Dia de mau tempo

Or, one of the most fascinating news stories ever

Yes, it's official - heavy rain made the headlines. 

I have twelve whole days to catch up on - time is unbelievable. On a related note, I'll be back in England in less than three weeks! Best to crack on with the blog while I've actually persuaded myself to start writing. 

In brief, the rest of the week when I last posted (Wednesday 12th) onwards was fairly standard office life, interspersed with interesting evenings including skyping a lot of people (hello people!), going running (only because the river was too rough to row on), and swimming. I was partly trying to save energy for the weekend, because I knew it was going to be super busy and fun.

Overexcited much?

After getting up pretty early (around 6) on Saturday morning, I met Carly at the metro for the start of our epic journey up to Porto. We had a fairly smooth journey, except an unexplained half-hour delay, on an Alfa Pendular (high-speed) train from Lisbon Oriente station to Porto Campanhã. After getting the metro into the centre of town, we left our bags at the Hotel do Norte (which turned out to be pretty good, considering the extremely reasonable price) and went off exploring. 

We made it!

We saw the first of many beautiful churches - could hardly miss this one, the Capela das Almas/Capela de Santa Catarina, since it was right opposite the hotel - before heading to the Mercado de Bolhão, which felt very Portuguese, with lots of proper fruit and veg stalls, and this gem.

So many sausages

And some more touristy merchandise.

We wandered around a bit further, dodging a shower in the Portuguese way, in a café, before meeting Clare and Bea, Oxford friends doing their year abroad thing in Porto. They were lovely enough to look after us throughout the weekend, between the two of them. We all went for lunch and Carly and I were introduced to the francesinha, a Porto speciality that we'd never eaten before (Carly because she'd never been to Porto before, and me because I hadn't eaten it on my previous visit, a day trip last summer). The four of us then went to a 'flea market' (actually a massive car boot sale) in a multi-storey car park, which was quite an experience! Clare got the star buy, a beautiful leather handbag for €0.50. Later on we walked through the city and down the Rua das Flores to the riverside, where we said goodbye to Clare, then the three who were left walked back up again, stopping for chestnuts from a street vendor. We ended up having a very long chat in another café before saying goodnight.

Autumn colours - this still hasn't happened in Lisbon

And more

After a good night's sleep, Carly and I began the day with another café trip for breakfast, before doing more of our touristy things. We walked up the Torre dos Clérigos - cue huge numbers of photos - and wandered more, seeing more of the aforementioned beautiful churches, as well as a pet market with loads of birds, some rabbits, and even the odd kitten!

The city looks great from this high up

Don't look down!

Spot the rowers.

We met Sandra, Carly's local friend, for lunch in yet another café, where Clare joined us. We walked across the lower tier of the impressive Dom Luís I bridge to Vila Nova de Gaia, where we had a guided tour of the Sandeman port lodge.

Known for being one of the more 'commercial' lodges, with its instantly recognisable trademark, the Don

We definitely benefited from having Clare, a port lodge expert after several months as a guide, on hand to add extra information. (For the record, Bea had also been working in the industry - maybe Oxford does give students a taste for port!) We enjoyed trying a white and a ruby, a great treat. Sandra said her goodbyes before yet another café break, after which we walked back to Porto, this time over the top tier of the bridge. 

The aforementioned bridge

A View from the Bridge

We visited the Cathedral, then picked up some supplies for the journey home (it really is normal to organise your life around food, promise...). After we'd said goodbye to Clare, we picked up our stuff, and headed to the station, arriving very early again, giving us time for writing postcards. The train journey was fine, but I discovered that tilting trains in the dark are really not much fun if you occasionally feel travel sick. No harm done! I got home in time to skype Stephen before getting some rest ready for the next working week.

Everything went pretty well in the office this week too - not much to report. One exception is that it got cold enough for the radiators to come on. This was extremely exciting as I'd been under the impression there was no central heating, and had pretty much taken to wearing a scarf and coat at my desk. Apparently a common complaint among British expats here is that they feel colder in Portugal than in the UK in winter, because proper heating isn't a priority - it's just too mild most of the year. I sympathise, although I expect many of you reading don't!

The only blue sky we saw in Porto. It lasted about 5 minutes.

Another piece of news is that a different company has offered me an internship for the spring, meaning I can stay in Lisbon, which has really improved the look of my year abroad plans (yay!). To briefly sum up the rest of the week - Monday evening brought a rowing session, and on Tuesday evening I watched some of the Portugal v. Argentina match on TV (can definitely claim I was getting in touch with local culture...). On Wednesday evening the weather was no good for rowing (I'm pretty sure that was the 'dia de mau tempo' in the headlines) so we were treated to an erg and core session, real winter training mode (and surprisingly enjoyable...). I was still feeling sporty on Thursday evening so went swimming and ended up doing, among other things, 1km continuous crawl... Stephen may joke that I'm preparing for a triathlon, but I don't think it'll happen too soon.

The start of the weekend, Friday night, brought more happiness as I went out for dinner with Bea, down from Porto to visit family friends, and Lizzie, another Oxford Portugueser who I've somehow not seen all autumn despite us being in the same city most of the time! We had some very delicious tapas and a good long chat. Getting home around midnight left me with about 5 1/2 hours' sleep before an extremely early start for Saturday's adventure. 

Clue: there were kittens! Okay, that's a rubbish clue. There were boats too.

I was heading to Avis, a lake in the Alentejo, with people from my rowing club, including Laura, a Dutch friend who has possibly The Best Job In The World as she is a rowing researcher! She'd asked me if I wanted to help out as an assistant on her experiment, which was super exciting. I'm not sure if her research is secret, but I don't think she'll mind me writing that it is to do with the effects of crew synchronisation on performance, and that it involves loads of exciting high-tech equipment. Everything seemed to go well, and we managed to squeeze in a quick paddle in a double scull as well - such a joy on a beautiful lake in the sunshine. It was great to be out in the countryside away from the hustle of the city for a while. 

A very small part of the lake.

A video! How cool is that?

Today I slept for ages, just making it to church in time, where I unexpectedly found Carly, who I thought was in the Algarve - turns out her trip's been postponed. After the service we enjoyed our normal cup of coffee in the church hall (so English) then, with some rain-related difficulties, caught a bus down to Alfama to visit the Museu do Fado. For anyone who doesn't know, fado is a traditional style of Portuguese music, and I would say it's worth googling. One fadista (singer), Carlos do Carmo, was awarded a Latin Grammy earlier this week... I think... I heard it on the Portuguese news... so it was a topical time to go to the museum. It was full of interesting displays, and we got to listen to loads and loads of recorded fado. We had a bite to eat before wandering back up to our respective homes.

Anway, that brings the blog up to date! As ever, thank you for reading.

Não, é uma coelha!

Or, this only makes sense in a very particular context (see below)

I can hardly believe I've got more than 10 days of fun and games to bring you all up to date on - time really does fly here. November has begun particularly happily as I've had lots of lovely visitors from England. Both my parents were here last weekend, and my mother stayed until Friday morning, and on Friday evening Stephen arrived to stay until Sunday lunchtime. A great way to prolong my 21st birthday celebrations!

Last weekend began well with another trip to the rowing club on Saturday. I had thought I'd be competing in a 6k head race (rowing time trial, for those unfamiliar with the lingo) in the morning but it turned out that not enough people from my group were interested, so it didn't happen. It's understandable really - we are the 'leisure' section! After a suitably relaxed training session I found my parents, who had come down to the river to watch, and we made our way by train to Cascais. Rather than me introducing them to my favourite places, it was a case of them showing me round, as I'm unfamiliar with Cascais. We saw lots of interesting things, including: 

A nice beach for a picnic

A bike hire shop WITH A TANDEM

The Mouth of Hell (Boca do Inferno) aka cool geographical feature

And a pleasant park with many peacocks!

That was my very lazy way of summarising Saturday afternoon, anyway. We also visited a very old fort (from memory, from the 16th century) which was full of interesting historical facts. Once back in Lisbon, we spent most of Saturday evening eating incredibly large amounts of delicious food in Stop do Bairro, an excellent restaurant in Campo de Ourique that has been a family favourite for many years. 

Sunday morning brought another meal at a family favourite - breakfast at A Tentadora, a lovely café in Campo de Ourique which I think I have mentioned before... perfect pastries. We then went on to church, which was good - quite funny for my parents to meet people they remember from 20+ years ago who now know me too. We had a fun afternoon, taking a trip on the tram (route 28) and visiting the Panteão - very similar to the Basílica de Estrela, and with equally good views. We went back to Estrela (area where the church is) to meet Rosa, one of my parent's old friends from when they lived here, which was great. We had a look round a wonderful market of interesting handmade objects, clothes, art, and so forth, before having a quick drink from the 'quiosque' (yes, that's the Portuguese way of writing kiosk!). She introduced me to a tea I'd never drunk before, called Lucia Lima - something new everyday.

So many pictures

I never get tired of views like this 

We had a relaxed evening including dinner at the hotel where my parents were staying, before I went home to rest up a bit before a new working week. We reconvened bright and early the next morning for breakfast before my father had to head for the airport - duty (aka business) calls...

The rest of my week was more or less typical during the working hours, but more interesting before and afterwards, including pastry-based breakfasts with my mother, and exciting meals out in the evening. [P.S. (added 23-11-14) When I wrote this, I forgot to mention that my mother also took me to the cinema to see Os Maias, a film based on the famous novel by Eça de Queirós. It was very Portuguese! And good fun.] One of these [meals out] was at a Madeiran restaurant, another at an Italian, and on Wednesday - my birthday - we were invited to my godfather's house, for a joint birthday celebration. A bit of context - he is Portuguese, and was a colleague of my father's. I was born after my parents had moved back to England, and they decided to make him my godfather partly because we share a birthday.

Birthday cake! (see below)

Anyway, he lives in Carnaxide, quite a way out of central Lisbon. To cut a very long story short, there was a slight misunderstanding with a taxi driver which meant getting there took us twice as long (and twice as many taxis) as we would have hoped... Anyway, we arrived in one piece, and had a lovely evening with the godfather and his family - wife, three daughters, their families, a selection of his wife's siblings (she is one of nine!) and various others, including Ozzy, the dog. It was a lovely occasion, with lots of birthday cake with candles like sparklers, and much general excitement, not only on the part of the little ones present.

On Thursday there was another special dinner, this time with my friend Carly and my mother. We found a good restaurant quite near where we all live/were staying, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Carly mentioned it in her blog here, in case anyone can't get enough of English people blogging about life in Lisbon!

I had another early breakfast on Friday to say goodbye to my mãe (mother) before she flew out too. This meant I could get into work a bit early, and then leave a bit early, so I was able to take my work things home and still comfortably get to the airport in time to meet Stephen after his flight. The wonders of international travel - spending time with family one week, and boyfriend the next, even though we live in different countries.

Cultural activities included

We had a great weekend (well, 40-odd hours) - managed to fit in an awful lot considering the time-frame. On Saturday we visited the Gulbenkian Foundation, or more specifically, its park and museum. There are various other bits we didn't see, like a modern art gallery and a special exhibition. But the standard museum was full of more than enough fascinating artefacts to keep us occupied! We'd intended to then head for a miradouro on the other side of the city, but having dived into the nearest pastelaria for lunch when it began to pour with rain, we 're-evaluated' and instead went to pester Carly at her flat - no, really she kindly invited us in, and we all had a good chat. Stephen and I then went to wander in the shops of the Baixa, including Pollux, a department store that we found bizarrely interesting. I've found it bizarrely interesting from a young age, in fact, but we can ignore that. We found some dinner (not the most inspiring meal ever) before going back to our hotel for a quiet evening in, with champagne, courtesy of my parents, and a board game, courtesy of Sophie, a dear friend in Oxford. Can't complain!

Expert photography by Stephen, of course

Sunday brought a trip to the Estufa Fria, which I mentioned very briefly here. Essentially it's a very, very big set of greenhouses full of interesting plants - technically only half is the Estufa Fria, the other half is the Estufa Quente (cold and warm greenhouses respectively). We had a lovely wander round before the inevitably emotional trip to the airport.

Books, so many books. Also Christmas decorations.

I did my best to distract myself for the rest of Sunday afternoon, hanging around the Oriente/Parque das Nações area. I had a look round this fabulous book fair, resisting the temptation to buy out-of-date linguistics textbooks in Portuguese, then sat by the river, and watched life go by.

The picture below sums up one of my most hilarious experiences so far (you'll need to read this paragraph for the explanation of the title). I was sitting on a bench with an older Portuguese couple, and our attention was drawn to a man who appeared to be walking his pet rabbit on a lead. The Portuguese couple discussed at some length whether it was really a rabbit, or actually a dog. At several points the man walked over, looked at the animal, then returned to the bench, noting that it really did look like a rabbit. Eventually he went up to the pet's owner, and asked 'É um coelho?' (Is it a [male/unspecified] rabbit?) to which the indignant response was 'Não, é uma coelha!' (No, it's a [female] rabbit!). Oh, the joys of a language with grammatical genders... To be honest this response was slightly predictable given the rabbit was wearing a pink ribbon between its ears; sadly this isn't visible in my photo.

The famous coelha

Soon afterwards Carly arrived, and we went to the railway station to purchase tickets for our trip to Porto next weekend. Very exciting! We did some shopping (only window shopping in my case) in the Vasco da Gama centre, which is huge, and had a quick juice on the balcony, with great views out towards the river, before getting the metro home. It was only as we were on the way back at around 6pm that I realised I'd completely forgotten to have lunch... busy times... I did manage to remember to eat food once I got home, and otherwise spent a relaxing evening in the flat, including some time on skype.

Apparently this sculpture is really spiky

Yesterday (Monday) was a standard day at the office, followed by an erg (rowing machine session) at the rowing club - as it was far too rainy and windy to go out on the water - then dinner and an early night. Today (Tuesday) was a little bit different. For a start, Lilit (one of my best colleague-friends) and I had lunch outside by the Miradouro São Pedro de Alcântara, in the sunshine, which was a particular treat for November. Not only that, but today was Dia de São Martinho, which meant this evening we had a little office party with the traditional chestnuts (cooked two ways - roasted, and boiled with erva doce, which I think is aniseed) and jeropiga, a sweet wine. Great fun!

 As ever, thank you for reading. Do leave a comment if you're so inclined :-)