Joao took me to the local wine cellar here in Comporta – Herdades de Comporta.
Also spoke to his horse care taker – he is from Brazil and from the same region where we have a farm in Parana – he was born in Lunardelli and grew up in Sao Joao do Ivai – what a small world!
Having a great time here with Joao – went for a bike ride this morning in the intense heat and dryness of the sandy soil of this region. Had some great food at a beach restaurant close to his house.
After lunch I went off into Lisbon again to visit the Maritime Museum and change my flight to Barcelona. Going to have some friends over tomorrow so it was too much to leave on Thursday morning.
Check out these storks (Cegonhas) – the nest right on the posts next to the road!
After a 2 hour delay in NY because of storms the flight took off… as usual I fell asleep, not before asking the flight attendant to wake me up for the film. Good film with Edward Norton and Naomi Watts – The Painted Veil – takes place in China.
DAY 1 – Got to Portugal and hopped in a cab to Joao’s place… outside of Lisbon in Comporta…
Got some pictures on the ferry boat ride over:
Finally got to his place after about one hour – very nice place all in wood and with a WOLF… along his other 3 dogs and horses.
Went to lunch at “Aqui Ha Peixe” and had some “Arroz com Chocos” – black rice with a kind of octopus with the ink – excellent. Andrea arrived shortly after amidst the caipirinhas… watched the sunset, the moon rise and finally made it home at around 1 in the morning – excellent welcome day!
DAY 2 – went to Lisbon with Andrea, bought a pre-paid phone number so that I can be “connected” and a universal power plug adapter to power up my toys 🙂
Then went to see Ellipse Foundation exposition. Interesting art work and very cool place.
After picking up her Spanish friend – Mario – from a 5 day Tai-Chi retreat, we went to Guincho – one the best windsurfing spots in the world – was dying to go in as well – the wind was blowing at around 35knots and there was a wave competition going on, so obviously took the camera out and fired away.
We then went to SushiMoto in Estoril to eat and met up with Sarah, a friend of hers. We ended up in a bowling alley – loads of fun – also played some pool and video games.
Ended up crashing at Andrea’s place because Joao’s place is just a tad too far to go at night (1 hour from Lisbon).
DAY 3 – rented a car to be mobile, took a look at the Marina de Cascais which was opening when I was last here in 1999, and came back to Joao’s place – fixed the internet so now back online!!!
Last days in “paradise” – drove to the Western Shore and the Southern Shores of the island. Also went windsurfing on the last day resulting in a hand full of blisters… totally “out of shape” for it…
Realized how lucky I am to be able to travel and know all of these places and people.
Finally the weather stabilized a little and we had a full day of sun and wind – to match that we went out for a sail with all those who were still here in the island… Mark, Elena, Ricky, and Gavin (Rory’s brother) had left already so it was a “reduced” crew but still plentiful.
Beautiful day for pictures… shot more than 400 pictures… here is a selection of them:
What a setting!! Amazing location + a perfect entrance by the bride + beautiful people… ok, the DJ was not that great but we all had a great time… till 4 in the morning 🙂
Here are some of my pictures:
Another calm day – the wedding day!! Roamed around the beach and the island to take some more pictures today:
Rained almost all day yesterday so caught up on some reading – Over the Edge of the World – Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe by Laurence Bergreen – very well written apart from the obvious interest I have on the story itself.
In any case, here is a short video of the “young” crowd and Eva.
Great day on the beach with quick regatta on small 12″ hobbies… kind of annoying to sail but the regattas was tons of fun… Rory won all of them, knowing the boat and the winds makes all the difference.
All ages were entertained 🙂
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| Turks and Caicos day 4 |
Finally here! Went to the car rental place and met Elena, Tony, and Ricky. Our house is great and not too far from the Lyra’s house nor the Grinfeder’s house.
The place is beautiful and the water is spectacularly clear. Apparently is one of those few things on earth that you can see from Space – Nasa used it as a reference point for the first astronaut that orbited earth.
Eva is very cute walking around and interacting with all of the other children in the house.
Here are some pictures:
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| Turks and Caicos day 1 |