Sunday, February 23, 2014

Even 60 F. feels cold.



Christmas Day saw us out for a meal with friends at a
Restaurant near to the Military Campsite which was our temporary home. A short walk of about 5 minutes saw most of the group sitting at a long table with a family of 5 from Finland. Just 10 minutes later we were joined by the rest of our group who had been trapped by a torrential rain burst which in seconds had seen water up to the top edge of the Restaurant door step, just proved that being on time has got to be good. Another table had another 18 folks seated, some from boats in the Marina, 3 Americans and 2 Portuguese quite an eclectic mix for Christmas dinner
The Restaurant is run by a Ukrainian family who now live in Lagos and they were to prove that they could produce a memorable 9 course meal for about 30 people very efficiently and worth the €25. each that it cost, including wine, soft drinks and in the last hour bottles of spirit all at no extra charge. A very merry crowd left the Restaurant in a very ' Christmasy' mood.
Despite what the Politicians in Portugal say things are still very fragile and Lagos had almost no Christmas decorations on display and very few holidaymakers on the streets, we have also noticed a lot of smaller businesses have closed down.

.Christmas Tree made from green empty beer bottles




The 31st of December was on us before we knew it and once more found us at the same restaurant and looking forward to another multi course meal and we were not disappointed. Bringing in the New Year was a novel experience for us because our Ukranian hosts brought it in at 10pm Portuguese time, an hour later we celebrated Italian New Year at 11pm, then finally Portugueses/UK New Year at 12 midnight. We broke off from the meal to make our way down to the Promonade where we had a superb view of the Fireworks display payed for in the main by small busines's. Back to the restaurant to finish our wine and dining before making our way back to the Campsite.

                                       
                                   Now that's what I call an ice cream





Once the Festivities were over all was back to normal for us, you know what we mean, Sangia, Wine, skinny diping, sunbathing in the nude all those things that Caravanners and Motorhomers do when retired !! Dream on, this winter in Portugal we have seen the tail end of the storms that hit the UK and though everybody was complaining about the cold, (it got down under 60F !!), the rain, that's that warm stuff you dont get in the UK and I seemed to be the one of the few who were upbeat, have not needed wellies yet. Having said all that the storms had waves climbing the 100/150ft cliffs at nearby Sagres in fantastic displays of wave power .


Finally getting clear of the Portuguese Banking system we were ready to start moving on though to be fair we moved 3 km to another campsite to meet up with some more friendswho arrived at the start of the year and enjoyed their company whilst at the same time were able to visit some of our ex neighbours in Espiche.

February already and we have left the Lagos area and are now at Armacoa da Pera as we will gradually make our way towards Spain and planning where to head for over the next few months. She who must be obeyed decided we needed a broom to sweep out the awning, though I think she was hoping for the Harry Potter effect and we found one in one of the local Chinese shops and yes Kit still cannot get it to fly. Having said that on the way back to the campsite we had a superb Hamburger with egg each in a local Tapas Bar, we are not Big Mac fans but this rivalled it without all the splathering sauces that MacDonald's put on theirs.










The Beach at Armacoa and below a view from the Promenade












 
                                           Fruit and veg delivery to the Market
 
 
Now and again we are asked how we pass the time, we both read quite a bit, keep our minds active with stuff like Codeword and Wordsearch, spend plenty of time chatting with other folks, visit Museums, Castles, Churches and of course Cities and Towns we have not beenn to previously. Neither of us are big on sitting out in the sun all day but plenty folks do so.



Kit's crosstitch, work in progress and on right Gregg catching up with the ironing


This vehicle caused much amusement


Cheers for now Jack n Kit.

 
 
 
 
 

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