The Algarve, Portugal

The first night on our drive down to the Algarve area....we stayed in a cute little hotel called Colina Dos Mouros....in Silves.  Maria told us it means Columns of the Moors... and in the south of Portugal ...the Moorish influence is pretty evident in a lot of the architecture. TripAdvisor has this shot of it....I didn't get one as we arrived after dark and ...in the morning....I forgot.....




It was a great little hotel... very clean as was every single place we set foot in while in Portugal.  A big plus for us.  We have a big deal with cleanliness....

Every building has granites, marbles and tile incorporated into it....how I wish it was as reasonable to buy here.....sigh.... so easy to keep spotless...looks amazing....

For a few euros...we got an upgrade to a castle view room...
why not?  It was only about 37 euros per night .... we probably should have gone to view the castle too..  here is what Wiki says about it.....  "Silves Castle was built between the 8th and the 13th century AD and is considered to be the best preserved of the Moorish castles of the country."  

Last year we did a lot of wandering through castles, cathedrals and ruins...but, this visit we were more concentrated on "doing the Algarve" ... and that meant seeing the amazing beaches... gawking at some pretty fancy yachts at one of the main marinas... feasting in a fancy restaurant later in the day (not that we didn't feast everywhere we went!) ...oh, man...the food! ...and moving on a bit further to more lovely beaches and another hotel... within walking distance from the beach I showed yesterday.

Feast your eyes on these views !!!

I love seeing and hearing the crashing waves and spent many a shot trying to capture just the right moment in a wave's life.... love this one.

Sure....I could live here.  I'll just take the one on the right...a bit higher up the hill, please...... in case of a very high tide.

Nobody around but us...how perfect.

Onward to another beach .... I have no clue exactly which beach this is...but, again it is probably Praia da Rocha.... means rocks.... they are all beautiful.  Love the colour of the rocks .... the wonderful feel of the sand ... I'm thinking colours like this for the house ....mmmmmm.... golden creamy cupboards ...  sea coloured walls. ....

Oh, yeh.....

Memories of Portugal..

In February we went to Portugal....

Before Christmas I had not been sick with a cold or cough for 17 years...but, we landed and I seemed to have a sore throat.  It got worse.  By the third day I just wanted to lie in Maria's bed, under the soft duvet,   ...and motion the rest to go on without me....but...I couldn't.  We were on holiday dammit!  we only had two weeks!

So...on we went.  It got worse...then poor Mr. BV got it...then our host and hostess finally succumbed.  I did my job well.  I'm terrible.  But, on we went ... onward; ever onward  ....hahahha... what a bunch of nut jobs.  Well, we had to make the best of a bad thing, didn't we?  Fortunately we both took lots of photos..because I honestly don't even remember some of it.  By then I had bronchitis ... was having horrible coughing fits.  It got worse and by the time we were back a week, I was coughing hard enough to damage some rib tissue. Great.  Finally, it's gone away... just barely. That took months ..... man...what happened to healthy me?  It's annoying to say the least.

Anyway... I did post a few pics of Portugal back when...then got side tracked.... with more physio and just with being sick and not even caring if I blogged or not.  Now...I'm looking back at the photos ...and wanted to share some with you.

Portugal ... the Algarve.... not sure exactly which beach ...but, we stayed in a nearby hotel and walked over to this particular beach at sunset.... beautiful...... many of the beaches we saw had amazing rocky formations on them...actually one area had a name that means that..... was it Praia de Rocha ??  Maria??

Here is a link to the many beaches.   Please have a look...it boggles the mind that there are so many. Not all are big...but, some are...  All have amazing sand, coloured rocky cliffs and outcroppings ... unusual formations... all are different.... all are beautiful.  They clear them of debris and keep them nice and clean.  Early the next morning there was a special cleaning machine busy at work....well, the machine was not alone..there was a guy driving it...  and he had a great grid system worked out that he whizzed over easily..  picking up bottles, cans, and other debris...

If you are interested in seeing other photos of our trips to Portugal...click on the Portugal label waaaay down the sidebar... last year and this year will all show up on there and you can scroll through them all...

Lipstick and White Linen

This afternoon I actually put on lipstick and some lovely White Linen body cream after my bath.  Got to try to make myself feel much better than I do.  Been having uncontrollable coughing fits that got to be a bit scary.  And, of course, they finally took their toll.  Ribs or tissue is now painful...but, today finally I am saying I've rounded a huge corner.  No coughing fits today.  Thank goodness..

Word from the doctor is .... bronchitis and severe sinus infection.  Gee... already knew that.... especially from the gunk I am blowing out...oh, sorry who wants to hear about that .. if you were drinking tea or having a nibble...sorry.

This is ridiculous. The cold didn't actually go away.  It just got progressively worse after the one day I almost fooled myself into thinking I was feeling a bit better.  Silly me.  I probably should have just succumbed. Or at least one of us should have. Gone to bed and moaned our way through a few days and told the others to go on without us  But, no....not any of us ..... Nope.  Instead, like somebody on holiday and be damned if a cold was gonna keep us down....onward we went.  I kept thinking and saying 'intrepid'; mostly to myself, but was really and truly thinking the other "i" word.  You know the one.  Idiot.

First to Porto, where we made things worse I'm sure and by then one or two of the others had a cough too. Walked by the river Douro after dark ...yeh..really good for us all.....like I said...we were nuts.  It was pretty though....I don't remember much...but, I've got photos to prove it....thank goodness.

We even walked across that lower footbridge to the other side and up and down hill and dale over there in the neighbouring town called Vila Nova de Gaia.  More on all of that for another post.
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For now... it is Thursday.  And that means there is Equine Therapy happening at the centre.  My friend Maria volunteers here..... I thought it would be just a little place known to locals and I tagged along on one of her days.  WOW!  It is a world class training centre!   Who knew?  It has it's own site where you can view the beautiful horses trained and raised on the quinta.  What an amazing day it was.  I hope I was not so very contagious that I passed on my illness to any of the little guys and gals having fun at the riding ring. I did not stand beside them too long and was out and about taking photos and looking at the other horses and land and stalls and exercising areas etc...and getting a slight shock before I realized the rope I was holding was a lightly electrified enclosure.... sigh....   Good luck everybody on not getting my plague.  Please all be healthy.

This huge Stallion... called Pino... was pounding his front hooves on his stall door..trying to get some attention... then grabbing his blanket from way outside his stall door...and trying to unlatch the upper lock...they have one placed on the lower part of his door just because he can..... and in general being waaaay too frisky for my liking.  I have been bitten twice before by horses...(I still love them but I am a bit wary nowadays) and know what it feels like so I wasn't going to even try pet him when we walked one of the handicapped kids up to his stall.  Maria was too brave for my liking and it made me nervous. ...she petted his nose and he did try to nip on her....he bared his teeth and nipped at her plenty of times and in general made a nuisance of himself...and was doing a lot of very frisky hopping (hopping as in how very BIG guys do if ya know what I mean)  around in there .... and then.....


suddenly..........this....

 

Little Joao stood close to the stall door and just raised his hand ....no words at all...just raised up his little hand........

That big horse just became a gentle giant.

This my favourite photo of them... I love it.

The kids were having their ride around on a very gentle much smaller horse in the arena...but, Celine, the trainer and manager of the quinta was training one of the big horses while they were doing so.  I am betting that if that horse gets to the top rings nothing will startle him in his beautiful routines.  The kids were busy doing what kids do and of course, it included a bit of squeaking and giggling and nonsense.... especially since somebody new was there.  Me.  Even Celine had to ask for a bit of respect for her horse finally...and then all went back to more or less normal humdrumming .....

Here she is on one of the horses in training...

Meanwhile on the outside of the ring...the kids were having their fun...... and standing very close to that very low barrier you see in the background...under two feet high I would guess..we stepped easily over it... .... and the horses are encouraged to use the whole arena... sometimes actually brushing you with their tails if you stand too close.

Kids riding around the outside ...Celine in the centre again.....

I think this one tells it all.  Celine. Slim and wiry as a whip.....master horse trainer.... looks like she means business doesn't she? ...

hello blog buddies...

I've run away for a few weeks...  ....to Entroncamento, Portugal ....  same little town we visited last year.  It wasn't planned and was last minute, but we decided to come anyway......

Yep...we've run away...so don't have access to my own computer...and I wanted to post a photo...but, am having trouble figuring out how I did it last year....hmmm... so, you might not see any Portugal for a week or so... oh, hey.... there it is, finally, at least I found one from last year that I could move around.... this is from a seaside area called Peniche.

Poor Mr. BV had a terrible time with pain in his sinuses on the descent into Amsterdam....and it didn't really go away til we got to Portugal.... and I got off the plane with a sore throat and it escalated into a rotten cough and lots of nose blowing .....and then?  I gave to everybody else.  Bad me.... .... second cold in as many months after not having one for 17 years....horrible.... and, now I am quite a bit better and everybody else is down and out with it...... not good at all.

Not quite the fun start we expected on what should be a good time in Portugal.... but, somehow we have still managed to put in lots of miles and see lots of country and taste some Port in Porto, the city of port.  Later today, we are headed for the Algarve.... if everybody feels up to it.....

..still heading uphill... Constancia, Portugal...

....in and out of little pathways we went ..and up and down steps....we peeked into all the cute little areas and found all the hidden doorways.  Well, not all by a long shot...but, lots.   Hope we weren't trespassing..but, it seemed to be just a labyrinth of steps and cobble and rockery paths that led up or down.  I think some were shortcuts so the people who lived at the top of the hill could get there quicker.  That was my take anyway.

                                              

       

sometimes just a look up was enough to warrant another photo.
















This door was a bit newer than some ....and I wonder if those newer bricks inserted under the lintel were to allow for more height when placing the new door? .... he got a few extra inches out of it...

There were several places for sale..... where was the agent when we wanted to look inside? ...

Maybe number 3 was the better option...it did have a newer door...

Aha.... some of those road signs I missed whilst walking up... I just had to look back to notice them.  It's definitely got to be organized... because some of the little streets are too tiny to allow two cars to pass each other.  You can see this one is a bit wider...two can pass.... or...even park in front of a house.

Look at the little sailboats designed into the cobblestones on this street.

loved the blue tile works we saw in so many areas...

more cats.... some even had collars...but, all seemed to have the run of the streets... not too many cars to worry about...and I bet they are all pretty savvy...living outdoors most of the time..or perhaps all of it. I don't know for sure...although, come to think of it... I did see one or two looking out of windows.....

A little public courtyard where people gather to visit and catch up with goings on.  The houses are so tiny, I think that is why folks spend a lot of time just walking or visiting in the outdoors.

Some places were just not as kept up as others.....

But, most of it was lovingly cared for..

A few nearer the top had larger areas for yards and gardens... there is probably a story behind it all...but, I'm afraid I don't know it.
This guy had a big yard with orange and lemon trees...some grapes and even an olive tree or two below that...  and a good view of the river in the distance.

No for sale sign on this one.... drat.  Click on the photos to biggify and see more.....

Here's a cute one with an odd shape... and his own palm tree.  That was strange to me.  Palm trees, orange trees...and in the next yard...a pine tree.  It just seemed odd somehow that they all did well in the same environment.

Huh? .... hahahhah.... I was used to seeing cats and even dogs everywhere... but then, up pops a chicken to say hello... on top of a very high stone wall.