October 2014

It’s Saturday morning and the sky is trying to decide if it’s going to rain or be sunny.  Me, I am hoping for sunny.  However, there’s been a forecast of rain for every day since we have been here and it’s only rained briefly once, yesterday afternoon.   So far, so good.

Yesterday with blog posts to be written and just plain not moving as quickly as we wanted, we underachieved, for the morning at least, visiting only a single museum all day.  Actually, with a month to spend in Portugal and only a few days under our belts, it’s probably a good thing to be a bit lazy.  Us newbie travelers will have to pace ourselves.

Brenda had read about a museum that houses the personal collection of a wealthy man that died in the 50s.  That would be the 1950s.   It seems he made his money in the oil business.  Anyway, within a 30 year span, he amassed an amazing collection of fine art including everything from Greek pottery, paintings of the likes of Mary Cassat, Rembrant and some of the finest Monets. That in addition to some lovely art deco pieces and an amazing furniture collection.

It’s sufficient to say that you should put the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian on your list if you visit Lisbon.  However, you will have to just use your imagination as I am only going to show a few pieces here.

I was particularly taken by some of the art deco jewelry, mostly hair pieces and broaches.  This piece, was amazing.  At about 10″ across, a women wearing this would certainly be making a statement.  I guess she’d have to have really big hair to pull this one off. Don’t even think of ignoring the wishes of a women wearing this piece over her breast.I mentioned in past posts that the streets, more like narrow alleys actually, that make up this area are a tangle of intersecting paths winding around in no particular pattern.  It’s obvious that cars were not in the picture when this area of Lisbon was “planned” hundreds of years ago by a bunch of guys riding donkeys.   

Fast forward hundreds of years to today, and thanks to the wonder of the iPhone, here’s a few shots from our walk and dinner last night.  The winding streets were packed with people making their way to the many restaurants lining the streets.   And, the proprietors were happily hawking their menus to entice you to dine with them.

We chose a lovely spot down a narrow staircase below street level.  They had live music and some impressive singers took turns belting out Portuguese ballads. This guy one of three that performed, including the owner, had an amazing voice.   No, he wasn’t posing to catch a peanut in his upturned mouth.  My crappy photo just makes it look that way. And these two young women did beautiful duets between cigarette breaks. Actually, it seemed that nobody actually was able to sing more than three songs without stepping outside to have a nicotine fix.  Sorry about the “devil eyes”.  I guess you had to be there.  As the evening wore on the crowds grew and the views grew even more ethereal. It was a beautiful evening to be out for a stroll.Today, we’ll be visiting the National Maritime Museum.  Yes, these pages will actually have something that makes sense on a site dedicated to sailing.  Well, let’s hope so.

I guess you’ll have to check back tomorrow to see how it works out.

I’d better finish up and get some coffee.

It’s 4:30AM.  No, make that 9:30am.  What time is it?  I know that the clock says it’s time to get up but, ugg…

Anyway, it’s time to get up and be on the move.

Yesterday was an amazing day for me and Brenda as we took in the sights here in Lisbon.  I won’t bore you with the details except to say that we took in the National Tile Museum and a local castle.  Both pretty neat.

Oh yeah, and we walked over 7 miles.  I have no idea how that translates into km as Brenda’s fitbit keeps track of such things and it’s set to miles.  It’ was plenty of walking and I could tell that we had walked a lot when I finally sat down at the end of the day.

The tile museum was a remarkable place that chronicled the history of, remarkably enough, tile.  You’d be amazed at the diversity of Portuguese tile.  I wasn’t clear about exactly what the huge building that the museum is in but somehow there is a chapel inside it that looked pretty original and that it had been there for a long time.  Some of the information on the signs was in English. Anyway, there was a chapel.  Pretty amazing.There was also a special exhibit that featured contemporary pottery which was wonderful.  The work was on the theme of the sea.  Yes, I promised a “nautical theme” now and then.  This will have to suffice as a nautical “token” for today.   The pieces were large scale.  This ceramic crab is about 4′ across.The room was packed with pieces and they were very well presented.  The centerpiece, sardines, a major commercial catch in these waters.  We had a nice lunch in the museum courtyard.  There was even a family of turtles in the courtyard fountain.Where every you walk, it’s up and down, but mostly up.  This street was particularly charming.  And, after dark, we walked by again.  Magical. We also walked a long way, up hill in both directions, to a castle.  That makes sense, I guess as by design, castles are ALWAYS up hill.  I understand that this is because up hill makes it tough for the infidels to bother you.

Yes, looks like a castle.There was even a resident falconer at the castle, with a beautiful owl who flew up into the trees in the castle’s central courtyard.Pretty amazing view the folks that lived in the castle must have had.  I guess there were fewer buildings back then.  Good thing, as now there’s plenty of places to hide if you’re planning a siege.There was even a “wine cart” called “wine with a view”.  You get to keep the glasses, which are plastic and very nice.  They will be a nice addition to Pandora’s fine crystal collection.All that for four Euros each.  Not bad. The view from the seats carved in the wall… Yes, quite a view.  Does drinking wine help if you have vertigo?  Not enough research on that yet.  Perhaps I didn’t drink enough to be sure.  There’s always today…Looks nice, yes?  I won’t talk about the gale blowing up the side of the castle. Brenda sat on the side looking into the wind.  Wouldn’t want her hair to blow into her wine, would we?

And a view of a lovely cathedral.   Several actually.Loads of up and down.  Mostly up, both ways, it would seem.  It was a great day. 

On our way back to the apartment Brenda was seduced, against here will, into a pottery store. Does she look like a woman with a “pottery problem”?  Yikes, looks like an itch that will need scratching.  At least there’s a 50lb limit on checked baggage.  Please, let that be true. Today, have to find a bank.  It seems that VISA isn’t taken EVERYWHERE YOU WANT TO BE, here in Lisbon.  First a bank, then another museum.  Actually, first the metro.  That should be a learning experience.

Enough of the day spent on this post.  We’re off…  More to come.

 

It’s Thursday morning and Brenda and I are here in Lisbon where we will be exploring Portugal for the next month.  For now you will have indulge me with a smattering of nautical posts but mostly writing about this trip.  I hope it’s fun for you as I am pretty confident that it will be fun for us.  Who knows, perhaps Pandora will be here in a few years.

Anyway, enough dreaming for now.  Back to here and now.  

When we flew over here yesterday I have to say that I discovered that I am not quite the world traveler that some of my friends are.  Actually, perhaps I am a really good traveler as it seems that I didn’t want to miss a single minute on the 300 hour flight so I stayed awake the ENTIRE TIME…

As you can imagine, I was POOPED when we got to our apartment in the old quarter, perhaps one of many old quarters in Lisbon, here yesterday. We had big ideas of taking a nap and then going out to eat a fashionably late dinner.  HA!

Yes, Brenda took a nap but I wasn’t quite ready to sleep so I did a bit of exploring of the neighborhood.  Actually, I went out looking for wine and cheese.  Success! And, imagine this, each of the shopkeepers spoke English.  That’s good.  Can you say “local wine” in Portuguese?  I can’t.

Next step, wake Brenda up from her nap and have some wine and cheese as an appetizer.  Now wait, after NO SLEEP for the last 24 hours…   Here’s an idea…  Let’s call wine and cheese dinner and then SLEEEEP…

Well, now it’s 08:00 and the sun is up with broken clouds and it’s a beautiful day!

Today?  Well, I don’t know as Brenda’s in charge and she’s still in the shower.  I don’t know what her plans are except that we will be here in Lisbon in this apartment for about 4 days and then we will take a train to well, somewhere else.

For now, perhaps I’ll put a few photos of our “neighborhood” here.  What a beautiful place.  The airport is very modern but oddly, the signs are all in Portuguese.  I thought that everyone put signs up in English and Spanish, just like in the US.  Well, you learn something new every day.  Here, the signs are first in Portuguese and THEN in English.

Our apartment is a very cute little, with the emphasis on LITTLE, efficiency apartment.  Well, it’s so efficient that you have to walk out into the kitchen to make it from one side of the bed to the other.  I will say that in spite of the fact that the buildings in the neighborhood are hundreds of years old, the inside of the apartment is very modern and quite European chic.  Little, but chic.

Here’s a view of the front of our apartment from out on the patio, yes the patio…  Very nice.The patio also has a view of a beautiful cathedral nearby.  It’s absolutely enormous.  Notice the wine and cheese in the foreground.  No, make that our dinner!  Remember, tired…?The streets are impossibly narrow.  This is a view of the end of the street leading to the two stories of steps up to our apartment.  I wonder how you reserve a parking spot?  Answer…You don’t!The buildings and the nearby streets are very beautiful and really steep.  Ever heard of Portuguese masons?  I hadn’t thought about it but I guess that they are pretty good at what they do.  Some of the buildings are completely faced with glazed tiles.  Amazing. As I write this I am sitting at a little table here on the patio and about the only sound I hear is the conversation of others in their apartments surrounding the courtyard and the fluttering of flocks of pigeons flying from terracotta rooftop to rooftop.  Don’t worry about me eavesdropping as my hearing is terrible and I DON’T SPEAK PORTUGUESE.  Very peaceful.  

However, enough of peaceful, I WANT BREAKFAST.  What do the Portuguese eat for breakfast? I believe that coffee is part of that.  Yes, a cup of coffee will set the day straight.

More to come…

It’s Tuesday evening and we are sitting in the airport in Providence waiting for our connection to Newark for a flight to Portugal where we will be traveling until mid November.

We had decided to take an extended trip to Europe and after much discussion, we settled on Portugal.   A key consideration was that the country had to be far enough south so that we wouldn’t freeze at this time of year and we also thought it would be fun to see a country with such a strong nautical heritage.  Of course, being away for a month meant that we also had to pick a country that wasn’t going to be too pricey.  Let’s hope that we won’t be reduced to sleeping in a rental car for the last week.

Actually, that’s not too likely given the fact that I’d be putting my relationship with Brenda at risk by pulling such a stunt.   And, as luck would have it, Portugal has a “textile rich” history as well. I hope that my luggage is large enough for her “haul”  If you weren’t aware, Brenda has a “linen problem”.  Could be worse as most linens aren’t too big.  “Here Brenda, look at these lovely hankies!”

All kidding aside, we are very excited about going and I expect going to a “nautical country” will offer up some great blog ideas.  However, you will have to forgive me if I stray from “all things nautical” a bit for the next month as I am sure that some landlocked spots will be worth writing about. It is smart to check  out Manassas, VA weather conditions before visiting, as per the kind of activities you plan on doing.

I am told that one terrific museum is Museu de Marinha, which I think is the national maritime museum of Portugal.  However, I can’t be sure about that as WE DON’T SPEAK PORTUGUESE.   However, we have heard that anyone under the age of 18 speaks English.  Let’s hope so.

Anyway, even if we can’t read the plaques in the museum, we can still say “wow, nice boat” and mean it, in Portuguese or not.

Brenda, admittedly not as excited about the marine museums as yours truly, is excited about the fact that there is a strong, and ancient fiber culture there as well.

Not sure where we will be going but this shot, from the web, suggests that there are some nice small craft.    Yes, it’s a shrimpy picture but I should be able to get some good ones when we get there in person.  So, that’s what’s up and we’ll be coming home in about a month.

On the home front, Pandora’s in St Mary’s GA now and even though I spent plenty of time and money on her this summer, there continues to be a to-do list of pending items.  A bit of work on the new autoprop as one of the blades seems to be a bit tight on it’s swivel.

I was also distressed to learn that my autopilot computer, the spare one that I sent for repair a while back, can’t be fixed so I will have to purchase a new one. Now, that’s going to be painful.  Oh yeah, the wind direction instrument is also acting funny in a not-funny-at-all sort of way.

I should have ordered them before I left with the hope that I’d get a “boat show discount” but I didn’t get to it.  Perhaps as I struggle to adjust to the time change in Portugal, I can order them.

Well, that’s about all I have to report for now. Perhaps I’ll close with a seasonal shot of Pandora taken a few years ago in Annapolis at the height of the fall color.  Quite lovely.  Seeing this shot reminds me that my yard will be knee deep in leaves when we return.  Did I mention that we have a LARGE yard.  Ugg…

I hope that a month of traveling will give me time to build my strength.

 

It’s Saturday morning and I am mostly, no make that somewhat,  dug out from under the bills and correspondence that piled up at home while I was away delivering Pandora to GA.  It’s amazing how quickly things get out of control.  If you missed it, Pandora’s in GA so that Brenda and I can join her somewhere sort of warm in January when we head down to spend the winter aboard.

The 800 mile trip from Essex to St Mary’s was uneventful but it was a bit of a bummer that 600 miles of the run was under power.  Oh well, after two north-bound runs under sail and one southbound sailing run, I guess I was about due for a motorboat trip.   Well, at least I know that I like my new Autoprop (propeller).

It’s safe to say that the highlight of the run was when we were visited by a pod of dolphins that swam with us for quite a while. Yes, we see dolphins regularly when making the long ocean runs in the spring and fall.  However, this was a particularly great experience as the water was just so still; more like a run on Long Island Sound in August, than time in the ocean.  I understand that dolphins are quite intelligent and to watch them play under our bow that they were having a fun time, if not a full blown “play date” with Pandora.  I sure was enjoying watching them, that’s for sure.

This video is perhaps a bit longer than you’d like but I have shown it to a number of folks that suggested I post it in it’s uncut length of about 15 minutes.   Actually, well to me at least, it gets more interesting the further you get into it.
Let me know what you think.

Anyway, I had better get going as I am going to see my mother today for a visit and had better get going.  I hope she enjoys it as well.