A cidade maravilhosa

Or, the marvellous city

I've been putting off writing/finishing this post for more than two months now, and I'm a bit ashamed, but I still really want to share my amazing time in Rio with you. This post also brings my series of Brazil posts to an end. So here goes!

Glorious

Rio de Janeiro is nicknamed a cidade maravilhosa - and not without reason. I spent about five days there, flying from Salvador on Friday the 5th of June (I know... ancient history...) and back again on Wednesday the 10th. Although it was only quite a short visit, I fell in love with the city, and would love to go back again. I fitted in a lot, so this is a rather condensed version of what I did in those few days.

After arriving at the airport, I made my way by bus and taxi to the hostel where I was staying in the district of Gloria, called Santa Terê. One of my Oxford Portuguese friends, Cameron, was working there, so I knew I would be well looked after (although he was travelling when I arrived). Coincidentally, another one of us, Lise, was also visiting Rio at the time, from her job in São Paulo. It was great to meet up with her at the hostel soon after I arrived, and since we both wanted to do the same sort of things in Rio, we made the most of each other's company over the next couple of days.

That afternoon, Lise and I went for a hike up the Morro da Urca, which is a hill next to and about half the size of the famous Pão de Açúcar. We got up there in time to watch the sunset, which was fabulous. I'd already decided on my bus trip through Rio that I loved the look of the city, and the gorgeous light and spectacular views from the hill only confirmed my first impressions.

Christ the Redeemer peeking out for the sunset, as seen from the Morro da Urca

We walked back down the hill (slightly exciting in the dark!) and returned by bus to the hostel for a while, then went out again to the Copacabana district to meet another Oxford friend, Charlie. It was great to meet up and share our opinions of Brazil so far. The three of us have all had very different experiences. Lise and I also brought along a Brazilian girl called Anne, who Lise had made friends with earlier at the hostel. We had a very pleasant evening eating pizza, then listening to some traditional chorinho music at a tiny bar called Bip Bip, which apparently is quite famous, and returned home on the very efficient and easy to use metro.

With Lise at the Escadaria Selarón

We spent a peaceful night at the hostel, then Lise, Anne and I had a busy day exploring the city on Saturday - starting, of course, with a plentiful breakfast. We began with the Escadaria Selarón, a fantastically decorated outdoor staircase, created in the 1990s and early 2000s by Jorge Selarón, an artist originally from Chile. After walking up and down, and taking lots of photos, we moved on through a huge street market, past the iconic São Sebastião cathedral and the viaduct, and eventually got to the Paço Imperial (Imperial Palace), where we cooled down while looking at a modern art exhibition. Still the same morning, we went on a guided tour of the Palácio Tiradentes, which used to be Brazil's main parliament (when Rio was the capital), but is now only the state parliament. It was very interesting, and the tour guide was full of information.

São Sebastião cathedral

Inside the Palácio Tiradentes

We found lunch at an Italian restaurant, then got a bus across town to the botanical gardens, which various people had recommended us. It proved to be a relaxing way to spend an hour or so, enjoying the shade and admiring the impressive palm trees, and even we caught sight of some capuchin monkeys. Continuing as planned, we went to Ipanema beach, and walked all the way along it to the Arpoador rock, which juts out into the sea between Ipanema and Copacabana. From there I had a swim in the sea (which was a lovely temperature, if a little cooler than in Salvador) then we enjoyed another beautiful sunset. We bought some groceries - from a very modern-feeling supermarket, with much more variety than the one I'd been going to in Salvador - and headed back to the hostel, on the metro again, then cooked a large dinner and sat up chatting for a while.

At the botanical gardens

Another perfect sunset, this time seen from the Arpoador

Sunday was full of interest again, starting with breakfast time, when Cameron arrived back from his travels. Naturally the three of us Oxford people had a long chat over our food. Lise was due to leave in the late morning, but we managed to fit in a trip to buy souvenirs, and a swim at the hostel's pool, before saying goodbye. In the afternoon I went exploring, and visited the memorial to the second world war and the Museum of Modern Art. My favourite exhibition, organised by Damián Ortega and called O Fim da Matéria (the end of matter), was created entirely out of an enormous block of polystyrene, which various artists had been (and were still) carving into different shapes.

O Fim da Matéria at the Rio MAM

I had a look round another art gallery, the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, then grabbed a snack and headed to Cobacabana beach. Sadly I'd just missed the sunset (even though I arrived at about 4.20!) but I still had a dip in the warm evening light before getting the metro back to the hostel. I had another quiet evening chatting to Cameron and eating lots of food.

The Museu Nacional de Belas Artes

Brazilians do love their selfies, but there will be no selfie sticks here!

A new day - and indeed a new week - brought more excitement. Lise had advised me to make an early start to get the best out of a trip to the iconic Cristo Redentor statue at the top of Corcovado. So after a good breakfast I walked down to the Praça de Machado, bought my ticket, and got on the minibus up to the top. It was a speedy and easy way to get there, and definitely worth it. The views were far too good to describe adequately - so rather than trying, here are a few photos.

Just to prove I was there!

I spent a good couple of hours at the top before catching a minibus back down and meandering back at the hostel. I had some lunch and cooled down in the pool, then Cameron took me sight-seeing around Santa Teresa. It was nice to get a feel for one of the more traditional districts, since I'd already spent a bit of time in the more modern areas like Copacabana and the centre. We ate some excellent pão de queijo (amazingly cheesy bready balls) and açaí (sorbet made from the famous berries), then walked down to Flamengo. Cameron introduced me to his favourite supermarket, which had more varieties of fruit and veg than I'd ever seen in my life. It was fabulous.

Cameron in Santa Teresa 

After another calm evening and night, I woke up bright and early, and hopped out of bed to watch the sunrise, then caught another hour's sleep. Cameron was off duty in the morning so we had breakfast together then went touristing again, this time to Parque Lage, which I loved. It was smaller and quieter than the botanical garden, and had a charmingly overgrown touch. We had a drink in the chic café (and I discovered I don't like maté, a kind of cold tea-like beverage), then walked down to the edge of the Lagoa de Freitas (large lagoon right in the city). I was really happy that we went past the Vasco da Gama rowing club - it made me feel right at home! I'm more than slightly envious of everyone who'll be rowing and volunteering in such beautiful surroundings during the Olympics and Paralympics next year.

Sunrise from outside my dorm - what a view!

Cameron at the café in Parque Lage

Outside the rowing club

Back at the hostel we enjoyed a huge and delicious lunch in honour of the owner's birthday, with plenty of beans, rice, meat, farofa, and brigadeiro cake. I ventured out again to see the Biblioteca Nacional - the national library, housed in a rather impressive building in the centre of town - and the Real Gabinete Português de Leitura, which was originally set up by Portuguese immigrants to Brazil, and houses a large collection of Portuguese books. Out of these two visits, the first was much more interesting, as the national library had a few interesting exhibitions, including one about immigration to Brazil during WW2, whereas the Real Gabinete trip took the form of 'walk in, gawp for five minutes, walk out again'. Still, it was worth seeing. 

This photo of the interior of the Biblioteca Nacional doesn't really do it justice

This pretty much captures the feeling of the Real Gabinete

I made one final visit before going back to the hostel - this was to Rio's Central Station. Since I was there during the rush hour, it was very reminiscent of the scenes of the station in the famous film (Central do Brasil/Central Station), which is one of my favourites. I managed to catch the metro back to Glória then had a refreshing swim, a good dinner and a fun time chatting to some other hostel guests and to Cameron before bed.

Cameron at his desk in the hostel

The next morning was my last in Rio, and since I was flying out around lunchtime, I didn't have much time to do anything. I made the most of the hotel breakfast, had a swim, packed up, and began the journey back to Salvador. It all went smoothly and by 6 I was back at the pousada, sad to have left Rio and very conscious that I would soon be leaving Brazil completely. Malika and I went out in the evening with her friend Djalma to a nearby-ish bar where the speciality is lambreta, a kind of large clam that's very popular in Bahia. We tried two types - one cooked traditionally in broth with loads of onion, and one called lambreta gratinada which was deliciously cheesy. There's a picture of the same dish here.

Thursday was my last full day, and Malika made sure I did a few interesting things as well as getting my packing done. We went to my favourite lycra shop, and some other clothes shops, and I ended up buying a ball dress ready for a ball in Oxford at the end of June. We also had an excellent buffet lunch at Roma, another branch of the natural food restaurant we'd been to before. In the afternoon I skyped Stephen, packed, and ate a bit. I met Malika after her drum class, and we went out for a drink with Djalma and Maria, who'd also been at the class. It was a fun way to spend my final night in Salvador.

Maria, Malika, Djalma and me

By the time Friday arrived I was very excited to be going home to England. The morning passed in a flash. I did some last bits of packing and enjoyed eating a super vegetable curry made by Malika. Soon it was time to go into the airport. Malika and I said our goodbyes then I set off. The landlady, Gildete, and her husband Carvalho kindly took me all the way there at a pre-arranged rate. I arrived spectacularly early (more than four hours before the flight) and managed to have my hair cut, do some transcription and read quite a lot before takeoff. Apart from the fact that I didn't sleep at all, the flight was fine, and at 5am Portuguese time/1am Salvador time I arrived at Lisbon, with two hours until the flight to London.

And with that, my Brazil trip came to an end. I'm so glad I had the chance to do something so different from my life both in England and in Portugal. Maybe the circumstances weren't always what I would have expected or hoped for, but in many ways that's what made the trip such a valuable experience. I met many wonderful people, learnt a lot about linguistics, improved my Portuguese, got to know two very different cities - both with their charms - and all in all, had a great time.

Goodbye, Salvador

I don't want to make promises I won't keep, but I hope to add more posts to the blog at some stage. My year abroad proper may have ended in mid-June, but my adventures in Portuguese are still continuing.

To all my lovely readers - thank you!

Mais uma semana

Or, another week

Hello, and apologies for the lack of posts recently! I have been busy with all kinds of exciting things which I will now proceed to tell you about - albeit in two separate posts because there is just Too Much to fit here. This post is therefore about the 25th May to the 4th June. Then the next one (to be linked here when I've finished it) will be about the 5th June onwards.

I've forgotten who this is... a statue looking out over the Bay

The week of the 25th was very exciting because during it I finished my research interviews. It felt good to complete the main purpose of my trip with two weeks in hand! I have met so many lovely people through the project and hope I can keep in touch with some of them. Now the main task is to transcribe all of those hours of speaking, and do lots of analysis. It should be fun, if rather time-consuming.

I also did a couple more English conversation classes as Malika had gone travelling again. Good fun! But most of my hours were spent at the university until Thursday - including giving a presentation in Portuguese to a class of linguistics students, which was a challenge, but went quite well.

The view from my borrowed office

Tools of the trade

From Thursday onwards I had free time on my hands, so had a very relaxing few days. On Thursday the main excitement was that I went shopping, and ended up purchasing some rather brightly coloured lycra... 

Jazzy is the word

Then on Friday I went to the gym (which I've been doing sporadically throughout my time here) and did some transcription. In the evening Malika and I went to watch the capoeirista couple who were taking part in the night's roda - which is a capoeira show or ceremony. Back at the pousada we made brigadeiro, a very famous Brazilian sweet treat consisting of chocolate and condensed milk... with chocolate sprinkles. I'll definitely be making it again at home! It was quick, easy and delicious

Brigadeiro - not much left after a couple of days!

The weekend was also rather quiet. I went to the beach twice, did some transcription, and on Sunday afternoon Malika and I met up with a friend Laís and some of her friends/family for a picnic in Pituba, which was very nice. 

Picnic goers - although Laís, who invited us, took the photo and is invisible

From Monday 1st to Thursday 4th June I was much busier. I had decided to make the most of my free time by signing up to attend a syntax conference, UFBA's first Encontro de Gramática Gerativa. Syntax is my favourite area of linguistics (and what my research is on) so it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. I won't go into the gory details - I'm guessing I don't have too many keen syntacticians among my audience - but there were some really fabulous presentations from interesting speakers, and I learnt an unbelievable amount in the space of four days. And I got to meet lots of like-minded people - inevitably there was even more syntax chat during the coffee breaks and lunch hours! 

With my friend Andreia at the Encontro de Gramática Gerativa

The evenings I spent generally chilling out, talking to people on skype, doing a bit more transcription, and cooking with Malika. One day we made a simple version of feijoada, which is another traditional Brazilian food - a stew of beans and meat served with lots of rice and other delights.

Yum yum yum

On Thursday evening I had a slight mishap. Because I was starting my excursion to Rio on Friday morning, I'd been planning to write my blog, sort out various things for the trip, and do an online interview... all of which was unfortunately impeded by a lack of internet. But fortunately I don't think there'll be any lasting consequences. The blog at least has finally made it into the world.

Who's a cheeky monkey?

So there you have it - a quick round-up until the eve of my exciting journey to Rio de Janeiro. Watch this space for the next instalment!

Books: O Conde d'Abranhos e A Catástrofe, Eça de Queirós

I've got terribly behind on my book posts, so this is the first of a few catch-ups. Since I wrote last time about Eça's A Cidade e as Serras, I've read three more Eça volumes, and part of another.

The first was O Mandarim, a tiny novella. Unfortunately I forgot to photograph it before leaving for Brazil, so the post will have to wait (you can either believe it's because I like doing things properly, or because it's a convenient excuse for delaying writing the post...).

The second was this, O Conde d'Abranhos e A Catástrofe. It is in fact two works, which seem to be conventionally published together in one volume. The first is quite substantial, and the second only a few pages long. Both are examples of Eça's work at its most political. O Conde d'Abranhos tells the story of - you guessed it - the Count of Abranhos. For most of the story he isn't a Count at all, rather Alípio, a young man climbing the greasy pole of Portuguese politics. As so often in Eça, we have a hilariously slanted account from the narrator, who criticises or praises certain characters and their actions entirely depending on their relationship with the Count. Sometimes the satire drips from the page; at other times it's more subtle. There's never any doubt, though; Eça does not approve of this section of society. Although most of the story revolves around politics - involving intrigues such as Alípio changing party and denouncing former colleagues - there are some compelling episodes of a more personal nature, such as his courting of his wife, in which he demonstrates the same astuteness (or cold-hearted calculation) that dominates his career. The novel gives a very interesting insight into the political climate at the time, being written in 1878 - although not published until 1925. And, inevitably, reading it gives one a sense of politics, and politicians, not having changed much deep down, during many decades and across countries.

A Catástrofe (yes, that's The Catastrophe for any anglophones) gives a brief picture of life in an imagined 19th century Portugal after an invasion by an unnamed foreign power. Eça bemoans the lack of preparation which allowed the Portuguese forces to be overcome quickly, with the associated loss of national pride, although he also portrays the people's resolve to reclaim their independence. The clear implication is that the (real) government needs to act to prepare Portugal better for future threats.

This wasn't my favourite Eça book so far, but I enjoyed getting a feel for the more political side of his work. The beautiful written style and cleverly portrayed characters mean it's always a pleasure to read Eça. I recommend this volume if you really want to go deeper than the most famous novels, or if you're into political satire.

O Brasil não tem igual

Or, Brazil has no equals

Hello dear readers! Thank you for staying with me. I rather fear that this will turn out to be another less interesting post, but who knows? Maybe you'll find something entertaining...

Looking towards the Pelourinho

Since I last wrote a diary post, I have mainly been concentrating on getting my research done. Progress has been good, and I'm now three quarters of the way through the first stage (interviewing people). Transcribing and analysing all the material will take a very long time, probably stretching into the summer, but the main thing while I'm here is to gather it in the first place. And it has been great fun. I've met a lot of very friendly people - a special mention must go to the wonderful Lucas who frequently knocks on my door, bringing me participants - and I have been pleasantly surprised by how willing people are to give up their time to help me.

So, that's what I've been doing during most of the weekdays. Apart from that, last week I covered a couple of Malika's English conversation classes, while she was travelling with her father, and blagged my way into a Masters' level class on inter-cultural linguistic perspectives at the university, where I was promptly asked to come back next week and present a paper, joint with a genuine student... the things that happen to me...

The Mercado Modelo is the large yellowish building just behind the Elevator (foreground)

Last weekend, after writing my last diary post, I went out to the Mercado Modelo, which reminded me of Oxford's covered market, except only selling various types of touristy souvenirs... It was worth seeing it, but not worth spending long there. It's easy to reach from the Cidade Alta (high part of the city) using the Lacerda elevator, which I think is quite fun, even though it's a normal lift - possibly because it feels like you're going on a mini-adventure... paying 15 cents (about 4p), going through the turnstile, queueing up... maybe it's just me.

Anyway, I had a very quiet Sunday. I was feeling very tired, probably because of my brush with a tropical disease (I'm now thankfully fully recovered). Around lunchtime I walked through to the Praça da Sé area and looked at some of the statues, drank a coconut, watched the world go by, and in sum, relaxed. I also got a bit of transcription done in the evening.

Inside the Mercado Modelo

A statue of Brazilian hero Zumbi dos Palmares

Moving swiftly on to this weekend, since you already know about the intervening days, I had a much busier Saturday. It started off with an event organised by Malika's language school which was about foreign exchanges. First the school's director talked at some length about Paraguay, then a company advertised their organised exchanges, then Malika (with some extra input from me) gave a short presentation about education in England, which she'd been asked to do by the director. It was slightly unclear how the event as a whole was meant to fit together... but it was an interesting way to pass a couple of hours.

Roda gigante/Ferris wheel at Barra

Barra beach

Afterwards, Malika and I had lunch from a favoured kilo restaurant, then got the bus to Barra, where she was teaching a class. I took the tough option of spending the afternoon on the beach - after a trip on a ferris wheel! It was warm, sunny (but not too sunny) and very pleasant to spend a while swimming and chatting to friendly Brazilians, one of whom gave me this week's title quotation, and another of whom tried unsuccessfully to convince me that I needed a boyfriend in Brazil, and that it should be him... Ahem. After meeting Malika again, we had a quick snack - I tried açai, a sorbet made of the famous superfood berries - then went to meet Malika's father at Jam no MAM. Again, the concert did not disappoint! It's great to be able to go to such amazing musical events so easily.

At Jam no MAM

Sunday was been another quiet day. Nothing much seems to happen on Sundays here - the shops don't open and there is generally less going on in the streets. However, in the morning there was a special religious procession, which I saw very near to the pousada - good stuff! I made pancakes for lunch (yay) then had another relaxing afternoon, got some admin done, and made enough vegetable soup for several days. In the evening I chatted to Malika and to a couple from Rio who are staying here at the moment. They are capoeiristas - meaning they perform as part of a Brazilian tradition which is probably best explained by saying it's a cross between a martial art and a dance. With luck I'll be able to go and watch on Friday.

Part of the procession

And another part of the procession

In case any of you are getting bored of the multicoloured streets of Salvador appearing in my photos, I can reveal that soon there will be a change of scene - I will be visiting Rio de Janeiro in early June. How very exciting! But in the meantime, I have another week of research, and a syntax conference to attend - there's never a dull moment.

Bonus appearance by the lighthouse at Barra

As ever, thank you for reading.

Salvador, two weeks in: five things I love, and five things I don't

Since I have a lot of opinions about Salvador, I thought I'd put them here in a classic listicle format for your reading pleasure...

"Temos coco gelado" - nothing better than cool coconut water

This is meant to be light-hearted, not deep criticism of a city/country I barely know, and definitely not sociological commentary. Please don't take me too seriously!

Five things I love:

1. Tropical fruit. It's delicious, cheap, and also comes in juice form... So far I've had, among others, umbu, acerola, cajá, pinha, goiava (guava), maracujá (passion fruit), ananás (pineapple), and lots of manga (mango), as well as the obligatory coconut water fresh from a green coconut. And there are still plenty more I can look forward to!

2. The people here. Nearly everyone I've met has been friendly and chatty. People are willing to talk to strangers and freely share their knowledge and experience. All of this makes going about your daily business really pleasant.

3. The architecture in the historical centre. This is such a cliché - if people have one mental image of Salvador, it's probably of beautiful, brightly-coloured, colonial-style houses lining steep cobbled streets. And some parts of town (the Pelourinho area and Santo António Além do Carmo, where I live) really are like this.

Photogenic streets

4. The beach at Porto de Barra. When I was preparing for this trip, my 'back-up plan' was that if my research didn't go well, I would spend all the time on the beach. In retrospect, the weather means that was a ridiculously naive idea. But on the two occasions I have been to the beach so far, Porto de Barra has been lovely. I'd happily spend more time there!

5. The chance to challenge myself and discover new things. So far things haven't all been as I expected - and not always for the better. But I'm trying to get the most out of this experience that I can, by finding solutions to my problems and not getting bogged down in the smaller worries.

Stormy skies

Having said that, though, I would like to give a balanced view of life, rather than just choosing the good bits. So here are five things I don't love:

1. The climate - it's the winter, so it's raining a lot, it gets dark early (around 5pm), everything is constantly damp, it's humid, there are mosquitos everywhere, and I still managed to get sunburnt while wearing factor 50 suncream.

2. The crazy traffic - including traffic jams, and some of the worst driving I've ever seen. Most drivers are seemingly unaware that their cars include a special feature known as "indicators". And pedestrian crossings are an optional decoration, whether the traffic lights are red or green.

3. Security paranoia. Everyone is scared of robberies and violence, particularly at night, with the inevitable result that it's easy to feel threatened after dark, regardless of how (un)likely it is that anything will happen at 5.30pm in a busy street. It's hard to know whether Salvador deserves its reputation as a violent city, but I'm not taking any chances.

4. Cat-calling. Maybe this is the flip-side of the friendliness. It annoys me in the UK too, but it doesn't happen anything like as frequently there as here. Yes, the words "hello beautiful, smile!" are theoretically friendly, but if you're a complete stranger, I don't want to hear it as I walk past you, and if you persist in making that horrid kissy noise, I'll just ignore you.

5. Lack of information about buses. Oh, you want to get on a bus home? If you're lucky, you'll find a helpful "ônibus" sign at the side of the road, with an accompanying queue of people. Then simply wait between 30 seconds and 30 minutes and hope that a bus turns up. Then try to guess where it's going from the arbitrary selection of stops written on the side of it. There's no way of telling whether buses going to other places will come along to your stop, or not... so good luck!

My new friend

In all seriousness though, things are going well, and I'm learning a lot about this forever surprising place. And look, I even made a friend!

A chuva não tem graça não

Or, this rain's no fun

I feel like I don't have very much to write about from the last week and a bit. Much of the time it has been very rainy and I've stayed inside a lot. Having said that, though, I have done a few fun things to tell you about!

Salvador from near the lighthouse at Barra

Picking up where I left off last week... I found the swimming pool on Thursday, which was great, then had a relaxed afternoon and evening, sorting things out and avoiding the rain. On Friday morning I went into UFBA early, and met up with Malika. We had a juice at the French institute with a beautiful view over the bay, did some errands, and later went for lunch at a 'kilo restaurant' - an excellent system where you choose whatever quantity you want from a series of hot dishes, and pay for the weight. Later I visited a cultural event at UFBA's architecture faculty, where there were various craft stalls and fun workshops. I spent the evening packing up my things and chatting to the family.

Looking out to sea

On Saturday I moved into Salvador itself - I'm now staying in a sweet local guest-house where Malika is living. The landlady is really friendly and has made me very welcome. I spent most of the afternoon settling in and relaxing. Then in the evening we went out to the Museum of Modern Art where there was a jazz concert, called Jam no MAM. It was really good fun. Then we had a lazy Sunday - we baked a (delicious) cake, drank lots of juice in the Pelourinho, sat on the roof... In the evening one of Malika's friends also took us out for a bit of sightseeing round Ribeira and Barra, which was fun too. 

This week I've been concentrating a bit more on getting my research going. I've had some success - getting the first two interviews done and beginning analysis. Hopefully this will continue! After all, the research was the main reason I chose to visit Salvador. So I'll just summarise the 'interesting' things I've done.

A display about fabrics at MAFRO

On Monday I visited the main Afro-Brazilian museum, MAFRO, which was great - all kinds of artefacts and displays of information about the amazing blend of cultures here in Salvador. Then on Tuesday evening I attended Afro-Brazilian mass at the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Pretos (what a mouthful!) with Marcia, who has been staying here for a few days. It was a great experience and interesting to note the differences and similarities with going to chapel in Oxford. Then Malika and I went to part of a samba concert, run by a famous local musician called Gerônimo (I think!) which was really good too. There are so many musical events here and it's great to be able to take advantage of them.

The Farol (lighthouse) at Barra

I visited the lighthouse and the associated Nautical Museum at Barra on Wednesday. The former has lovely views and the latter is full of information about navigation, trade, ships, and all sorts. Thursday was mainly taken up with research. And on Friday I slept a lot, having come down with a not-serious-but-makes-you-sleepy illness that's currently doing the rounds courtesy of some over-friendly mosquitos. I'm feeling much better today - just resenting the fact that it has been pouring with rain most of the last few days and is showing few signs of stopping.

A view from the lighthouse

Apologies for this post not being particularly interesting. Another one will go up soon which might be better for gauging my opinions on this place!

Thank you for reading.