a quick note from Portugal

Another quick post to update you on where we are and what we’ve been up to. Josephine (at Quinta Moenda, for which I’ll be sure to give you the link later) has kindly let me use her computer/internet setup, but after checking my e-mail, etc., I really don’t want to hog the spot for too long. Plus it’s brilliantly sunny outside, and there’s a pool here, and wine, and . . .

We did manage to get our tickets for the trains from Paris to Lisbon several days before we headed out, so we knew we had the comfort of a 1st-class lit-voiture (sleeper) for our o/n portion from Spain to Portugal. Just as well, as the next option meant bunking side by side and ceiling to floor with 4 other sleepers — I’m just not that young anymore! The train travel was efficient and uneventful, with the TGV as impressive as you might expect for speed! Tiny, tiny legs are required to be comfortable in 2nd-class, which is what we’d opted for this portion — and opposite us was a young fellow about 6’4″ — Paul’s 6′ so it’s a good thing no one sat in the fourth seat, and the young man slung his legs across his seat rather than play kneesies with Paul.
At the Spanish border, where we changed at Irun to another train, we all had to form a queue and work our way through a Screening Machine that had perhaps seen its best-by date, so some of us had to pass luggage through several times. We were once again really pleased that we’d managed with our carry-ons only.
Once in the train, we were passed a complimentary port, some peanuts and chocolate, and once settled in, we headed down to the dining car for an apparently Portugese meal (bacalhau? — cod!). Then some snoozing in our bunks, listening to the train stop at various stations, and finally waking for a complimentary breakfast, setting our watches back an hour and waiting to get to Lisbon. There we grabbed a cab –the driver really didn’t speak any English, but after repetition, he seemed to understand Airport and Car Rental, and got us to Hertz — trouble-free pickup of our little Fiat and Paul’s driving instincts kicked in nicely to take us up to the beach resort of Figueroa del Foz, then the next morning (Saturday) we had an easy drive following Josephine’s crystal-clear instructions along progressively smaller and more interesting roads through picturesque, red-rooved houses always surrounded by marvellous gardens achieved wonderfully on terraces all down the hillside. Makes me a bit ashamed of our own failure to grow food for ourselves.
Anyway, we’re settling in very nicely here — it’s truly paradisical, especially now that the sun’s out. I’ve taken hundreds and hundreds of photos this trip, and I’ll have trouble sorting through to decide which to show you. Meanwhile, thank you so much for continuing to read and to leave comments — I do see the comments at my e-mail, and I’m sorry that I’m not answering them all here, but hope you understand. Now I’m back to my glass of wine . . .