Slipped on my Tux, a tad snug but still fits. Red leather bow tie, red socks, red silk square and gold cuff links and my highly polished dancing shoes round out the ensemble. With the most beautiful lady on the ship on my arm, we head down to cocktails at seven. A find supper of well chilled Champagne, oysters and caviar and a sip or two of Sancerre and we are ready for an evening of dancing to the big band sound in the ballroom. After two hours we think we are ready for a night cap and bed but enroute are lured to the sound of the disco and the fact that we can turn the clock back an hour, so we use our new found time dancing with the crowd. Life is sweet.
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Love Lost in Lisbon
I met her in the southern climes. She was just sitting there all by herself when I slowly passed her by, not really thinking of wanting any relationship. I hadn’t gotten very far when I had the urge to go and take another look. The sun was shining on her and she seemed so poised and comfortable, her cream colored silk ribbon wrapped around her like a goddess ascending from some fairy tale. It was obvious that we wanted each other and it was inevitable that she would come home with me. I didn’t expect the relationship to last ten years, but it did and it was wonderful. She was always with me when we traveled to warm and sunny countries but she always wanted to stay at home when I went into the cold.
We had recently had some issues - after ten years that is to be expected - but still we were inseparable, until we were in Lisbon. There we decided to take a break from one another and while I had suggested we part in Florida at the end of the trip so that I could go and visit periodically, she had other ideas - and as usual, she prevailed.
If you are ever in Lisbon and get into a taxi where a sweet driver with a five day beard is wearing a beautiful straw fedora with a silk cream colored ribbon around her crown, please say hello to her and let her know that I miss her.
Back in Lisbon
We arrived back in Lisbon at 12:55 today. Why is the time important? We had to have the car back by 13:00 or pay a huge fine, more than just one additional day of rental. We drove 300 km on really lovely highways with almost no traffic until reaching the outskirts of Lisbon. Average speed was just about 150 km per hour, or slightly less than 100 mph. I do enjoy a nice Beamer now and then!
Tavira is a lovely city and we enjoyed long walks along the salt flats as well as visits to the market filled with fish, meat, vegetables and all manner of local salt. However, we would never consider returning due to the fact that the Brits have taken over this little town as well as almost all the others in the Algarve. Local cultures can’t compete with hordes of Brits so they just adjust to keep the money flowing. All of the menus are in English; you can ask for one in Portuguese but they have to look for it. All of the conversations are in English; the Brits of course will not make any attempt to speak Portuguese so the locals all speak English. Whereas in other parts of Portugal restaurants will not open until 19:30, they are open at 17:30 in the Algarve. Since they have to cater to the lowest common denominator, the quality of the food and service can suffer. Our hotel, which we now know caters to Brits, had a breakfast that you could have had in Surrey, London, Manchester or Liverpool. Lukewarm eggs, lukewarm greasy bacon, baked beans, blood sausage, red sausage, fried bread and lukewarm broiled tomatoes, all served buffet style so you had to make sure you were not trampled as they brought out a new item!! We made the most of it but we were very happy to depart - and as I said, we’ll not go to that part of Portugal again.
We had asked the staff at our wonderful hotel in Évora the best way to drive to Tavira and they told us the scenic route was just lovely. What they really meant to say was that the scenic route was lovely for the passenger! Half of the journey was nothing more than switchbacks and slow speeds. They have an ingenious system for slowing down cars as they approach little villages, of which there are fourteen. They post the approaching speed which is 50 kph, and if you are going any faster there is a red light that comes on and stops you dead. Took me two villages to figure this out and after that it was easy, but slow. Cindy assures me that we went through really cool countryside with lakes and forests and all manner of picturesque vistas. I’ll take her word for it.
As you approach Lisbon you go over a really interesting bridge known as the 25 de April bridge, which looks a lot like the Golden Gate. As we crossed we could see our ship in the cruise port, which was very reassuring. We depart tomorrow and will have seven days at sea, one day in St. Thomas and two more sea days arriving in Ft. Lauderdale the day before Thanksgiving. We’ll rent a car and drive to North Port to have Thanksgiving with the kids and grandkids. On Black Friday, we’ll meet dear friends from our Germany days for lunch before heading back to the Tampa airport. So, we may be out of touch for awhile and we hope that all is well with everyone. Best wishes, Cindy and Wm
PS. In parts of Portugal, particularly Évora, restaurants offer small plates of starters that already are on the tables when you arrive for dinner. We found that to be very appealing and noticed that all the diners around us had the same offerings and were eating with gusto, so we did the same. I mentioned some of these in the previous blog, e.g., shredded rabbit in vinaigrette. At the time I had noticed that some of the starters were also listed on the menu with prices alongside, but thought nothing of it.
Until the next evening at a different restaurant in Évora - same drill, lovely offerings on the table already - but the waiter explained that these were optional and we would pay only for the ones we ate. Well didn’t we feel like rubes!!! This time we carefully pointed out the ones we wanted (including the best octopus salad ever) and dismissed the ones we didn’t - e.g., a kind of sausage that looked too much like pepperoni. The bill reflected our wise choices - and come to think of it the previous night’s bill had reflected the opposite!
We usually combine our names and refer to ourselves as the Embees, but at times like this we are definitely the Dumbees.
Links related to our latest adventures:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tavira
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/25_de_Abril_Bridge
Evora, Portugal
The Avis rental car office was right around the corner from our hotel, so on my morning walk I stopped by to let them know we would pick up the car at 2 pm. The ever so friendly staffer told me that they close for lunch from 1 to 3 pm so I needed to pick up the car before or after lunch. While mildly inconvenient, I really like the idea of business stopping for a few hours allowing everyone a long lunch break. After all of the formalities, we were in the car and ready to go, having been assured that the GPS was programmed in English. It was not and of course there was no one there at 1:05 to assist so we just took off, having again been reassured by hotel staff that you can’t miss the A2. But we did! As we were heading to the west coast toward Sintra we realized we were going the wrong way so found a way to turn around and finally got the Beamer heading east. Yes, Avis gave us a BMW.
It was an easy and quick trip filled with marvelous sights. We noticed huge nests in the electrical towers and thought perhaps they were eagles, but there were too many of them. We then caught sight of one stork and then more storks and realized that we were in the middle of a stork high rise neighborhood. It was really cool to see them in the wild. It seems they live and nest here in the spring and summer and most have already headed south to Africa for the winter. After the stork sighting we started to enter cork country, and there before our eyes were acres of cork trees, some having recently been stripped of their bark, leaving a 10-foot swath of the red growth of new bark around the tree about three feet up from the ground. I’ve taught all about cork during my wine lectures and have seen all the pictures, but to be right there in the middle of these trees was simply grand. I think they are the only trees where you can strip the bark (every nine years) without damaging the tree, thus one tree can produce tons of cork during its long life.
We approached Évora in the same manner that we left the one in Lisbon, incorrectly! Somehow we entered the walled city a tad early requiring us to basically circumnavigate the entire town before figuring out the proper way to get there. We finally pulled into the hotel courtyard and Cindy went in to find out where they wanted us to park. She came out with a young man who took our bags, passports, and car keys and proceeded to invite us into the sitting room where he brought me a cold wine wine from the region and an espresso for Cindy. He told us all about the hotel and the best restaurants in town, then showed us a map that they had designed highlighting the best walking routes to all the museums, monuments, churches and restaurants. It was an unexpected treat to have someone who is very proud of his city take the time to orient us so that we had our bearings right away. The only other time we remember getting such a warm and personal (and detailed) welcome was when we arrived at the tent hotel prior to our safari in S. Africa. In that case the orientation was more than necessary, while this time it was just plain fun.
After unpacking we hit most of the sights during a delightful three hour walk. This is an old city that had already been here for awhile before the Romans arrived in the first century AD. They left their mark, as they always did, and we saw the remains of a temple, baths, and roads, much of which seem to be the original cobbles. The Moors were here and they too left an architectural legacy that can still be seen in old churches and buildings. They also destroyed the wine production in the area for 800 years but did introduce some fun fruits and olives, so all is well.
We returned to our room - which is really an apartment with a living room, kitchen, modern bath and bedroom, all tastefully decorated - and proceeded to take a very short nap before dressing for dinner. Our host at the hotel had recommended a restaurant known for its roasted goat, which we adore. In keeping with the day’s theme of where the hell are we? we proceeded to get lost as we walked to the restaurant, which is very easy to do here, especially in the dark and especially when you have left your map in the hotel. The walk was supposed to take ten minutes but we were able to do it in thirty and it would have been even longer without the kindness of strangers who went out of their way to guide us.
We were richly rewarded with an exceptional meal. Upon entering the small restaurant we were taken to our table which already had been set up with bread, a bowl of fabulous olives, plates of shredded rabbit in a light vinegar sauce, sautéed mushrooms, a tomato and cucumber salad, and a small bowl of warm cheese with fresh oregano. We had a fantastic young waiter who helped us select wines and order our dinner. I was a bit unsure of which wines to order so we started with a half bottle of white that turned out to be delicious - luckily a 2nd half bottle was readily available, as was a half bottle of rich local red which complimented the
The portions are huge in Portugal, especially here in the countryside, so at the waiter’s recommendation we had two orders of calamari in garlic and herbs and then shared the goat. The fish was so tender that I thought it was tofu shaped like calamari, but my goodness was it flavorful. Then out came a large earthenware casserole with a perfectly roasted quarter of baby goat surrounded by browned potatoes and onions - and oh yes, garlic! We were in heaven. The service was so friendly and professional and it was fun to watch the other tables getting heaping helpings of whole fish, pork and clams, a specialty of the area, and enormous steaks. Everyone was in a great mood which added to the festive nature of the meal. We were stuffed but our waiter had other plans for us and brought out some stewed quince and walnuts (Moorish influence) and a fruit confit with two Ritz crackers. We both thought it was delicious and we guessed that the fruit might be crab apple or guava, but to our great amazement we were told that it was tomato! A fabulous way to end a fabulous dinner.
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Lisbon at last!
The flight from Washington to Casablanca went just fine. Royal Air Maroc uses a 787 and the business class was only half full so service was friendly, prompt and efficient, which everyone appreciated since the flight was scheduled to depart at 22:15 and was delayed by almost an hour. We had a quick glass or two of Champagne, a light meal and a cognac and slept for five of the seven hour flight.
Morocco was not as fun or interesting as it might have been, but we were only in the airport of course so we shouldn’t judge too harshly. Upon arrival it was the usual lines at security where we had to practically undress to get through. Once out of the restricted area we were able to access their Casablanca lounge, which was really disappointing. We found the last two seats and I was able to queue up for the coffee machine which actually made a decent espresso-like drink. Other than that, there was nothing but noise, clutter and odors, not the good kind either
Our connecting flight was an hour late on departure which gave us more than enough time to decide never to transit in Casablanca again. It is a very disordered airport, very hot and crowded and lacking character. Could have been anywhere in the world, not a hint of local color, not good for an airport. Suddenly we were acutely missing the airport in Bahrain, which was a joy to walk around (lots of local color) and had minimal security as well as a lovely lounge. Truly. We had endless lines while waiting to board in Casablanca since they couldn’t seem to get everyone organized. We finally departed and we were happy to say a long goodbye to Casablanca ... at least we’ll always have Paris.
We finally arrived in Lisbon after a bit of excitement on our arrival from Casablanca. I knew something was wrong when they parked the plane at a very remote location near the military zone. Instead of a small bus for the first class customers, we were all herded onto big buses and when they were all filled we were taken in a caravan to a part of the terminal, all the time under the watchful eye of the Policia! Then every single passenger from the full 737 was examined by two security people, checking our passports and air tickets. They found two people they held in a separate area while we were waiting, not sure how many they eventually found, but obviously they had been tipped off. Lesson learned: Never fly from a known terrorist country to Europe!!
We didn’t get to the Intercontinental Hotel until about 4pm. We were tired and it was cold and windy, but I took a one hour walk and Cindy rested for a bit until we descended on the new and beautiful club. Ice cold Champagne did much to get us refreshed but we were in no mood for wandering the city for dinner we were too tired). Given that there was a big military parade scheduled for Sunday with the roads already closed, making traffic a nightmare, we just stayed in the hotel and had a delightful dinner.
When we entered the dining room we were asked for our room number by the maître d’ - who was impressed since we had been upgraded to a bi-level suite on the top floor of the hotel. There was a table of five Chinese tourists seated right by the entry and they seemed to perk up when he said that our room was his favorite suite other than the big one where Obama and his daughter had stayed the week before. I mention this only because as I was returning from a trip to the loo, one of the Chinese women took my picture!! They must have thought we were big shots and wanted to make sure to capture the moment - and no doubt show their friends in case anyone recognized me. Sorry to disappoint!
We both slept the sleep of the innocent and awoke totally refreshed. Cindy hit the torture room (gym) and I walked in the huge park across the street which was filled with military equipment and personnel marshaling for the parade which was to start in two hours. The night before I had seen several aircraft practicing flyovers, which was cool. By the time we got our act together to get out of the hotel, the parade was almost over but we got to see everything (so many tanks, so many guns!) as they returned to the marshaling area near us.
We walked some more and at the high point of the hill we were able to see all of Lisbon laid out before us with the River Tejo at the end of the Main Street. We watched as dark clouds of rain began to rush in from the Atlantic, being glad that the rain did not ruin the annual parade. We were safe, dry and warm as the storm hit and had a cup of coffee and snacks in the lounge before heading up for a restorative nap.
Obrigado, Cindy and Wm
Friday, November 2, 2018
Last Flight to Casablanca
It has been a busy day packing for our trip to Casablanca. Not sure we’ll get out of Casablanca so we will pack light and hope for the best. We’ve been told there are two exit visas at Rick’s Café Américain but with little money we’ll have to rely on dumb luck and Cindy’s charm. If we get the visas, we’ll be able to get on the last flight to Lisbon and from there a ship to the United States. Must go, the last flight to Casablanca leaves in three hours. I hope there will be more later, until then just click below:
Extended version here for those that love Casablanca
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