{"id":3844,"date":"2014-11-20T22:29:26","date_gmt":"2014-11-20T22:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=3844"},"modified":"2014-11-20T22:30:06","modified_gmt":"2014-11-20T22:30:06","slug":"ok-portugal-now-in-the-past-pandora-in-the-near-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=3844","title":{"rendered":"Portugal in the past. Pandora in the (near) future."},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Thursday afternoon and I sort of feel like I am dug out of the things that piled up while Brenda and I were in Portugal. \u00a0It’s amazing how much mail piles up in a month, and that’s in a world where nothing of value comes in via “snail mail”. \u00a0And, I won’t even talk about all the bills that needed attending to. \u00a0 And, to make matters even “better”, our credit card was compromised while we were away so I had to contact all of the vendors that we do business with via card and change the number to the new one. \u00a0I think that it’s the third time this year we have had to deal with a new card. \u00a0And, the list of companies to contact is especially long and fun as we also handle bills for Brenda’s and my mothers.<\/p>\n

Oh yeah, and our yard was piled high with leaves too. \u00a0Now that was a treat worth coming home to.<\/p>\n

With only six weeks at home before we head down to meet up with Pandora in GA for the rest of the winter, we don’t have much time for catching up and getting ready for the holidays. \u00a0\u00a0And, of course, everything that goes “up” for the holidays has to come down, and PDQ, as we are headed to MD to visit our son Rob and his girlfriend Kandice a few days after Christmas. \u00a0“Quick, put the tree up. \u00a0No wait, time to take the tree down.”<\/p>\n

Just thinking about all that has to happen between now and the end of December makes me feel a bit overwhelmed. \u00a0However, before I feel too sorry for myself, at least I don’t have to count “work” as part of the mix.<\/p>\n

Well, Portugal was wonderful and being away for a month made it possible for us to take our time touring around much of the northern half of the country. \u00a0 Yes, we had a great time putting 2,000 km on the rental car. \u00a0I will say that by the last week I was getting a bit tired of packing and unpacking dirty clothes. \u00a0“So Brenda, what pair of dirty jeans should I wear today?” Hmm…<\/p>\n

So, what were my favorite parts of the trip? \u00a0Thanks for asking.<\/p>\n

Taking our sweet time was nice as we were able to stay for several days, sometimes 4-5 in a single place. \u00a0All around us were folks that were on a week long holiday and they would race from hotel to hotel, always on the move. \u00a0We didn’t do a lot prior to the late morning, which was very nice.<\/p>\n

The scenery of the country was fabulous and never deciding where we were going next until a few days before we were going to be “homeless” was very nice. \u00a0By taking this approach we were able to do some exploring beyond the normal tourist spots and take the advice of locals on what would be interesting. \u00a0The good news is that we never had problems finding a nice place to say, even with just a few days notice.<\/p>\n

For sure, we did plenty of the things that tourists do, such as seeing some of the fabulous museums and castles. \u00a0Did we ever see castles.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the best one was in Sintra, a short distance from Lisbon. We stayed in this fabulous inn outside of town with a magnificent view of the castle from our room. \u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/a>The places we stayed were so wonderful. \u00a0Perhaps the beds weren’t always as comfortable as a top hotel in the U.S. but they were certainly more scenic. \u00a0We had the corner room in the tower of this. \u00a0And, our view was the photo above. \u00a0 Really amazing.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>And, when you got close, it was breathtaking to see the level of detail in the castles, built hundreds of years before our country was even founded. \u00a0\"\"<\/a>We loved having an opportunity to meet real local folks. \u00a0A highlight was our visit to a “factory” that makes traditional pottery. \u00a0The owner spent an hour showing us around his place. \u00a0There were only 4 working in the shop and they were all members of the same family. \u00a0I should note that we heard about this spot, which has probably never had a tourist visit, from the owner of a restaurant that we ate at. \u00a0I wrote more about our visit in this post<\/a>, if you missed it. \u00a0We purchased more than would fit in our luggage to bring home. \u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/a>Unfortunately, this piggy didn’t survive the trip. \u00a0Too much jammed into our luggage. Perhaps we will have to order a replacement. \u00a0So nice to meet someone that is really proud of their work.<\/p>\n

Another highlight was our visit to a bobbin lace school and museum. \u00a0 Brenda is very interested in this technique and has been studying for a few years now. \u00a0To visit a real working school was wonderful. \u00a0It’s worth noting that there are precious few places like this anywhere and none in the U.S. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this school young girls, some as young as four years old learn the traditional techniques. \u00a0Brenda was in heaven. \u00a0It was fun to watch the “girls” compare notes. \u00a0They spoke only a little English but way better than we spoke Portuguese. Never the less, there was a common language in lace.\u00a0<\/span>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Lace making is impossibly complicated. \u00a0Well, at least to me.\u00a0\"\"<\/a>However, like everything else, it looks easy when an expert does it. \u00a0To manipulate dozens of bobbins as fast as the teacher is stunning to watch. She has been doing this technique since she was a young girl. \u00a0It shows. \u00a0 As they say, practice, practice…