Trying out Ghost

Might move my blog over here http://dontbethe.ghost.io/. Writing a few posts over there to get a feel for it. Liking it a lot so far. Much slimmer than WordPress.

Departures

Mum’s alarm went off at 5am. After a little extra sleep I got up and dressed and we set off for Faro airport. On our way I was a little worried we’d not left enough time but we got there for six with no problems. I waved Mum off for her flight back to Prestwick.

On leaving the airport I followed the signs for Praia de Faro and within five minutes I’d arrived at the car park right by the sea. It was empty! I’d spent most of dinner last night googling to see if it was easy to park up near Faro airport but I didn’t find anything useful. It turns out we could have had a free sea view, with adjoining toilets and shower, all five minutes from the airport.

Pre-dawn at Praia de Faro

With almost two hours to wait until Olhão reception opened I decided to have a snooze.

Forty winks at the beach

Around seven thirty I awoke to a still empty car park. A man walking his dog wished me ‘bonjour!’ as he passed by.

Only me

I went back to Olhão, paid my bill, grabbed some breakfast and set off. The N2 is marked on the map as a scenic road. I had plenty of time so decided to use it to go part of the way north. I found it ok but then managed to lose my way almost immediately. In the end, all I succeeded in doing was covering the ten minutes from Olhão to Faro in about an hour. Not a great start. I didn’t want to risk not getting back to Lisbon in time for the two o’ clock drop-off so I decided to join the motorway and speed back up to Lisbon.

It’s quite a nice run up to Almôdovar, then a little boring and flat after that. As it’s a toll road there was hardly anyone on it and I cruised along at 130-150km/h.

Sixth gear all the way

Getting in to Lisbon was a bit of a drama. My Halifax card is a bit knackered and the automatic toll couldn’t read it. After several attempts I got out of the van, went round the back and got my Santander card from the safe. That worked!

Not much further on, at the toll for the Vasco de Gama bridge, they only take cash. To hand I didn’t have enough. With a queue of cars behind me the cashier printed me a credit note that I then had to pay at the adjoining office. So much for having plenty of time.

Vasco da Gama Bridge

Once over the bridge and into Lisbon I found the E2. Things were supposed to be easy from then on but I got totally lost trying to find the campervan place. I asked a few folk for directions but got nowhere. I knew I was only five minutes or so away but I couldn’t get to where I needed to be. Eventually I asked a chap who turned out to be a bus driver. He asked me to follow his bus and I tailed him for a few minutes then, at some traffic lights, he jumped out, ran round and told me to take the next two rights. I shook his hand and thanked him.

Having taken those two rights I finally recognised where I was! I parked up and started to sort out my things. Luís turned up once I was almost done. He checked over the van and I handed back the keys.

Feeling completely knackered I got the metro to Oriente and got the next IC back to Porto.

We’d covered around 1000km and I’d put 115€ in at the petrol station: 11 cents/km. A good number to know if I realise my plan of setting off in a van for an extended period.

‘In between’ day

Wednesday had been gloriously sunny and warm but I awoke to rain on Thursday morning. This turned out to be an ‘in between’ day where you don’t do a lot other than rest from the previous day and prepare for the next.

We took my sole fork down to my local homeware shop so I could buy a replacement for the lost one. We then went on to Francisco’s place. I was hoping to pick up his drill and some rawl plugs so I could properly install my new ceiling lamp. However his brother-in-law hadn’t returned it to him. While in the shop it started to bucket down with rain. We waited in vain for it to ease, in the end deciding just to go for it. We were both soaked during the short walk back to my flat.

I showered, blogged, did my homework and headed down to Aliadus cafe for another Portuguese lesson.

On returning home I found Mum sat on the window sill trying to get warm with the bit of sun that was shining in. A short turnaround and I took Mum down to my local barber’s. I really do enjoy my half-hour of man pampering; a head shave, shampoo and beard trim. My only complaint is that each and every time they lop too much off my beard! I’ve said “só, aparar um poucino” (only trim a little) but I’m not getting the message across. Next time…

Compared to the previous day it was pretty cold in Porto and I really felt it with my bald head. We went to a place famous for its eclairs and ordered a couple of clássicos.

Nom

Not satisfied with just an eclair, I got a bola de Berlim too.

Down in one?

Afterwards we got some essentials in Pingo Doce, dropped the shopping at home then caught the metro out to Matosinhos to go to an excellent pizza restaurant. I think their Del Generale might just be the best pizza I’ve ever had. Gabriela kindly gave us a lift home and came up to the flat for a cup of tea. When she left I showed Mum some flats on the web then we retired for the evening with my alarm set for 7am.

Fire water

After failure at the fork shop and success at the sock shop we walked towards Clérigos making a quick pit stop at Lello e Irmão on the way. No picture as you aren’t allowed to take any!

The chap at the desk told me there are 190 steps to the top of the tower.

Twenty steps up

With the thick stone walls and various apertures the inside of the tower was nice and cool for the climb.

A wee rest

Most people need to duck to fit under this arch!

As you climb higher the steps become narrower and you have to squeeze past people who are coming down. It’s worth it to get to the top. The views are spectacular.

Made it

Rio Douro from the top of Clérigos

Once back down I don’t think Mum could quite believe she’d climbed all the way up.

Been there, done that

From Clérigos we walked down past São Bento train station, up past the cathedral and on to the top of Ponte Luis I.

Looking back to Porto

This row of houses by the bridge is quite typical of Porto; a couple of beautifully restored houses next to some that are crumbling. There is a lot of construction and renovation going on here which I think is a good sign. I don’t like the term but I think Porto is ‘up and coming’.

It’s a lovely view back and down towards Ribeira. The houses look a little toy-town to me and, of course, this photo should be done with a tilt-shift effect.

Toy town

Once over the bridge a narrow cobbled street takes you down to the riverside.

Down to the river

At the bottom of the street we were met by a chap selling tickets for the ‘Six Bridges Tour’. There are tons of these offers. A trip in a rabelo, a tour of a wine cave and maybe some fado at the end. My accent must be improving because all I said was “boa tarde”, while he was giving his sales pitch to Mum in English, and he switched to Portuguese. I got most of it I think and ended the conversation with “vamos almoçar”, “we’re going to lunch”.

I’ve been reading around the web on how to take better photographs. The biggest win is to not centre your subject. I think this selfie is a little different.

Selfie

We had lunch at the Ar do Rio. The food is ok but the location is the real draw.

Lunch by the Douro

We retired to the deck chairs for coffee.

Meia de leite

We walked on along by the riverside bars until we reached where they still make the traditional rabelo boats that bring the port wine down the river.

Rabelo construction

We ducked in to the Ferreira wine house for a quick look.

Wine tasting

You can typically have a look around for free then pay five or six euros for a tour and some tasting. We didn’t this time but I can’t let Mum leave without trying what Porto is most famous for!

There is a lovely walkway along the river that takes you to a village (and beyond) by the mouth of the Douro.

12 miles to Espinho

I’d told mother it was an hour’s walk to the village so we’d catch a bus or taxi or out there. However, I wanted to show her some flats I’d looked at so we wandered along for a bit.

Arrabida in the distance

The Arrabida bridge looks a way away and the village is a bit on from the other side.

It turns out it’s not so easy to get a bus or taxi along Rua da Praia. We arrived at Arrabida bridge.

(Almost) under Arrabida

Plan B was to call a taxi but, by the time we walked under the bridge and on a little bit, I could see we were pretty much at Afurada!

Afurada

We stopped at a little bar for a well earned rest.

And relax

It was a lovely spot, sheltered from the cool sea breeze and with the sun streaming down. Time for some liquid refreshment!

Um fino

It turned out to be the perfect spot. When I asked for the drinks the barman had not heard me say ‘vodka’. I took Mum’s glass back in and enquired, “não tem vodka?”. Apparently they don’t normally have it. After a few moments he’d procured a bottle and poured some into Mum’s glass. I say ‘some’; pretty sure it was at least a double. No measures here! Product of Portugal too.

You never know where you are going to enjoy yourself most on holiday. This little bar turned out to be a real highlight. Needless to say the vodka got topped up and some more beers came my way. I even got Mum speaking the lingo, “queria mais gelo”.

Muito gelo

Mum likes her ice!

Our barman brought us out some beer snacks: whelks, fresh from the sea.

Búzios

I couldn’t believe Mum tried one! I was hesitant. Sea ‘things’ often don’t look appealing but these were quite nice. Mostly just tasting salty.

Our friendly barman,

Mum’s new friend

had poured some others a brownish spirit from a label-less bottle. I suspected it was aguardente (fire water), the fiery spirit they use to fortify the wine to make Port. I asked what it was and he duly brought a couple of glasses for us to sample.

Aguardente

Eventually, both a little alegre, we settled the bill and walked on through the village to where the local women do their washing. The women were hard at work washing sheets and rugs which are then hung out to dry in the sun.

Hanging out the washing

We walked on past the plush marina with its starched white buildings and on the esplanade by the beach.

By the sea

Marking the date

We turned around and, with the sun warming our backs, sauntered back to the marina.

The ‘braille’ walls of the marina

Whereupon we took some liquid refreshment to enjoy the evening sun.

Super Bock: refreshing the parts other beers can’t reach

Behind us there was sat a chap with a lovely big Alsatian dog. The kind that thinks it’s still a puppy. Unfortunately I only managed to take a snap when the dog and his owner were off in the distance.

Walking the dog

A couple of minutes walk from the marina is the little boat that, for one euro, takes you back across to the Porto side of the Douro. We caught that as the sun was getting low in the sky.

Ferry ‘cross the Douro

 

After a little wait we caught the 500 bus to Lóios and walked the ten minutes or so back to my flat.

Mum changed quickly and we headed out for dinner at the churrasqueira on Rua do Rosario. The grilled chicken with hot sauce and oily, garlicky potatoes were delicious as usual.

Afterwards we retired to the flat for a nightcap and then bed.

 

A minha mãe chegou ontem

The “little things” have definitely been worth it. My flat is no longer bare and it’s  now a rather nice place to be.

Yesterday was spent with the final preparations for the maternal visit. Annabella, my cleaner, came round. I cleaned the gutters and washed the bedding and the new towels. Mother likes her bedding ironed. I find life is too short for that but I thought I’d make the effort this time.

I think it took me around two hours to iron the pillow cases, sheet and quilt cover. And still there were some creases! I set the freshly laundered towels and Easter Bunny a-top.

At nine o’ clock I took the metro out to the airport to meet Mum. After getting back we had a late supper of spiced carrot and lentil soup, nattered for a bit and then retired for the evening.

This morning, after a breakfast of French toast, we headed out for my guided tour of Porto.

First we went down Rua das Bragas. There is an antique shop that has a nice old map of Portugal in the window that might look good on my wall. Outside they have a little tricycle and racing car. We went inside for a look. Mum was rather taken with a toy Aga made from cast iron with a little set of copper pots.

Next I nipped into the finanças to pay for my NIF. Then on down to Rua do Cedofeita.

Cedofeita is one of the main shopping streets in downtown Porto. We wandered down and popped in to some of the shops. At the end of the road you get to Praça Carlos Alberto. A rather nice square that I usually go down to during a working day for a coffee.

From there we went to Torre dos Clérigos. One of the most famous landmarks of Porto.

I’ve not yet climbed the two hundred-odd steps for the view from the top. A manhã, talvez!

By the tower there is a nice garden on the roof of a shopping complex. It’d be a lovely spot to picnic or to bring my laptop down and work for the day.

We bypassed another famous landmark, the Lello e Irmão bookshop. It was part of JK Rowling’s inspiration for Harry Potter and it’s always packed. It is beautiful inside so we’ll return sometime when it will hopefully be a bit quieter.

We walked back up the hill to where Francisco, my landlord, has his shop. He was stood outside and we stopped to have a chat. With thoughts turning to lunch we wandered on to Rua Picaria and to Ernesto’s, a traditional Portuguese place recommended by Gabriela. It doesn’t look much from the outside but, inside, it’s rather nice.

Mum had her first taste of traditional Portuguese food, bacalhau (cod fish). I had hotdog, egg and chips washed down with some vinho branco da casa.

It turns out the wine was not such a good idea. I had a language lesson at two thirty. I’d not done my homework and attempted to do it quickly before Lara turned up. Nothing made sense! I ordered a meia de leite to try to clear my head a bit.

Mum sat out in the sun while I had my lesson. The booze wore off, the coffee did the trick and I finally managed to speak some reasonable Portuguese.

Rua das Flores is one of the prettiest streets in Porto and a lovely way to walk down towards the river.

Just before you hit the river is a shop called Hats and Cats. Mum tried on a bunch of summer hats. All very high quality but none seemed to be quite right. I tried on a couple and liked both. The problem with hats is that it marks you out straight away as a tourist. That said, I might just return and buy the Indiana Jones-esque hat and wear it on our road trip through the South.

The Sun was getting lower in the sky but the row of cafes in Ribeira were still catching the rays. We sat down for a rest and some refreshment.

It’s a thoroughly lovely spot to sit and we remained there until the Sun dropped behind some buildings. When I went to pay the bill the guys seemed quite impressed with my Portuguese given I’d only been here ten months. That gave me a little boost. Just maybe I’ll actually review those notes I take in my lessons…

We wandered past the Ponte Luiz bridge to the funicular to take us back up into town.

Tomorrow we’ll take a walk over the bridge. The views up and down river are spectacular. After quite a long day out we returned to my flat by way of the new Russian supermarket to pick up some vodka for Mum and a few beers for myself.

We finished the last of the soup, I reclined to write this and now we’re about to have a wee drink and some nibbles.

(This is actually a lot more comfortable than it looks. If I had my lapdawg it would be perfect!)

Little things

Since my broadband got installed it’s been annoying me that the cable box, router and telephone were all sitting on their cardboard boxes. Finally, yesterday, I got rid of the packaging, moved a bookshelf and set the stuff on top. I instantly felt better! Next I moved the gas heater on to the landing. No need for it now until about mid-November. Straight away the lounge looked much tidier.

I bought some towels yesterday as Mum is visiting next week. For the last six months I’ve been using the one beach towel I bought the first time I went to Foz. Like moving the router and heater the effect was instant! The bathroom looked much more homely with nice red towels. I also bought a couple of tea towels. When I moved in there were some left behind. They were old, tatty and stained but I used them anyway. The new ones cost 1.30 each! I’ll use the old ones as rags.

Back in the lounge something that really annoyed me was that, whether working at the table or lounging on the sofa , there was always a power cord lying across the middle of the room so I could plug in my laptop. I started to wonder if I could rearrange things a bit. Gabriela was here earlier and I asked her opinion solving the power cord issue. That got her thinking on the state of things in general in the place. First she suggested moving the sofa to the opposite wall. What a difference! The view out of the window from that side is to the Town Hall and the mountains in the distance. Much nicer than the view to some horrible flats from the other side. She then moved the dining table and chairs over a bit so they’re not in the way when you enter the lounge. Again, an immediate improvement. Opposite the sofa is a recess. Two bookshelves that were in odd place are now there looking much more at home and ready for a plant or two to be placed on top.

Looking out of the window she noticed the window boxes. They were just full of tatty grass. She suggested I clean them up, get some fresh earth and stick some plants and herbs in there. I’ve emptied them and stuck the old earth in the bin. Tomorrow I’ll clean them up and tidy up the guttering.

Next we talked about a rug and some lighting. The floor in front on the sofa is quite scuffed so a rug would cover that nicely and add a bit of colour to the room. The ceiling light has a pathetic 40W bulb that barely lights anything and a horrible lampshade. I’m going to replace the bulb and get a nice big bright lampshade.

All these little things I could have sorted a while back but just didn’t. And each one has made such a difference (or will do when done).

My timing might seem a bit odd given I want to move but even if I move in a couple of weeks it’ll have been that much nicer a place to have been for that time. Plus, I can take my stuff with me.

Years ago I shared a house with Gus. I remember Carolin being appalled that we were too tight to spend a bit of cash at Ikea to make the place nice. I thought I’d learned from that experience. These little things matter! Even if it’s just a rented place. Even if it’s just for a few months.

Bank transfer win

That’s more like it. In the time I’ve been out for a walk funds have gone from Santander to TransferWise and TransferWise reckon Audilar will have their euros on Monday morning. Hopefully my new toy gets dispatched shortly after.

Pixmania fail

Pixmania cancelled my projector order! Irregularities with the information I sent them. So much for my NIF being the key to all doors. I phoned the customer service number they gave but kept getting cut off. It’s a holiday here too so maybe no one’s home. Chances of watching the next Thrones at 100″ are diminishing.

In a thoroughly bad mood (the day had started so well) I googled again and found a place in Lisbon that takes payment via bank transfer and will deliver to Porto. No sodding NIF required! I’ve placed an order with them, set up a TransferWise transfer and will hopefully have my new toy sometime next week.

Things are just that little bit trickier here. No ‘order by 2pm, receive the following day’ kind of thing. I’m not sure about ordering outside Portugal. Plenty of folks on Amazon and Ebay etc. ship here but I can imagine some bother with customs. Who knows. It’s probably not that hard to figure out. Hopefully future purchases will be a little smoother.

Beautiful weather

If the economy has gone to shit you might as well go to the beach and play cards with your buddies.

The above was taken at the Castelo do Queijo (Castle of Cheese!) on my way to the Edifício Transparente below.

That’s the kind of view I’d like to have from my new flat. I’ve been looking for a place in Foz, close to the sea with a nice view and a terrace, but not found the ideal pad yet. My current place does have a sea view but it’s terribly far away.

Semi official

I returned to the finanças office today to see if I could get my NIF (fiscal number). Two weeks ago I was turned away by someone telling me I needed proof of address from the Town Hall (at least that’s what I thought they said). Francisco told me that you can get a NIF as a non-resident so I wanted to try again.

The same clerk as before was manning the desk. “Queria um NIF, mas não residente”, I said. Last time I said “quero” which is a bit impolite. This time she didn’t turn me away and we went through the very simple process. A few questions and instructions in Portuguese and I was done!

Now I can sign contracts, buy property and buy things online. To celebrate I bought a projector. For two years I’ve been watching stuff on my MacBook. Enough! I want to watch Game of Thrones at 100″ diagonal. My purchase on pixmania.pt seemed to go through ok but I got an email demanding a copy of a utility bill and my identity card. I replied with a photo of my passport, explaining I don’t have an ID card, and a photo of a bill (in my landlady’s name). Hopefully that’ll be enough. It’s all a little trickier than it would be in the UK. Next week I’ll be watching episode three on my big screen! Now I just need a kick ass, yet portable, sound system…

Finally got round to getting my Optimus Kangaru 4G dongle. It’s great. speedtest.net showed 50Mps download, more than three times the speed of my DSL broadband in Stranraer! Now I have the NIF I can get a rolling contract with unlimited data rather than paying 40€ for 2G pay-as-you-go (pré-pago) I’ve already trialled working in the park for a few hours. My tan is coming along nicely!