little slow.
Out on the coast, Essaouria was a laid-back fortress town, once the set for Orson Welles'"Othello" (1949) and later a hippie haven for Jimi Hendrix and Cat Stevens in the 60's... its seaside manner is complimented with fresh grilled market fish (while you wait), veiled henna artists and strolling troubadours.
The quiet and calm I felt among the immense sea of soft dunes was remarkable. This fantasy come true was fueled by afavorite film, "Lawrence of Arabia"... ever since I have always wanted to go into the desert by camel. I'd go back in a minute. I thoroughly lived in the moment and can't wait to go back... perhaps with a group of friends and spend at least a week there...humming the theme song to 'Lawrence' while pinching myself.
Our guide en-route to the desert told us about a Berber expression, "The more languages one speaks, the more eyes you have to see the world." Speaking of eyes, they say a picture is worth a thousand words...may these speak to yours.
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The days seem to fly by in a blur. I can't believe how
fast it's all rolling by. We're just getting into the flow of our trip
(after 3 months travel).We've just begun to allow each other our own time
to just do the things we enjoy... Judy: knit, write, read and walk the
beach. Kevin: side trips exploring the surrounding villages and taking
photos, going to flea markets with Roger.
You're thinking maybe along the lines of finding a Rembrandt
in a junk heap?...well, some might consider this even more rarified... I
discovered a Roman girl, over 2,000 years old. perched high on the side of
a Portuguese cliff. Her skeleton had been exposed by the elements and was
a good storm away from falling intothe ocean. She was lying about 100'
above the sea when I first saw her. Just bones and a skull lying
horizontally .
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