Our Local Mini Vacation

On Thursday Apr 9 we took advantage of our mini-vacation here in the Airbnb and drove to Viana do Castelo on the back roads.  We had lunch at our favorite restaurant there, Aquário, and had our favorite dishes of grilled robalo and dorado fish.  The Portuguese do that so well: fresh Atlantic fish seasoned with only olive oil and salt, grilled to perfection.

Afterward, we wandered around the countryside south of Viana and stumbled on a menir, or megalithic monument, in the middle of a neighborhood.  It's called the Menir São Paio de Antes, and it dates from the 3rd or 4th millenium BCE.  Thousands of years ago!  The plaque says it is 1.65 m high (5.4 ft) and with a southern inclination that "accentuates its eminently phallic profile".  Here's Pat looking a little embarrassed next to it.  Researchers believe that menirs functioned similarly to other Neolithic stone monuments, to mark places of collective importance, astral or fertility cults, and to mark territory.  We were in the Esposende region near Viana do Castelo, which reportedly has a "vast set" of them.

On Friday Apr 10 we got haircuts and beauty treatments (well, one of us anyway), and had lunch in a downtown Ponte de Lima restaurant which had been recommended to us.  It was nothing special, but fun and a nice view of the river.  Then we visited our house and spoke with the gardener and painter who were both there.  Pat did some planning with Alex the gardener, then we both went inside and were stunned at how beautifully the painting is coming along.  We are both used to a certain amount of imperfection, visible drywall marks, and texture added to paint and rollering in order to mask flaws, but these guys are creating a near-perfect surface and then painting it flawlessly.  Still they cluck about how it's not perfect because of the underlying surface, but it looks like showroom quality to us.

Our painter had started and worked several days on our job, purely on a handshake, before we were able to get money together for a deposit.  That was remarkable, and we told him how much we appreciated it.  He said he started his business in the southern part of Portugal where he was cheated on several jobs.  People there, he said, seemed to be proud of their ability to cheat and take advantage of others (sound like anyone you know?).  Since moving here to north Portugal (the Minho region) nine years ago though, he said it's much different.  He hasn't been underpaid on a single job.  He said people here tend to be proud of the quality of work they do rather than their cunning, which is what we have found too.

After checking on the homestead we did a little more driving around the area, familiarizing ourselves with the countryside.  It was a beautiful drive, including this shot of the village of Vila Nova de Cerveira from halfway up an adjacent mountain road, and what we dubbed "Husky Hill" for its purple and gold flowers.  We're keeping a lookout for a crimson and gray landscape for you Cougar fans.

On Saturday Apr 11 we visited the house to discuss having our painter (who is also a Velux skylight installer) come replace our skylights.  We hope he can undertake that as soon as a stretch of sunny weather rears up.

Then we visited a garden park right here in Ponte de Lima, just on the west side of the medieval bridge, which we hadn't been to before.  It's a beautiful big garden, with waterfalls, a conservatory, and a playground.  The wisteria hanging over many of the paths was in full bloom and gave off a gorgeous fragrance.  And thanks to PGPA Blog-o-Matic Scratch-n-Sniff, you can scratch your screen and enjoy it yourselves!  Go ahead, give it a try.  Mmm, delightful.  If you have any trouble, call Google tech support.

While in the conservatory we heard a croaking raucous sound, like a crow, but we couldn't see anything.  We went outside and scanned the ponds next to the conservatory for maybe frogs, and found a couple of them making the big noise.  Raucous Frogs.  You can use that for the name of your indie band.

	Scratch-n-Sniff!
	A little hut made from slabs of Portuguese cork bark
Princess Tree blossoms have a little insect landing strip	Inside the conservatory
Lead singer for The Raucous Frogs	You can see the medieval bridge past the trees

(As usual, you can click on any photo to enlarge it, scroll through them all, and click outside a photo when you're done.  Also, you can click on the bold underlined phrases to play the audio.)

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