Lisbon Feb 5-10

 Feb 10 2024

Our return to Lisbon was easy except for the 0630 wake up which was required for the early morning flight.  PDL is an easy airport, surprisingly busy for early morning until you realize that there are fourteen flights between 7 am and 9 am, most to other islands of the Azores and three to mainland Portugal. Check-in and security were a breeze and we settled in for a coffee and a Pastel de Nata for our one-hour wait. The gates are all a matter of walking to the plane - not jet bridges - reminding us of early days in Germany and Washington State, all very civil and well organized.  The flight lasted two hours and we landed on time and were at the apartment/hotel we booked by 13:30. Surprisingly our apartment was ready which was a thrill. Not so thrilling was the fact that it was on the third floor (US 4th floor) when we had been promised one on the first floor. They have no elevator!!  We settled in, went for a walk, had a quick light lunch and a lovely nap before meeting our friends for a pre-dinner walk around Lisbon.

We have never stayed in this part of Lisbon before and therefore we really don’t know much about restaurants so we decided to just amble down the pedestrian street that is lined with restaurants in order to read menus. Impossible!! Each restaurant has a shill outside who approaches you with a picture menu asking do you want to sit inside or outside, or special price for you, or come sit for a drink and read our menu. Impossible to look at any menu without being assaulted so we decided not to eat on this street. We finally found a place where no one came out trying to lure the farm boys in and ate a very decent meal there. Since then we have found other places that have magnificent food, wines and service so we are happy campers.

The weather was nice on Wednesday and since our friends had never been to Lisbon, we climbed onto the Hop On/ Hop Off bus for a tour with headphones. We have found these buses to be an invaluable aid to understanding a city and its history and culture. We have always been happy with the ‘guided’ tours and so we were a tad dismayed at how this one played out. It started well and we had great seats and the narration was very good; it filled in lots of blanks that we had and we have been here often. The trouble started when the bus came to the stop for the Museum of Coaches. We got up and the bus lurched forward and started on to the next stop. Cindy went down the narrow stairs and berated the driver for not stopping. He said if you wanted to stop you should have pressed the Stop button. NO such button existed where we sat. We did notice them on the next several busses but not on ours. We got off at the next stop and walked back to the Museum which, as the link shows, remarkable.

After our visit to the museum we walked out to the bus stop and one bus had just departed so we had been told that the next one would be in twenty five minutes. We poked around a bit in the gardens and after about fifteen minutes we noticed that another bus had come and gone; it seems they do not stop there! As we walked to the next stop we passed one of the famous bakeries that make the Pastel da Nata so I popped in to buy two of them for our friends to try. I am now officially an enabler! These things are habit forming and they are the first things we buy as soon as we arrive in Portugal(while still in the airport before retrieving our luggage).   We finally got on the bus for the fifteen minute ride to the Tower of Belem where we spent a most enjoyable time walking along the river and enjoying the day. On the ride back to our starting point there was almost no narration despite passing lovely monuments, castles and gardens. We will not use this bus company again, preferring to stick with the Big Red Bus.

Yesterday we visited the National Tile Museum. It was pouring rain so we were pleased to take an Uber to this museum and spend two dry hours just wandering around, most interesting.  Cindy had the great idea to go to another museum and for once I agreed. This one was the Museum of Beer!  I’ve never enjoyed a museum more than this one, although to be perfectly clear, we failed to go to the Museum part, instead favoring the food and beverage part for two hours. Other than the beer, which was great, they feature Pastel do Bacalhau a national dish that is well made and presented here.  Walked home in a pouring rain storm and settled in for a long nap.

Portugese food is lovely, but after a certain time cod, potatoes and pumpkin just don’t cut it. We found a lovely restaurant that had the best eggplant dish ever as well as special twists on seafood that gave us a welcome diversion from traditional foods.  The next night we decided on Italian and found an Italian restaurant in Portugal run by Napalese!  How is that for international? Magnificent food, service, and wines - and ever so inexpensive. A lovely way to end our time in Portugal.  Now it is on to France for a four day fix of foie gras, Kirs and Champagne.

France Feb 10-14 Part One

 France Feb. 10-14 2024

Things did not get off to a good start on this leg of the trip. Our flight was late in departing Lisbon thus landing in the dark at Marseille. We dashed off the plane only to find out that we had to clear customs and immigration!!  This shouldn’t happen on flights within the EU but there is a provision that allows it if there is a perceived threat. Thus we stood in lines with passengers that had just arrived from Casablanca, Tunis, Rabat and Cairo. Tediously long waits. Finally out with luggage and a connection to WiFi so I could get an Uber. Told it would be fifteen minutes so we waited and after twelve minutes got a message that no Ubers were available that night. Stepped outside into a driving rain looking for a taxi. Found the taxi stand at the end of the building and when Cindy told them where we were going they told us to get in the taxi at the end of the line. Turns out that cabbie lives in Martigues and for him it was a great end-of-day fare. 

When Cindy told him our hotel he was shocked since it is in an industrial area far from the center of town. We had both researched this and this was by far the best hotel in Martigues, and on the website it said it was .7 km from downtown. It was not!  The fare for the trip was 97 Euros, outlandish for a thirty minute trip but there are fees: on weekends, from the airport, in the rain, if it is dark and so on. True to the cabbie's word, the hotel is in the industrial zone and is about two kilometers from downtown. They have a restaurant but it is closed on weekends! So far, not the best start of a visit. 

We unpacked in our lovely suite (it really is lovely) with a separate bedroom and big windows that overlook the tire store and truck wash.  By now it was eight and the rain had stopped so we walked the two klicks and found a few nice restaurants in a lovely little pedestrian area. We tried to get into one that seemed to have free tables but we were assured they were all reserved, it being Saturday night. We finally found a place above a dive bar which was just charming and filled with young diners. They specialize in Fondues and Raclettes , which every table seemed to be having. We opted for lighter fare and had a nice welcome to France dinner with some good wines. The walk home was cold and long but we made it safe and sound and slept well. 

This morning was bright and clear - I swear the visibility was more than twenty miles - and we discovered how truly lovely this little town really is. While I realize that everything looks better in sunshine, this place glistens with all the canals, etangs and whitewashed buildings. We dashed off to the Sunday market, always a high point in our French experiences, and this one did not disappoint. There were the usual stands of clothes, bags, bras and socks - which we ignored - and instead devoted our attention to the many food stalls. Depending upon the region of France, the food stalls have very different flavors, literally! Here there was a combination of Spanish, Northern African and local foods, and especially attractive were the hot items:  couscous of infinite varieties, some with fish and others with lamb and beef, huge caldrons of paellas, again with fish or meat, and local mixes of strange looking but marvelous smelling combinations of grains, pastas and potatoes. There were some ‘exotic’ food stalls with Vietnamese and Chinese cuisines, but in the end I purchased my breakfast of one saucisse de Toulouse and a piece of rotisserie chicken. 

We wandered around town and every outdoor cafe was packed with families and friends enjoying the sunshine while sipping on coffee, pastis or wine, all at ten in the morning, god love them. We did a little shopping at the local Spar grocery store and then looked about for a good Sunday lunch. Once again Cindy’s keen eye spotted a little (eight table) restaurant and we were shown to a two-top on the window. As we enjoyed our Champagne and garlic/olive tapenade we could not overlook the very loud but joyous conversations of a multigenerational table of seven adults and three kids, celebrating the birthday of a two-year-old who was cute and LOUD!  The restaurant is run by a charming couple and the food and wine were absolutely divine, a very lovely way to spend a Sunday in France.

Sunday night was cold and windy and we elected to stay in our room and have a French picnic with some of the things we had purchased during our walks. The lovely ladies at reception where only too happy to supply us with real wine glasses, a large plastic bag of ice, and for me a cold bottle of local beer. We had cold chicken, potato chips, local cheese and bread and wine.  For dessert we had some cookies with dark chocolate and chilled glasses of Jameson whiskey. A feast made even more special by the nasty weather outside that we were avoiding.

Scenes from Martigues, the Venice of Provence. 

  

 

Ponta Delgada, Final Chapter

 February 4, 2024

I’ve been in need of a haircut and knew I wanted to get it done here in Ponta Delgada. Tried two places that were recommended by drivers and both were closed, despite it being during their posted open hours. Slightly disturbed, I started up the hill and remembered seeing a little door that suggested a barber shop. I found it and entered. An older man was getting his hair cut by an older woman whose name was Dora, or so the framed news articles hanging on the wall indicated. I determined that it had been started by her husband many years ago (whose picture was above the mirror), and she continued the business when he died some ten years ago. There was one barber chair, lots of museum pieces of barber equipment, and total silence. I greeted Dora and her customer and she replied with her head indicating that I should take a seat and wait, which is exactly what I did. Finally the man departed, again without a word, and I took the chair.  I’m not a tall man - in fact according to my medical records I’m getting shorter - however I still towered over Dora, all 4’10” of her. The chair was as low as it could go and she still had to do a lot of reaching to get to the top of my scalp. After establishing the fact that she only spoke Portuguese the haircut began in total silence except for the rhythmic click, click, click of the scissors.

It was close to a Zen experience. The silence was delightful and the movement of her hands was sheer poetry. At the end she dusted me, dry shaved the back of my neck, blew the cut hairs away and with a flourish, took off my apron with the same elan that a bull fighter expresses to the bull!  This was a job well done and the price was a mere ten euros ($11). I gave her a tip of three euros which provoked a magnificent smile. I then gave her a See’s lollipop using the Portuguese word for it, Chupa Chupa, and was rewarded with another smile and multiple Obrigadas.  I walked home with a spring in my step, knowing that I had a great haircut as well as having had a lovely experience. Cindy approved of my cut and the next day we were walking past Dora’s shop and she was standing in the doorway and gave me another smile as I introduced Cindy. Cindy said all the right words, of course, and Dora wanted to make sure she was happy with what she had done to my scalp! As close as we’ll come to making a friend on this island!

The sun has remained a delightful companion for all of the past four days. Yesterday we were invited to join our friends who had rented a car and journey to the far Northeast of the island, about an hour's drive. Our destination was the little village of Nordeste, a picturesque, quaint place that deserved all of the thirty minutes we gave it. The 15th century church was closed as was the tourist bureau, however the public toilets were open and we did enjoy the break. Along the way we passed two tea plantations, one of which has been in the same family for six generations. Ponta Delgada is the only place in Europe that grows and sells tea. The tea itself is quite mild, a type of green tea without much flavor. (Lipton has nothing to worry about.) The island is so very green and at times reminded all of us of Ireland and New Zealand, especially the wild north coast with its deep valleys and tall cliffs.

The food in restaurants has been hit and miss, with mostly misses. The other night we returned to one, which we seldom do but this is the only one we have noticed with real linen napkins and tablecloths and where we had had a lovely lunch. Dinner was, to be charitable, a disappointment. First of all - and this has happened on this island before - the menu posted outside the restaurant is only a suggestion of things that they have served in the past, not necessarily anything you’ll be able to order that night. Outside the menu offered two types of tuna and two types of octopus. Inside, no tuna at all and only an octopus stew, which Cindy ordered while I chose the salmon knowing full well they don’t raise or catch salmon anywhere near these verdant islands. We chose poorly!  Cindy’s meal was a mess of black fluid studded with roasted potatoes and various bits and bobs of chopped octopus. My salmon looked lovely and was prepared well but lacked texture and flavor. The sides were three types of potatoes and a mound of cold rice and some sort of broccoli that had been steamed just long enough to remove most of the color and flavor so it resembled a tan mystery vegetable. On the plus side, they had a marvelous lemon curd cake, which we ate with gusto since we didn’t eat much dinner, and their house wines are two euros for a very, very generous pour.

The next night our friends had invited us to meet them at Michel, a restaurant that they found very close to their hotel. None of us knew about it or what to expect but my goodness if you are going to end a two week visit to Ponta Delgada, there is absolutely no way to end it better!  The food, ambience, wines and service were what you might expect in a very good French restaurant. Everything was delightful and we are so happy to have had the experience. Always best to leave on a high note!

Tomorrow we catch the morning flight to Lisbon where we’ll spend five days before heading to Marseilles for four days and then home on Valentine's Day. A long trip for sure but so far we are still happy and healthy.  Ciao for now, Cindy and William

Ponta Delgada, Part Five

 February 3, 2024

And on the ninth day we arose and there was sun in a cloudless blue sky and all was right with the world!

Truly remarkable what sunshine can do to improve your attitude and to make a dark and damp city look like a jewel. The place was already jumping with folks at 8 am, some sitting in cafes which we didn’t know existed until they placed tables and chairs outside. Others were walking to work with smiles, something we have not seen during our visit. The walking area around the marina was really busy with lots of people queuing up to get on whale watching boats. We saw five boats heading out of the harbor in calm seas and no wind for their three hour excursion. We sat down at our usual cafe and since we have been going there for a week, they knew our order and brought it to us immediately; so nice to be regulars!

We decided to take advantage of the day and booked another car for a trip to Lagoa do Fogo. Our first driver was busy so he sent another and it was wonderful since Carlos was fluent in English and we learned so much more about this island. Our timing was darn near perfect, great weather to see the black beaches of the North, the surfing areas, the picture perfect little villages and more churches that I could count. We headed up the mountain, second highest on the island at 3,000 feet, towards Fog Lake. Along the way we saw lots of vents still sending steam into the air from the volcano beneath us. The island gets 45% of its electricity by harnessing the energy of these steam vents to drive turbines which generate the electricity. We reached the lookout point and lo and behold we could actually see the lake, which was quite impressive. It is the only caldron lake fed by natural springs on the island; all the others rely on rain, which as you know is quite reliable here. By the time he took us to another higher vantage point the fog was rolling in and in just five minutes it went from perfect visibility to no visibility. Like I said, timing is everything!

That night we met a friend and his partner for dinner. We met him first eight years ago on a cruise and we have stayed in touch with him mainly via Cindy who corresponded in French, his first language, and Cindy is always trying to improve her skills. Quite by happenstance he was scheduled to stop here during a four-month round the world adventure so we arranged to get together at a restaurant we enjoy. When we first met I introduced him to a Sidecar Cocktail, which he enjoyed immensely and many times over the past eight years we have sent pictures of one or the other of us enjoying the drink and the memories. We arrived at the restaurant early to see if the bartender knew how to make the drink. He said he did and we reviewed the preparation and told him to serve two of them as soon as our guests arrived, which he did, much to the surprise and delight of our friend. 

FUN FACTS:

The Archipelago of the Azores gets its name from a mistaken identity! The Portuguese sailors who landed here thought they saw many Azor birds, however they were really Kites.

On almost every island I’ve visited, gasoline is really, really expensive. However in the Azores gas is subsidized by the government so it is actually cheaper than in Lisbon.

The government still subsidizes families with children. Therefore there is a small town that used to make its money fishing but when that couldn’t pay the bills, they had kids, lots of them. The average sized family in that town is twelve!

Cars cost about the same here as on the mainland due to the much lower tax structure for residents of the Azores.

Any Azorian can fly to any of the other islands for only 60 Euros round trip. Again another subsidy that came into play when the intra ferry system stopped.

Ponta Delgada Part Four

 January 30, 2024 Ponta Delgada Part Four

On Sunday we woke up and noticed it wasn’t raining. Cindy checked the weather app, which is not always reliable, but it said that we would have partial sun and only a small chance of rain.  We decided we needed to get out of Dodge for the day and headed downtown to the taxi stand and arranged a pickup at the house at 10 am. We noticed lots of clumps of young kids obviously just getting out of the discos, which close at 7 am! Kids as young as fourteen are allowed in and can drink and it was evident from these clumps that they can’t handle their booze (who can at age fourteen?). Sad to see. 

At 10:00 we were on the street with our backpack filled with raincoats, a bottle of water, and hats - and our driver, Jose João Ferreira, was waiting (for what it's worth, Jose in Portuguese sounds more like Joseph). I got in the front seat and Cindy had the backseat to herself and off we went.  He followed the same route we had walked for the violin and we were both amazed at how long it took us to get there by cab (not to mention it was even steeper than we had remembered). Once out of the city limits the scenery changes fast, mostly rolling green hills dotted with lots and lots of cows. Seems that almost all of the dairy products in the Azores are produced here. We passed industrial dairies which were processing milk as well as making cheese, for which this island is justifiably well known.  (Odd fact:  Fresh milk is almost unheard-of; they only drink UHT milk.)

We marveled at a lovely rainbow on the horizon until we remembered that you need rain for a rainbow and sure enough it started to rain, but we were cozy in the van and just happy to be out of town and looking at green grass.  We climbed higher and higher and you could see the changes in the trees, the higher we went the taller the trees, almost all were conifers, some from Japan, others from the US, all brought here for the wood which they use for flooring and buildings. At one point we pulled over and got out of the car and we could see both sides of the island, which was kinda cool. The island is 78 km long but only about 15 km wide at its widest; here it was only about 8 km wide and the weather cleared just enough for great views. 

Our destination was Sete Cidades on the far west of the island and home to two lakes formed from volcanic calderas. They are unique in that despite the fact that the two of them are only separated by a causeway, one is blue and the other green. There are two other smaller lakes formed the same way, Canary Lake the Lake Santiago. We stopped at the Aqueduct of Nine Windows which used to carry water from the lakes to the town of Ponta Delgada. Certainly they copied the Romans' style but these are only two hundred years old. Lovely to look at and we did walk up to them just before the rain started again, forcing us to rush back to the van. We continued our journey uphill and stopped at a spot to see the Northern Shore, which is rugged and wild and is where the surfers come for big waves in the winter and sunbathers for the great beaches in the summer. We got out of the car and noticed that the temperature had dropped by ten degrees since we were at about fifteen hundred feet altitude, so the rain that came as soon as we got out of the van felt that much cooler!!

Onwards to Canary Lake where Jose parked and directed us to the paths through the forest. We headed out and followed the crowds and ambled down a steep set of steps to view this marvel. We got there and both of us just looked at each other and shrugged. It is obvious that no one on the island has ever been to Minnesota!  This was, in reality, just a large pond surrounded by a magnificent pine and fern forest, very pretty but hardly worth the effort. As we schlepped back uphill the rains came with a fury and we ducked under some huge trees to wait it out. 

Finally the main event as we headed to the ‘big lakes’. Just as we made the turn which was supposed to expose the two lakes down in the valley, the Fogo, fog, came roaring in and obscured everything below us. We just laughed, of course there would be fog, we’re the Embees!  We drove down and down and down towards the lakes and the fog was far less dense at the bottom so we could see the lakes up close and personal but without the sun they were just dull grey bodies of water. Jose kept asking if he should pull over so we could take pictures and we politely declined. It would be easier to take a picture of a bathroom mirror after a hot shower and just tell people it was a picture of the lakes. As we headed back up the hill we saw there was a huge cantilevered hotel made from concrete that was abandoned. Seems it was built in 1989 hoping to attract overnight guests but the guests never came because there were only two flights a day to the island, not enough to keep in business. Jose said that now that there are so many more flights, the Chinese have expressed an interest in reopening the hotel. There goes the neighborhood!

On the way back we stopped at a Pineapple Plantation where we received a private tour; Jose knows the owner. It was fascinating to say the least. They decided to grow pineapples despite not having the same weather conditions as they do in Venezuela where they got the first plants.  Therefore they built greenhouses to mimic the exact conditions needed to produce these sweet delights. Most amazing to us was the fact that it takes almost three years to produce one pineapple!

That’s it for now, off to lunch!

Ponta Delgada Part Two

 Ponta Delgada Part Two

We are lucky that we have a large apartment since we would go bonkers in a small hotel room with all of this rain. We have not seen the sun for many a day and it has rained every day we have been here. You can tell that there is a lot of moisture on this island just by looking at the buildings because all of them have black and green mold everywhere. Inside this apartment there are patches of blistered stucco and some of the beautiful woodwork is showing signs of rot. I assume when the apartment is not rented it is also not heated so the moisture has lots of time to do its dirty work.

We have been reflecting as to why we decided to come to an island we knew nothing about for two weeks. So far we have narrowed it down to wanting to escape winter, wanting to be near water, and wanting to learn more about Portugal. We are sure that when the rains disappear and the sun comes out we will congratulate ourselves on this wise decision, but for now we are worried about our judgment!

Cindy was concerned about not having her violin here for practicing. Since we were gone for ten days on a cruise earlier this month and only had three days to repack to come here, her time with her music has been very limited. We found a music shop here in town on the internet before leaving home and arranged to have Cindy buy a cheap violin to use while here and then donate it to a school (they don't rent instruments at that store).  On the map, it looked like an easy, albeit long, walk to the shop so we set out between squalls to fetch the violin. Flat maps are funny, everything looks like an easy walk. In reality this walk was straight up hill for two miles on slick narrow cobblestone sidewalks where we had to walk in single file to avoid being hit by buses, trucks, cars, and garbage wagons, all traveling at a rapid rate of speed.  Since we had a time crunch because the shop was to close at one for lunch, we walked as fast as possible. My injury from September prevented me from keeping up with Cindy so I sent her ahead so as to not to miss them and have to wait until after their lunch break. Gracious, that gal can move when motivated!  The shop is NOT in town, in fact it is so far out of town I don’t know how they can call it Ponta Delgada. Cindy did get there in time and by the time I rolled in she was trying out the violin. Ruben, the owner, could not have been nicer and I know he really appreciated that Cindy was so dedicated to her music that she would buy a violin to give away just so she could practice. 

The purchase was made and we decide to head to the largest mall in town to get some lunch and to figure out why my phone did not work despite my having an eSim for Portugal. Roads here are funny, one street will have four different names in only three blocks, so we felt we were justified in missing our turn as we walked back down the hill. Sure enough it started to rain and we were near a bar and popped in to stay dry. Three guys - all drinking hard booze and smoking near the door - and one barmaid also smoking but happy to get us two coffees. So the rain ended and with the help of the barmaid we backtracked to the correct street. To our credit it is only labeled on one side of the road, not the side we were facing when we left the shop. We got to the mall just as it started raining again and were happy to get dry and looked for the NOS shop, the local ATT.  Turns out my eSim was a bummer and could not be used so I purchased a new hard Sim from them. Talk about cheap!  One thousand minutes of calls and fifty GB of text all for ten Euros. He installed it, tested it and we were on our way to lunch.

If I had dropped you in the food mall with ear plugs so you could not hear the language, you would have thought you were in any mall in America. All of the same fast food available at cheap prices for the masses, KFC, Burger King, various pizza and taco joints, etc. After searching we found a local organic sandwich shop and split a rather delicious tuna sandwich. In the middle of the mall was a replica of one of the whaling boats they used in the 1800s. It was a narrow sailboat maybe 20 feet long that might be nice for a picnic sail in a quiet bay, not something you would think could kill whales and haul them back to land, but that is what they did and they are quite proud of it. Azorian whalers get great play in Moby Dick and every fourth bar, cafe and restaurant along the waterfront has some reference to the novel. Finally, we had no rain as we made the last leg of the journey home, which thankfully was all down hill!!

Despite any whining we are having a wonderful vacation, just not quite what we expected. We have a washer, and most importantly, a dryer so we can dry our wet clothes and towels so as to prevent mold from growing on our bodies!

Ponta Delgada Part Three

 January 29, 2024

Saturday provided me with the antidote for dour, as in the people and weather.  There was a break in the weather so to take advantage of that while Cindy was running I got our little backpack and two plastic shopping bags and headed to the Farmer’s Market. There was only a light drizzle and it was a bit cool so the walk was most refreshing. The market is underground, meaning DRY, and it is quite large although in the winter most of the space is unused. I wandered around looking at all of the stalls and all of their wares trying to decide what I wanted to cook. We knew the weather was going to be lousy for a few days so I wanted to create some comfort food that would last a while, without our having to leave the house.  I finally decided on making two dishes, one a roasted chicken with roasted veggies and the other a ratatouille.  I selected the best stall and filled a basket with fresh vegetables and presented it to the owner. It was a big buy that filled my backpack and the bill came to only nine euros!!  I was very pleased with my purchase and with the fact that the entire transaction was conducted only in Portuguese. Overflowing with confidence, I then went to the pineapple section which is huge since they grow them on the island.  I looked for the ripest and largest I could find and with the help of the owner we selected two and they only cost five euros. Again, all in Portuguese. Now, secure in the knowledge that I was fluent, I approached two dour looking ladies of a certain age manning a small flower stall. The minute I approached them and gave them my best Bom Día and big smile they melted, not so much because of my smile but because they knew they had a sale!  One helped me decide on a lovely bouquet of multicolored Astors, a decision which gave her almost as much pleasure as the two Euros I spent.

I was on cloud nine walking home and decided to see if the little bakery I had passed a few days before was open.  It had been closed that day but this day the unmistakable aroma of fresh bread was spilling out onto the street. To my great surprise it was open and I went in and waited my turn. I was looking at what could have been a German bakery, dense looking loaves filling the racks and the aroma had me weak in the knees. My turn came and using my newfound knowledge of Portuguese I started to ask questions. The young owner asked me where I was from and in a minute of stupidity I answered in Spanish and there went my cover! We continued in Spanish and I found out that he and his wife had started this small bakery only two years ago in an effort to establish a place that only used natural ingredients from this island (San Miguel). All of the breads are sourdough made from an old starter and that is the name of the bakery, Massa Mãe. As I spoke, I kept throwing in English and we soon found that it was better to continue the conversation in English.  Since I was the only person in the store he took his time explaining how they proof the breads on Wednesdays - rye, corn, and wheat - and are only open for business on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. I ordered a dense whole grain loaf and a cinnamon roll. Both were still warm and he told me not to try to slice the bread for at least an hour so as to allow it to cool and settle. I paid the bill and was about to leave when he invited me to have coffee with him. He had a little espresso maker in the shop and made us each a short espresso which was delightful and we continued talking about the island, the exports, the problems, and the delights. Too soon others came in to purchase bread and we said our goodbyes.  I walked out of there and into a rain squall that didn’t bother me at all since I was sky high with my morning experiences.

Cindy was home when I arrived and I regaled her with all of my adventures while showing her the fruits of my labors.  I made coffee and we tried the cinnamon roll, which was fantastic. I don’t think I have ever had a sourdough cinnamon roll before but I shall certainly have one again before we leave this island (from Cindy: make that 3 more, one on each day they're open while we're still here!).  After breakfast we decided to take advantage of the brief window of no rain and walked over to the bakery since I had told him that I would bring Cindy back to see his shop. He was ever so pleased to see us and brought his wife out from the back to talk with us. We gave them some See’s lollipops and asked questions about their breads. To my amazement she told us that even the corn bread was sourdough since she put just enough wheat flour in the mix to make it rise. They are a delightful couple and we were so impressed with the work they are doing to introduce products with local ingredients. Judging from the depleted shelves since I had been there, I would hazard to guess they are doing well.

We continued our walk and timed everything just right since it started to pour just as Cindy put the key into our entry door. We were so thankful to be indoors for the duration since it was a constant rain and quite windy, which is always nice if you are inside looking out.  As additional preparation for being stuck indoors for a day or two, we had purchased two liter cartons of white wine for one euro each, as well as a bottle of Grant’s Scotch, the only Scotch that was available when we lived in Bahrain and one that I came, out of necessity, to enjoy.

Cheers!