Sunday ; Sunny and warm.
Two long walks. East in the morning, west in the afternoon. Sat on the beach boardwalk for awhile this morning and watched the many sailboats. Looked like it might be a sailing class. This afternoon we watched the sunset. No surfers today. Ocean seemed too calm.
Both of us spent quite a bit of time today working on dreams/plans for next winter’s travels.
Monday ; Cloudy, cool, windy. Weather alerts for high waves on the ocean. Big ships heading in to take refuge on the Arade River mouth.
Two walks. Stretching exercises. Replaced my cell phone’s expired SIM card with a new one. Went better than a month ago in Lisbon. Retrieved and reviewed last year’s investment fees reports. <frowning> Retrieved and reconciled Bank of America year end statement. <frowning> Should have drained Bank of America account last summer. Note to self ; do it soon after return to Canada. Did online check-in to next condo accommodations, arriving Wednesday. <frowning> Do they really need that much information from incoming clients ? ! ? Together we used Google Maps to research the neighbourhood surrounding the condo we selected to rent for a couple of months next winter in the Greek Islands. WOO-HOO … beach … supermarket … bakery ! The essentials of life ! HA HA HA !
MAMMA MIA … here we come !
Tuesday ; Grey overcast, chilly, very windy. AHHH … too bad. Poor weather for our last day in this lovely beach resort town.
On our early walk this morning to the east, to the old fort, we watched wind surfers. WOW … <blink, blink> ... they can really move fast ! On our late walk this afternoon to the west we watched surfers. WOW … <blink, blink> … big waves ! We bought a few items at Intermarché, just enough to get us through this evening and tomorrow morning. Joanne has become very adept at planning and managing our food supplies to ensure that we leave our rental accommodations with nothing left behind in the fridge or cupboards. We went to to the local A Merendeira to buy stuffed buns for lunch on the train tomorrow, but … <sputter> … they were closed. We had not noticed previously that the local outlet of this restaurant is open only until early afternoon. HMPH !
Wednesday ; Praia da Rocha to Cabanas de Tavira
Cloudy and chilly in Praia da Rocha, sunny and cool in Cabanas de Tavira.
We were up early this morning to be ready for our 10 AM meeting with the property manager who arrived to inspect our suite before our departure and refund our security deposit. We received our refund, returned the keys, and vacated the apartment around 10:15 AM.
We struggled with our luggage down to the condo lobby and waited at the front door for our pre-arranged taxi to arrive at 10:45 AM. It did not arrive ! No problem ! Not my first time at the rodeo ! I left Joanne in the lobby with the luggage, hustled two blocks over to the Jupiter Algarve Hotel’s taxi stand and jumped into the taxi at the front of the taxi line. And got lucky. A young, educated, worldly taxi driver who spoke excellent English. Later Joanne said … “yeah, probably another poli-sci graduate driving a cab”. HA HA HA !
I directed him to our condo, we loaded Joanne and the luggage, and off to Portimão’s train station we went. We arrived around 11:15 AM, with time to spare before our 11:30 AM train departure. The taxi driver even advised us which train track we needed to be at to catch the 11:30 train heading east. Obviously not his first time at the rodeo either.
I had our train tickets digitally loaded into our i-Phone’s “wallet”. Well done, Daniel. We each had two tickets ; train 5907 from Portimão to Faro, then train 5709 from Faro to Conceiçao. With only three minutes between train 5907’s arrival in Faro, and train 5709’s departure from Faro. I had anxiety about getting off 5907 with our luggage, determining which track 5709 was on, and getting onto 5709, all within three minutes.
The female conductor on train 5907 spoke some English. I asked if she could advise which track we would be on when we arrived in Faro, and which track 5709 would be on. I didn’t understand her explanation initially. Then … <light bulb> … OH ! Train 5907 would arrive in Faro at 12:57 PM, then three minutes later at 1 PM it would depart as train 5709, continuing east. We didn’t have to do anything ! Just sit on the train for three minutes. OH ! ! ! How convenient. HA HA HA HA HA !
We arrived at Conceiçao train station just before 2 PM. A few days ago I contacted the Cabanas de Tavira beach resort we were heading to today, and asked them to arrange to have a taxi meet us at the Conceiçao train station and drive us the short distance to the resort village of Cabanas de Tavira. Our taxi was waiting for us upon our arrival by train, driven by another young man who spoke excellent English. Another poli-sci grad ? HA HA HA. We were at Golden Clube Cabanas Resort by 2:15 PM.
We were efficiently checked in, and provided “orientation explanations” to this very large resort development. <blink blink> Very impressive ! We found our way to our studio apartment, and got settled into our suite. After unpacking / unloading etc., and resting briefly we set off to walk into town and find the Spar supermarket.
As before when arriving at a new destination, our initial purchase of groceries was quite large, getting “the basics” needed for a one month stay, and the for the first day’s meals. Two heavy, large, full grocery bags to haul back to the resort.
While Joanne put away groceries I connected my laptop and our i-Phone to the resort’s Wi-Fi, then fiddled with the TV until finally heading down to the front desk to get some assistance with the apparently non-functional TV remote control. The front desk staff changed the remote control’s batteries and I returned to our room. Still not working ! I phoned the front desk and they sent a maintenance person to our room. He fiddled with the TV and the remote until he got them to work, mumbling about “standby mode” when they have been inactive for awhile. <shrug> I think he’s wrong. I’m still having problems with the remote control. I think I’m going to have to ask for a replacement.
Before preparing supper we walked over to the resort’s “health centre” to check out the indoor swimming pool. WOO-HOO ! We’re looking forward to pool exercise sessions while we’re here. And using the hot tub, saunas, and maybe even the steam rooms. Somewhat strangely (to us) here in Portugal women AND men are required to wear “bathing caps” when in an indoor swimming pool. Both of us have not seen bathing caps used since we’ve been young children, and never have we seen men wearing them. <shrug> Oh, well … when in Rome …
Back in our room we did our evening stretching exercises then baked a grocery store pizza for supper. Great ! ANOTHER new oven to learn ! <sarcasm>
Thursday ; Golden Clube Cabanas Resort, Cabanas de Tavira, Algarve, Portugal
Sunny and mild. We slept late this morning, and had a slow start to our day. Around noon we went for our early walk, along the waterfront walkway, then into town to check out the two smaller grocery stores in town. It’s a small tourism and fishing village, with one medium size supermarket (Spar … yesterday) and two small “convenience” type grocery stores. Not surprisingly, we bought items at all three of them today. HA HA HA !
Late in the afternoon we went to the indoor swimming pool and did our first pool exercise session in a year, since Palm Springs, California. It was weird to wear a bathing cap. For both of us ! First time ever for me. First time for Joanne since she was a little girl. After pool exercises, we soaked in the hot tub, sweated in the steam room, and in the dry saunas. The steam rooms and saunas are in the gender specific changing rooms, so we each “went our own way”. Joanne declined to try the steam room because … there was already an elderly woman in the steam room. Naked ! <grimacing> <blinking> <shuddering> Europe has some “practices” that are a bit difficult for us North Americans to accept / adapt to. Like bathing caps for men. And naked old women in steam rooms ! We reluctantly wear bathing caps, but eschew sharing space with naked elderly strangers.
Friday ; Cloudy and mild.
There seemed to be an influx of “weekenders” to the resort this afternoon. Creating a busy swimming pool when we went to do our exercises around 5:30 PM. Yesterday we had the large swimming pool all to ourselves.
Our “early” walk this morning was through the resort’s large property to the river estuary (?), then along the estuary into town. As we wandered through town we stumbled across the municipal “mercado” (market), with produce vendors and a fishmonger. We selected some fresh vegetables and fruits, then I wandered over to take a look at the fishmonger’s wares. HMMM … nice looking fish. The female fishmonger explained, in fractured English, what the fish were, and how she would prepare them for customers for cooking. I was interested in Robalo (Sea Bass). She offered to descale and fillet the fish, and explained precisely how to marinate, coat, and cook the fish. SOLD !
On the way back to our resort to have lunch we stopped at a small grocery store and I bought a lemon, a small bag of seasoned bread crumbs, a small jar of olive oil, and … I was ready to make supper.
Around 5 PM we walked over to the resort’s Health & Fitness Centre for an aquatics exercise session. The swimming pool was a bit busy with “weekenders”, young and old. We exercised, each of us spent a short time in the steam rooms and saunas (no naked old women today … or so I was told), then returned to our suite, stopping on the way to offer some affection to one of the many semi-feral (?) cats that seem to live on the resort grounds. There are three that live near the exit door that we use from our building, one of whom comes running for attention and affection every time we leave the building, and one near the pool building who does the same. The one near the pool building has a severely burned ear, still in the early stages of healing. Poor baby ! I suspect the ear was burned by a hot exhaust pipe under a car. BRRRR … it’s winter … the cats are looking for warmth wherever they find it during the night, I guess.
I marinated, prepared, and cooked the Robalo / Sea Bass. Joanne prepared a garden salad and mushroom risotto. The meal was pretty darn good. Not only was it the first time I’ve cooked Sea Bass … it was the first time we’ve eaten Sea Bass. I think we’ll try another type of fresh fish from the mercado in a week or so.
Saturday ; Sunny and warm, a lovely “June 18” type of winter day in the Algarve. HA HA HA !
Our early walk today was to the Spar supermarket, then north on the highway leading into town until we reached the Pedras da Rainha Resort where there is a small laundromat. We wanted to check out how far to the resort, and what the laundromat was like. Joanne decided, after walking that far, and viewing the laundromat’s facilities, that she would prefer to hand wash our laundry for our four week stay here, as she did in Angra do Heroisma. We shopped in the resort’s attached grocery store, and she bought a small box of laundry detergent for hand washing of clothes, as well as a few other items.
She also decided that since today was Saturday, and many more guests checked in today, and the swimming pool was already fairly busy on Friday night that we should skip our aquatic exercise sessions on Fridays and Saturdays. <shrug> Okay. Far be it from me to disagree with my wife. <snicker>
Our late afternoon walk was wandering around the grounds of this huge resort, around the perimeter and the interior walkways surrounding the many buildings. <blink blink> Huge ! Accommodates thousands of people. Must be a zoo in the summertime !
DSK
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